Unexploded WWII bomb causes outbreak of understatement

[Zoë Sumra]

As happens from time to time, a building site dug up an unexploded WWII bomb in Bermondsey yesterday. Tower Bridge was closed and all local residents evacuated so the Army could start defusing it at 8am today.

The Southwark branch of the Metropolitan Police, in addition to other evacuation procedures, promptly presented every household in the locality with a letter offering the following options:

CHOICES

1. To leave at or before 0800. Find your own alternative accommodation, stay with family or friends on Tuesday 24th March or attend Southwark Council's rest centre.

2. Remain in your home. The Army Disposal Team have advised that if the bomb explodes, buildings in the 200 metre zone will be significantly damaged and those close to the bomb will be destroyed. Remaining in your home is placing your life at risk. This course of action is not advised.

I've spent the past few hours wondering whether the final sentence was the most unnecessary or most priceless bit of officialdom ever...

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Isn't understatement sort of an English signature to any serious situation?

[Fragile Bird]

Perhaps the phrase was used because it was written by someone born in the generation used to seeing warnings like "Caution - knives are sharp and can cut you" or "Do not put any person in washer" at the laundromat, or "This product moves when used" on a child's scooter.

[mormont]

Well, the thing is: you have to be clear. Advice is not the same as a risk assessment. Simply saying that something has risks, even risks to life, isn't the same as advising someone against doing it. You want, from a legal position, to leave no doubt that you did the latter.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

"Do not attempt to stop chainsaw blade with fingers or tounge".

Dear lord why would anyone need that warning... why?

[Fragile Bird]

Well, the thing is: you have to be clear. Advice is not the same as a risk assessment. Simply saying that something has risks, even risks to life, isn't the same as advising someone against doing it. You want, from a legal position, to leave no doubt that you did the latter.

I suspect that if something similar happened here, and it sort of does, whenever there's a gas leak which could blow up a row of houses, evacuation would be mandatory. They drag you out of the house, they don't give you the choice to stay.

[paddington]

I suspect that if something similar happened here, and it sort of does, whenever there's a gas leak which could blow up a row of houses, evacuation would be mandatory. They drag you out of the house, they don't give you the choice to stay.

I'd imagine that is more to do with the danger level. It's not uncommon for WW2 bombs to be discovered so there is probably lots of experince in making them safe. Gas leaks are more prone to explode.

[Alarich]

That there's a choice at all is remarkable.

A few years ago, in Munich, they found a British bomb (one of the bigger ones) on a sunday afternoon and sealed the the entire quarter off. A friend of ours came back with his girlfriend from a day-trip to their in-laws and they couldn't get back into their appartment until tuesday morning. Not exactly convenient, when you need to be monday at 8:00 in the office...

[Arkhangel]

Perhaps the phrase was used because it was written by someone born in the generation used to seeing warnings like "Caution - knives are sharp and can cut you" or "Do not put any person in washer" at the laundromat, or "This product moves when used" on a child's scooter.

Or it was written by someone with a sense of humour. Just because they may legally have to include these sorts of warnings doesn't mean they don't find them as funny as the rest of us.

Also, the reason Gen Y grew up with those warnings is because of the Baby Boomers :p This situation is not our fault!

[paddington]

As well as the legal aspect of things, I think it's a sad fact that there's probably plenty of people stupid enough to stick around with a bomb being defused near by.

They aren't uncommon, and I've never heard of one that is being disarmed exploding.

edit:- In my back garden, then I'd leave. The end of the street I live on, probably stay

[Ormond]

"Do not attempt to stop chainsaw blade with fingers or tounge".

Dear lord why would anyone need that warning... why?

I am really skeptical as to whether that one really exists, because when I just Googled it the only example that came up in the first several pages was one reference on Reddit.

I know that there are real warnings that people find humorous because they think they should be obvious -- but I think a lot of the wackiest examples have been made up as minor version of "urban legends" and probably haven't ever really been on any manufacturer's list of warnings.

[Fragile Bird]

They aren't uncommon, and I've never heard of one that is being disarmed exploding.

edit:- In my back garden, then I'd leave. The end of the street I live on, probably stay

It's a tribute to the bomb disposal teams that very few people have died. I suspect more members of the squads have died than anyone else. I was surprised to see that between 2006 and 2009 alone, according to the construction industry, more than 15,000 pieces of ordinance were found on construction sites. Of course, many would be small items, like bullets, I would think, but still...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unexploded_ordnance

To tell the truth, I can imagine in my mind's eye an angry person raging at a police station that if he ever found out who it was that robbed him/assaulted him/whatever, he would kill them, and the desk sergeant saying calmly, "we would not advise that course of action", so it seems like a pretty standard sort of statement.

But I also am surprised that choice was even mentioned.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Ormond,

I did too, after I posted it. It was among a list of bizarre warings we were told abou during law school. I graduated in 2000. Never thought to check behind it until now.

[Fragile Bird]

I am really skeptical as to whether that one really exists, because when I just Googled it the only example that came up in the first several pages was one reference on Reddit.

I know that there are real warnings that people find humorous because they think they should be obvious -- but I think a lot of the wackiest examples have been made up as minor version of "urban legends" and probably haven't ever really been on any manufacturer's list of warnings.

No no, they're real. They started years ago, we had discussions about them back in law school in the 70s, pretty well all from the USA where the standard was, if you can blame someone else, sue. There was almost always a lawsuit with a horrible fact situation, product liability cases that often were very, very justifiable. You might laugh at the guy who cuts off his toes with the lawn mower (what an idiot!) but what kind of an idiot designs a lawn mower without a shield, protecting the user's feet? You might think that getting your intestinal organs sucked out by a swimming pool pump is an urban legend, but nope, it happened to children, and the manufacturer didn't do anything about it. No warning label there, the product got re-designed. :)

Vending machines, for example, pretty well all have labels on them warning that if you tip them they can land on you and cause serious injury. So many people tried tipping canned soda vending machines to get free soda and got badly hurt, the warning labels had to be added. In one lawsuit, the plaintiff claimed it was unreasonable to expect someone would know that rocking a vending machine could cause such a presumably heavy machine to tip over.

[HexMachina]

It's a tribute to the bomb disposal teams that very few people have died. I suspect more members of the squads have died than anyone else. I was surprised to see that between 2006 and 2009 alone, according to the construction industry, more than 15,000 pieces of ordinance were found on construction sites. Of course, many would be small items, like bullets, I would think, but still...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unexploded_ordnanceTo tell the truth, I can imagine in my mind's eye an angry person raging at a police station that if he ever found out who it was that robbed him/assaulted him/whatever, he would kill them, and the desk sergeant saying calmly, "we would not advise that course of action", so it seems like a pretty standard sort of statement.But I also am surprised that choice was even mentioned.

On my bus journey home yesterday there was a builder who is busy working on the St. George's Circus cycle way construction and he was saying that his crew expect to turn up some sort of WWII stuff. He said that it's almost taken for granted when they start a job now that something will turn up

[Larry of the Lawn]

Or it was written by someone with a sense of humour. Just because they may legally have to include these sorts of warnings doesn't mean they don't find them as funny as the rest of us.

Also, the reason Gen Y grew up with those warnings is because of the Baby Boomers :P This situation is not our fault!

I think it would be really fun to be able to be the one that writes these kinds of things. Especially if they gave me some license once the nitty gritty was accounted for.

[Zoë Sumra]

Update: the Army successfully removed the bomb and blew it up earlier. This is why it was not advised to stay near it, I feel...

[Castellan]

I can't tell you how common it is for co-workers of mine, when drafting or reading text, to be unable to pick up on any implicit messages. I'm not talking super implicit, either. In their view if something has not been said explicity, it has not been said. So I have some sympathy for the 'This course of action is not advised'.

Also, remember, this was probably sent up and down and round a chain of editors including lawyers and so one person may have added the last sentence on. You often get a strange hybrid piece if writing in these situations.

Personally, it makes me nostalgic for a culture which assumes the average person can understand 'This course of action is not advised' and don't see it as a bizarrely abstract and passive construction.

[Tears of Lys]

Update: the Army successfully removed the bomb and blew it up earlier. This is why it was not advised to stay near it, I feel...

Great! That's a relief.

[Alester Florent]

I suspect that if something similar happened here, and it sort of does, whenever there's a gas leak which could blow up a row of houses, evacuation would be mandatory. They drag you out of the house, they don't give you the choice to stay.

An Englishman's home is his castle! If he wants to stay in it and get blown to smithereens, that's his choice...

This is one of those scenarios where humans are instinctively bad at calculating risk, I guess, kind of like a plane falling out of the sky in midair: it's very unlikely to happen, but you're screwed if it does.