Hacker News Reader

Comment by et2o | Hacker News Reader

I’m glad it worked out in this case. He seemed careful and diligent. If the wrong person did it I could see this leading to people getting hurt (falling off the catwalk) or damage to cars (improper fastening). Overall I love it though.

View on HN

>If the wrong person did it I could see this leading to people getting hurt (falling off the catwalk) or damage to cars (improper fastening)

I really don't like seeing this sort of whatifism whenever a story about somebody doing something that is not their day job comes up. It's amazing it's still considered safe to file your own taxes. The dude had the skills and he did the job and did it well. Hand wringing over what-ifs adds nothing to the discussion.

The risks should be discussed in order to discourage copycats. People have died from objects dropped from overpasses.

The risks aren't significantly different than from other things people do on a regular basis. People have died from objects falling out of the back of a pickup truck. People have died from a long list of shoddy home improvement projects. People have died (and killed others) from working in an official capacity for the Department of Transportation.

The answer is to do the things that you do safely, not to never do anything.

No one was suggesting that nothing should ever be done.

Someone was suggesting that we discourage people from doing something because of "risk", and that thing is not significantly more risky than other things people commonly do.

Disagree. People die from stuff like this. It’s important to be aware of risks.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com