Show r Uncle Sams Sam's silly safety rules rules' t I I The safety commissions commission's j job b is to do dof f what it can to reduce risks at acceptable acceptable accept- accept t able costs It should get over the idea it can turn the complex modern world I J i t into one great padded cell where even f an idiot can do himself no harm Thus did Business Week vent its frustration over silly safety proposals offered by the governments government's Consumer Product Safety Commission In a May 3 editorial the magazine detailed the 5 1 Commissions Commission's proposed standards for paper matches which would require that the match go out within 15 i seconds and be enclosed in a childproof childproof childproof child- child proof boxA box i A 15 second match is is' no good for lighting a pipe changing a fuse or finding the car keys you dropped in inthe inthe the dark darkin in the e parking lot i I the periodical It is a d degraded product d that will add one more annoyance i 1 to the frustrations of modern living k The match book issue is simply another in a rapidly growing list of proposals thought up by Washington's goaded bureaucrats-goaded by consumer advocate which groups-which are located with good intentions but awfully short on common sense The safety commission points to the match related injuries a year in making its proposal pro pro- No one questions the desirability of cutting back on such injuries But wouldn't it be more logical to educate individuals on the use of matches-and matches to keep them out of childrens children's s 's hands This particular controversy is reminiscent reminiscent reminiscent of the governments government's regulation passed a couple of years ago for a mandatory buzzer seatbelt buzzer system to tobe tobe tobe be installed in new cars by all US U.S. manufacturers The irritating device unnerved d so many Americans that there was a massive demand for the law to be stricken from the books which indeed it was Perhaps ps the leading government villian in the promulgation of silly safety regulations is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration OSHA One recent booklet published by OSHA for farmers for example warns them that-horror that of horrors- horrors manure is slippery Taken together such bureaucratic nonsense brings back this time honored thought by Will Vili Rogers I dont don't make jokes I just watch the government government government govern govern- ment and report the facts |