Be Warned: the Hazards of Warning Labels

Wow. I thought the first blog post would happen faster than it did, but that's life for you. So, here's my first actual "Ode to Common Sense Lost."

Have you ever seen this warning on a 5 gallon bucket?

Apparently, the Consumer Protection Safety Commission (CPSC) found that over 275 children drowned in 5 gallon buckets between 1984 and the writing of the warning notice. You can get a
full explanation of the problem by following the link.

So the bigger question is this: are we really lacking enough common sense to know that 1) children can get into things they shouldn't with just a moment of inattention, 2) children can drown in liquid, and 3) we should probably keep them from diving head first into a 5 gallon bucket with any type of liquid in it (not just for the sake of drowning, but *gasp* maybe to avoid chemical poisoning)?

If we need a sign to help us through this basic logic process, we have much bigger problems.

On the flip side - what are the job requirements to identify these clear and immediate threats to public safety, and do they involve designing the nifty warning labels?