is there such a thing as being “TOO safe” ?
Greetings to all,
it’s good to see how much interest this thread is causing ... I’ve always found the issues involved to be interesting ... and I sincerely appreciate all of the kind comments ... but without getting too specific, I would like to insert just a friendly sideline ...
please don’t forget that many (most?) of the people reading these posts are NOT seasoned experienced programmers ... specifically, many BEGINNERS eagerly read this forum looking for hints and tips on “how-to-get-started” ... unfortunately these guys don’t have the benefit of all of the experience that you professionals have acquired over the years ... so I’d like to politely suggest that you please carefully read (and then re-read) the “safety” issues that are being raised here with a thought to the “impressionable” perspective of a reader who is just starting out ...
first of all ... we need to consider that many of our readers are not native English speakers ... what might seem to be a perfectly adequate “safety” warning to us, might not have anywhere near the same “impact” to someone who is less familiar with the language ...
another thing to consider: many of the “requirements” and “regulations” being discussed here DO have the weight of the law behind them – at least in the United States of America ... still ... if we make the assumption that “the law will always protect us” then we are also making the assumption that the law will always be obeyed ... and that, of course, is a faulty assumption ...
going one step further, I’m sure that many (if not most) of our foreign readers live and work in countries which also have similar “rules” and “regulations” and “requirements” to insure that their machines are safe too ... but then again, I’d be willing to bet that not ALL machinery EVERYwhere is equipped with enough safety features to be considered acceptably “safe” here in America ...
and of course, even machinery which was originally designed to be “safe” and was initially built to be in “full compliance” with every rule and requirement on the books is NOT guaranteed to stay that way forever ... design modifications are made by well-intentioned but inexperienced technicians ... “emergency” repairs are made which “temporarily” bypass built-in safety features ... and of course (even though it’s rare) “safety” hardware can malfunction through normal wear-and-tear and from operator abuse ...
quick analogy: a lot of what we do here is similar to teaching a teenager how to drive a car ... now we all know that the kid is ONLY interested in “gas pedal” and “steering wheel” to begin with ... but still ... as experienced and knowledgeable drivers, it is our RESPONSIBILITY to throw in a healthy dose of “brake pedal” and “turn signal” before letting the eager beginner get too far down the driveway ...
my biggest reason for this present little post is so that the rest of you guys will have a better idea of why I might seem to go “overboard” with anything and everything that I consider to be ! SAFETY ! related ... based on all of the issues that I’ve just raised, it’s my practice to lump EVERYthing that might possibly “damage-the-machine” or “damage-the-environment” or “hurt-some-person” or “cause-other-unpleasant-situations” under the catch-all umbrella of ! SAFETY ! issues ... maybe you don’t agree and I’m certainly not going to argue with you ... but just in case you’ve been wondering, that’s where I’m coming from ... so just ignore me if (in your experienced judgment) I tend to get “carried away” sometimes ...
finally ... my own personal opinion is that it is always better to err on the side of “too much” ! SAFETY ! – rather than run the risk of including “not quite enough” ... I’m quite sure that no one really wants to debate that point ...
and so ... party on ...
