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Adam Smith
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Maryland, USA
Jan 1970 time: 00:20
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There are three questions you have to ask in the economics of consumer and occupational safety:
1. Is the hazard hard to identify?
2. Is the hazard hard to avoid?
3. Is the hazard significant?
If you can answer "yes" to all three questions, then there is an economic case for regulation. In some cases there clearly is good reason to regulate. I have no way of knowing the sanitary condition of a restaruant's kitchen, so there is a pretty good case to be made for sanitary instpctors. Similarly, workers often have no idea what kind of chemicals they are working with, or what the effects will be on them 30 years from now, so there is a strong case for good occupational standards.
But in this case there is not a very strong argument to make. Sticking your hand in the bath before the child gets near it will tell you if the bath is too hot. Any competent parent knows this. Turning up the cold water, before the child gets in the bath, will solve the problem. Is the problem significant? One quick Google gets to this page:
http://www.capt.org.uk/Projects/default.htm
quote: Around 570 severe scalding injuries occur each year in the UK as a result of high bath water outlet temperature. Approximately 440 of these accidents happen to children under 5 years old. Severe scald injuries require many years of lengthy surgical treatment and result in permanent scarring. Although most bath water scalds are preventable, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) figures illustrate that the number of cases have remained unchanged for several years. |
So its not hundreds of thousands of people, its preventable, and its not increasing over time, as the original article claims.
quote: Also following consultation, the Housing Corporation agreed to insert a new recommendation item into the revised Scheme Development Standards, that came into effect on the 1 April 2003. The new recommendation is that
hot water taps to baths should have a thermostatically controlled supply.
For housing associations bidding for social housing grant allocations after 2003 there is a clear incentive to comply with the criteria as defined within the Scheme Developments Standards. |
So its not just the Sun, there is apparently actually something to the proposal.
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