[doctor_eval]

Safety is not a “luxury enabled by profit”. It’s one of many necessary dimensions for efficiently creating value over time.

If you are a sole trader and you fall off a ladder and hurt yourself because you took some stupid shortcut, the cost is extremely high.

If you work for someone and they make you do something stupid that hurts you, the cost to them has traditionally been relatively low, so they are motivated to push you because that’s better for them. Fortunately, in most modern countries this is no longer the case.

Safety only becomes a “luxury” when capital becomes concentrated into the hands of people for whom other people are disposable.

[WalterBright]

I bought a chainsaw recently for $10. I then bought about $100 of kevlar armor to wear while I use the saw.

No money => no safety

Take a look at history as far back as it will go. Safety expenses only happen when the money is there.

Next time you see someone using a chainsaw, take a look at their protective equipment. If they work for a company, they're likely wearing:

1. ear protection

2. face shield

3. helmet

4. kevlar gloves

5. kevlar chaps

6. kevlar boots

If they're some rando with a saw, odds are pretty good they have none of that on. They won't spend their own money on their own safety. It's only deemed essential if someone else is paying for it.

[doctor_eval]

This is just rubbish. Safety arises from multiple dimensions - Kevlar-threaded armour is a single, last line of defence that helps only when everything else has failed.

Actual safety comes from training, practice and operations - such as understanding how the tool works, what unexpected dangers exist, what techniques to avoid, the state of the immediate environment, prioritising safety (eg by not creating time pressure) and the design of the tool itself (eg chain guards and anti whip mechanisms)

By the time your Kevlar armour comes into play you are well outside the safety zone and deep into the shit your pants zone.