Some of this is selection bias, but lots of this is active work by the organizers.
Burning Man has slowly re-created the regulatory state in response to the standard pressures of civilization. To their credit, this has often been in response to near-misses, but sometimes in response to fatalities. It started with sanitation (potties), and banning guns/explosives. You can have 100 people shooting guns at a party in the desert without sanitation and muddle through. At 10k, you are building a cholera-mad-max experiment. A car running over a sleeping person prompted a designated road network. And then they adopted zoning, with hush-ville and the large sound installation ends. All supported by the ranger team preventing injury every day. Civilization is work.
It's not insane, and it was just explained how it happens. You don't need streets when you have 10 people. Or 100 people. But there comes a threshold where you do need them. The question remains, how do you recognize or determine this threshold? A lot of the times, a death is the wake up call.
Here in the UK, people (often in a particular age demographic) often mock "Health and Safety". "Hahaha got a high vis jacket on if you're opening that can of coke? Hahahahaha"
Fuck off with that. It's actually important, and the HSE website has a lot of case studies explaining why.
For example you are absolutely not under any circumstances allowed to bring matches or cigarette lighters onto oil or gas related sites. You'd think that would be pretty reasonable, right? There's even a a smoking shelter with special lighters attached to the wall so people can smoke, well away from the explodey stuff. But no, "OMG 'elf an' safety gone mad innit?"
Does anyone want to know *why* matches and lighters are banned? Anyone care to take a guess as to whether or not there was a specific incident leading up to the ban?
Okay then, here it is: <a href="https://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/sragtech/casebpdalment87.htm" rel="nofollow">https://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/sragtech/casebpdalment87.htm
Read the fourth paragraph a couple of times until it sinks in properly.
A colleague of mine sometimes has described some people as "A case study waiting to happen".
There was a comment somewhere - here? - that the default mode of human experience isn't "Successfully predict the future to avoid problems," it's "FAFO."
Also, everyone makes mistakes. But some people are, quite literally, a danger to themselves and others, and everyone needs to be protected from them. Including themselves.
michael1999 · · focus · HN ↗
Burning Man has slowly re-created the regulatory state in response to the standard pressures of civilization. To their credit, this has often been in response to near-misses, but sometimes in response to fatalities. It started with sanitation (potties), and banning guns/explosives. You can have 100 people shooting guns at a party in the desert without sanitation and muddle through. At 10k, you are building a cholera-mad-max experiment. A car running over a sleeping person prompted a designated road network. And then they adopted zoning, with hush-ville and the large sound installation ends. All supported by the ranger team preventing injury every day. Civilization is work.
poulpy123 · · focus · HN ↗
xboxnolifes · · focus · HN ↗
ErroneousBosh · · focus · HN ↗
Fuck off with that. It's actually important, and the HSE website has a lot of case studies explaining why.
For example you are absolutely not under any circumstances allowed to bring matches or cigarette lighters onto oil or gas related sites. You'd think that would be pretty reasonable, right? There's even a a smoking shelter with special lighters attached to the wall so people can smoke, well away from the explodey stuff. But no, "OMG 'elf an' safety gone mad innit?"
Does anyone want to know *why* matches and lighters are banned? Anyone care to take a guess as to whether or not there was a specific incident leading up to the ban?
Okay then, here it is: <a href="https://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/sragtech/casebpdalment87.htm" rel="nofollow">https://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/sragtech/casebpdalment87.htm
Read the fourth paragraph a couple of times until it sinks in properly.
A colleague of mine sometimes has described some people as "A case study waiting to happen".
TheOtherHobbes · · focus · HN ↗
Also, everyone makes mistakes. But some people are, quite literally, a danger to themselves and others, and everyone needs to be protected from them. Including themselves.
ErroneousBosh · · focus · HN ↗