In North America, the rules and regulations governing individual safety have increased astronomically over the last thirty years.
A few common examples of this;
- when I first started driving seat belts were optional, no longer.
- a motorcyclist did not need to wear a helmet when I was a teenager – personal choice (or death wish)
- bicycle helmets were not worn
Protecting Society – Individual Rights
There is a fine line between anarchy and reasonable rules and regulations, while still protecting the right to freedom of action and expression.
Today’s post was triggered by a reading of the Safety Codes Act of Alberta (SCA). In particular the following clause from the inspections section:
“For the purpose of ensuring that this Act and any thing
issued under this Act are complied with, a safety codes officer may, without a warrant, at any reasonable time, enter any premises or place, except a private dwelling place that is in use as a dwelling, in which the officer has reason to believe there is something to which this Act applies and may, using reasonable care, carry out an inspection, review designs and examine and evaluate quality management systems and manufacturing and construction processes.”
Basically this means, if your home is being renovated and you are not living there a safety code office can enter and inspect without permission.
A later clause goes on to clarify that if you are living there, they can get a warrant to inspect your premises for safety violations and you cannot refuse them entry. This based on a suspicion that a safety violation is occurring.
Safety First
I am totaling in agreement with safety first, controls, inspections and doing it right. My concern is giving big bureaucracy so much power and discretion to decide if I am being safe or not is a little scary because of the potential for misuse.
The main issue is that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. We cannot expect our bureaucrats to be consistently reasonable or logical and giving this power in the name of “safety” does have value and I am sure it works to some degree improving our individual safety, but I am sure it also has it’s fair share of abuse.