Corporate Nanny State?

Corporate Nanny State or over-zealous product liability? And from Nikon of all companies. (A real shame..)

To wit: The Nikon AW110 handheld digital camera. User Manual avail at:

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From the "For Your Safety" section beginning page 28:

"Twisting the camera strap around the neck may cause suffocation". Please note, the strap is only about 6 inches long.

"Never place the strap around the neck of an infant or child." Again, note that a 6-inch long strap would form a diameter of about 2 inches. If you can fit this over your baby's head, then I suggest your baby has bigger problems to worry about.

"Handle moving parts with care." "Be careful that your fingers or other objects are not pinched by the lens cover or any other moving parts. Note: The AW110 does not even have a lens cover. Nor, does it have any moving parts in the traditional sense of that term, unless you include the 0.05" travel of the shutter release!

My personal favorite: "The CD-ROM included with this device should not be played back on audio CD equipment. Playing CD-ROM's on an audio CD player could cause hearing loss or damage the equipment."

Reply to
mpm
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Probably Risk Management. One of the ways to mitigate risk is to supply Warnings in the user manual of potential personal injury.

I'd have to try playing a data CD on a audio player, perhaps there are known instances that some players can play them.

They probably left out the fact you can get a papercut from the cardboard packaging. ;)

Here's the sick/funny (which ever way you look at it) plastic bag Warning symbols.

Cheers

Reply to
Martin Riddle

My Audi user manual is about 2/3 silly safety warnings. And the dashboard display gives me additional safety lectures in the morning. The irony is that you have to take your eyes off the road to do anything with the crazy radio and HVAC controls... a wall of black pushbuttons.

Plastic shrink packaging is a major reason for ER visits. The Philips LED lights are good, but it takes serious weaponry to get at them through the absurd and dangerous packaging.

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John Larkin                  Highland Technology Inc 
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Reply to
John Larkin

Probably generic copypasta for all their products.

Tim

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Deep Friar: a very philosophical monk. 
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Reply to
Tim Williams

It isn't shrink packaging that is the problem. That is just a thin wrap. Rather it is that hard plastic "blister pack" that can only be cut with a knife. The goal is to stop you from stealing the contents, but it sure makes it hard to get the goods out after you take it home.

It is so bad that there are a number of blister pack cutters on the market. Fry's sells one, and Fry's of course is the source of most of my blister pack items.

Restoration Hardware used to sell these:

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When you travel by plane, you have no knives at all. Invariably when I travel by plane, I end up getting some cheap disposable box cutter at a Wally World because I bought some item in a god damn blister pack. Hotel maid service must have piles of cheap box cutters.

Reply to
miso

indeed, this isn't meant for human consumption it is for ambulance chasing lawyers looking to make a payday in places where stupidity isn't your own fault

-Lasse

Reply to
Lasse Langwadt Christensen

The ballistic skirmish platform game "Worms" came on a CD-ROM where the in-game music was recorded as standard audio tracks which could be played on a cd-player, and a data track that could be attempted to be played with unplesant results. During game-play the cd-rom drive would operate as a CD player feeding analogue audio to the sound card leaving the cpu free to deal with the graphics.

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?? 100% natural
Reply to
Jasen Betts

I bought a pair of scissors in such a pack. Still trying to figure that out.

Sylvia.

Reply to
Sylvia Else

I cut myself on sharp edges of the plastic itself (it was an Oxy-MAPP torch kit)- while still in the store. Lowes gave me some free band aids.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

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"it's the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward" 
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Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

Good find. However, that strap is 6" long, but it's a loop. Therefore, it's 12" long with a 3.8" diameter. Still too small for a baby's head.

I'm surprised that it didn't include the traditional "do not eat" warning.

(...)

What you were reading is probably part of the judgment from a case or settlement. After the attorneys are paid off, and the plaintiffs collect tiny amounts for their alleged injuries, the plaintiff is expected to do something to prevent a recurrence of the alleged damaging action. That means a warning label or "read me first" document indicating that one might be injured if the product is used in a stupid and dangerous manner. In extreme cases, a redesign. None of the parties involved really care if there's a warning label or even if anyone reads it. It's just part of the usual judgment or settlement because it makes it look like the plaintiff is doing something about the alleged problem.

Drivel: Make your own warning label:

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Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

That's what I meant. You need a box cutter to hack that apart, and you run the risk of destroying the contents or severing an artery.

The goal is to stop you from stealing the contents, but it sure

They don't call them box cutters, not after 9/11. They are now utility knives.

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John Larkin                  Highland Technology Inc 
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Reply to
John Larkin

A box cutter is different from a utility knife. The former uses single-edge razor blades like a paint scraper, and the latter uses those much beefier trapezoidal blades.

And the right solution to blister packs is a nice set of aviation shears. (Or buying from Amazon, which doesn't allow packaging like that.)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

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Dr Philip C D Hobbs 
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Reply to
Phil Hobbs

The media has been calling utility knives "box cutters" for twelve years.

I've received such packaging from Amazon.

Reply to
krw

That's why they all have chicken stock all over their pantry floors. ;)

Amazon has well-defined process for getting that fixed, though. Much better than snipped-for-privacy@google.com. ;)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

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Dr Philip C D Hobbs 
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Reply to
Phil Hobbs

I buy the Philips LED bulbs from Amazon, and they are the worst packaged parts I've encountered. Mega-stapled cardboard on the outside, impenetrable clear plastic shell inside. A lot of Amazon purchases are just brokered to someone else, and I don't think Amazon controls that packaging.

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John Larkin                  Highland Technology Inc 
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Reply to
John Larkin

Sure, I was talking about buying from them, not just on their site. The "hassle-free packaging" policy is one of the many things to like about Amazon. (Another one is Amazon Prime. Somebody posted a very amusing love poem to Amazon Prime that one of my daughters read to me awhile back, but I can't find it.)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

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Dr Philip C D Hobbs 
Principal Consultant 
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Reply to
Phil Hobbs

I haven't seen a player since about 1990 that would play data as audio. Worms was, what, 1995 or so? I'd have to look it up. A lot of games in that era used CD (Redbook) audio, including Quake.

Tim

--
Deep Friar: a very philosophical monk. 
Website: http://seventransistorlabs.com
Reply to
Tim Williams

While I'm generally suspicious of any moves for tort reform, I do think the US needs a uniform law that says that an appropriate warning label covers all that stuff. The label would say:

WARNING: Do not do anything stupid with this product!

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Tim Wescott 
Wescott Design Services 
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Reply to
Tim Wescott

It's not stock.

For merchandise sold through Amazon, too?

Different motivation. Google makes money off spammers.

Reply to
krw

yeah, this would have been '97 or '98, it was worms with some addtitonal stuff, I don't recall the full title.

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Reply to
Jasen Betts

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