Triumphrat

saphena · 03-30-2012, 01:27 PM

Perhaps this should be in the riding and survival forum but we'll try it here first.

In the light of this incident, I'd like to suggest that we all remind ourselves that petrol (gasoline) can be a bit of a handful at times and remember to take some care when handling it.

Quote:

"The people were cooking their tea and dispensing petrol from a container to a glass jug.

"The vapour then ignited, the jug was then spilt which obviously ignited as well and the person involved in the decanting was consumed by the flames.

"Her daughter phoned 999 and was obviously extremely distressed."

For the benefit of you foreigners, "cooking their tea" involves heating food on an open flame gas stove, in an enclosed kitchen and 999 is equivalent to 911 or 112

Black Dog · 03-30-2012, 02:53 PM

Let's get this straight. A woman is decanting petrol into a glass jug in the kitchen, next to a stove with an open flame. She gets severe burns as a result.

Next thing, people are calling for a government minister to resign, because he foolishly made an off-the-cuff remark about keeping some fuel in the garage in case of shortages.

Evil politicians, or Darwin at work? You decide.

propforward · 03-30-2012, 03:03 PM

Working with combustible materials requires care and attention.

Black Dog · 03-30-2012, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by propforward

Working with combustible materials requires care and attention.

And in other news, large mammals of the family ursus arctos are know to defecate in areas of afforestation.

Old Scratcher · 03-30-2012, 04:46 PM

A mate of mine got so good at judging when his generator was about to run out of fuel, he could refuel it between the first flicker of his TV & the genny's final splutter. He did it for decades, until one day the fuel ignited & he got 3rd degree burns to 70% of his body, which damn near killed him.

mistermellow001 · 03-30-2012, 05:43 PM

Poor woman. Besides her burns, the sad and mind-boggling thing is how little people know or understand about safety and potential consequences. This is no different than someone not knowing they shouldn't splatter grease when deep frying, or if they do, and it catches fire, trying to put it out with water. It's easy to say "common sense" is lacking (because it is), but harder to answer why. I know more people who are oblivious to this stuff than I do people who would pay mind to the connection between fumes and open flames.

I seem to recall more PSAs (public service announcements) about things like this in the past, and never have I seen one on cable. We're not born with common sense. I think you have to be taught to think before you act, and if people don't pay attention in chemistry class, or auto mechanics class, or didn't take those classes at all (highly likely), then where do they pick up that "something about this ain't right" spidey sense?

spank86 · 03-30-2012, 06:37 PM

Really, you mean that stuff we put in an internal combustion engine is in fact combustible? Someone should tell the petrol companies so they can mix it with water to make it safer.

Black Dog · 03-30-2012, 06:51 PM

My guess is two things at work here:

1. Technology is so advanced now that you don't need to know how things work in order to use them. That means we have lost some technical knowledge that used to be known to everyone but is now the province of the specialist. Electric shocks hurt. Petrol burns. Why should she know that petrol was highly inflammable if all the contact she has is to poke a nozzle in her car once a week? I mean, who reads those warning notices anyway?

2. These days, we are far more likely to assume that 'someone else will deal with it'. Illness? It's what the NHS is for. Kid next door being beaten? Call Social Services. Granny getting too old to cope on her own? Ring the Council, they have people to deal with that. Perhaps she assumed that if anything went wrong someone would call to sort it out. Fire Brigade, innit? Perhaps (Nanny State Rant alert) she thought that if it was that dangerous, I wouldn't be allowed to have it, would I? Who knows?

We've come a long way in the last 50 years, but not all of it has been progress.

Just my thoughts.

leftarmlogan · 03-30-2012, 06:52 PM

That gasoline stuff sure is dangerous. I think I'll go flog my bike and burn some gas so no one else gets hurt.

triumpt120rv · 03-30-2012, 06:58 PM

"...and dispensing petrol from a container to a glass jug".

Making English preserves or bottleing moonshine?