Death By Urinal: What a Strange Way to Go.

[mawnansmiff]

I feel for the guy's family but what an odd way to go. I never knew these things even existed. I wouldn't feel at all comfortable peeing into something plugged into the mains electricity

Man crushed by telescopic urinal in central London dies

The man had been working on the pop-up toilet, which is stored beneath the ground during the day.

www.bbc.co.uk

Regards,

Jay.

 

[mikethompson]

Pop-up electric urinals you say

 

[SBC]

There are dumb ideas that individuals put themselves through, and then there are dumb ideas that experts are given authority to put the public through. The latter are more upsetting.

 

[mso489]

The concept is an ingenious way to accommodate folks on the way home from the pub with full bladders. This is a problem in cities throughout the world. However, working on any kind of moving device has its hazards. This isn't a dignified sounding way to depart life. Just a working guy who had a catastrophic accident. I hope the City of London and the designers of the pop-up toilet will recall the units until they are safe to maintain.

In the country, you can just step behind a tree or into the brush, no problem. And they say the city is more civilized.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

From ancient Egypt till the Dark Ages, people just sat in the open air and did their business. There are still places n Paris where you can piss in the open (or a few decades ago). I wonder why and when exactly we became such prudes that we felt a need to hide to do our business? Maybe diseases in the beginning was a reason, but we have better plumbing now, and hiding while we do it doesn't make it more sanitary.

Not that I want to see people poop, but like... it wouldn't ruin my day to just divert my eyes as I walked by. It just seems like in cities there is no where to pee anywhere. And, this city has gone to such great lengths for people to hide while they pee that they've made lethal toilets. I remember being in Chicago and having to pay $25 to go into a sucky museum to urinate, because there was no where else.

 

[brian64]

From ancient Egypt till the Dark Ages, people just sat in the open air and did their business. There are still places n Paris where you can piss in the open (or a few decades ago). I wonder why and when exactly we became such prudes that we felt a need to hide to do our business? Maybe diseases in the beginning was a reason, but we have better plumbing now, and hiding while we do it doesn't make it more sanitary.

Not that I want to see people poop, but like... it wouldn't ruin my day to just divert my eyes as I walked by. It just seems like in cities there is no where to pee anywhere. And, this city has gone to such great lengths for people to hide while they pee that they've made lethal toilets. I remember being in Chicago and having to pay $25 to go into a sucky museum to urinate, because there was no where else.

Is there a reason you haven't moved to San Francisco yet?

 

[anotherbob]

There are dumb ideas that individuals put themselves through, and then there are dumb ideas that experts are given authority to put the public through. The latter are more upsetting.

it's not the item it's self that was the problem. It should have been locked out as the industry terms it. Turned off made so that nothing like this can happen and clearly labeled and as you can do with such things physically locked so it can't be turned on or even moved until this guy is done. Someone skipped ignored or otherwise didn't bother with standard safety procedures. Depending on who hired the man there is going to be a lot of sueing I assume and a lot of totally legit suing. This is neglect and not the product. Good almost every single thing we make is dangerous to work on if people ignore the proper procedure.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Is there a reason you haven't moved to San Francisco yet?

I just mean that it has only been a few hundred years of humans on this planet that hiding while you poop has been a priority. Now, in cities... there just aren't place to use a restroom.

Does San Fran have open air toilets or something? Personally, if I never go into another city again, anywhere, I would be happy.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

If cities would just make a law that says that every business anywhere has to have a restroom accessible to the street 24/7, then cities wouldn't have to make these stupid toilets.
If you want a B&M store, then you have to have a place for people to BM.

 

[gubbyduffer]

it's not the item it's self that was the problem. It should have been locked out as the industry terms it. Turned off made so that nothing like this can happen and clearly labeled and as you can do with such things physically locked so it can't be turned on or even moved until this guy is done. Someone skipped ignored or otherwise didn't bother with standard safety procedures. Depending on who hired the man there is going to be a lot of sueing I assume and a lot of totally legit suing. This is neglect and not the product. Good almost every single thing we make is dangerous to work on if people ignore the proper procedure.

This^ At this stage its not clear whether the design was a major factor in the death, or whether maintenance procedures for isolating the toilets power were followed. The HSE (Health and Safety Executive) will investigate it.

 

[vosBghos]

The thing that always gets me on this stuff is whether we have dogs on leashes or not pissing wherever on whatever.
The common dog has better natural rights than a human being, I understand when it comes to defecation and not wanting the streets to smell like bum piss but man there has to be some sort of compromise.

 

[anotherbob]

This^ At this stage its not clear whether the design was a major factor in the death, or whether maintenance procedures for isolating the toilets power were followed. The HSE (Health and Safety Executive) will investigate it.

Most likely it's the second one. Though there are always freak accidents. But the first is less likely just based on the number of people it have to go through whose jobs could all be seriously impacted before that point. I don't know how much England and English laws are like American ones. But if it happened here I'd assume that the city went with the cheapest contractors they could and will take no responsibility for it. Even if the price they paid to hire should have been a red flag.

 

[kcghost]

I don't think this guy was killed because he went to the bathroom. This guy was some kind of repair man that was sent there to do some work. Then somehow the telescopic part of the device killed him. The toilet is strictly a water powered device. No electricity. Somehow the electricity came on and it crushed him. His fault, someone else's fault or nobody's fault it's going to cost the city a lot of money.

 

[mingc]

Personally, if I never go into another city again, anywhere, I would be happy.

Good idea. Cities are full of people pissing and pooping in the open everywhere.

 

[AJL67]

What a shitty way to go.

On the flip side he should have taken a job working on that blue plastic porta-potty in the pic.

 

[AJL67]

If cities would just make a law that says that every business anywhere has to have a restroom accessible to the street 24/7, then cities wouldn't have to make these stupid toilets.
If you want a B&M store, then you have to have a place for people to BM.

Well you have cities like NY, LA, SF etc., that force businesses to open their bathrooms to non-patrons, such as the Starbucks incidence in LA and all of a sudden you have people shooting up and living in your bathrooms. It's not up to the government to tell a private business who can and can't use their facilities, there are no "bathroom rights".

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Well you have cities like NY, LA, SF etc., that force businesses to open their bathrooms to non-patrons, such as the Starbucks incidence in LA and all of a sudden you have people shooting up and living in your bathrooms. It's not up to the government to tell a private business who can and can't use their facilities, there are no "bathroom rights".

If there is a law against pissing in the public, then by default, there becomes a right to piss somewhere. I am not a pro-government making people do things person. Hell, I don't even like the word "community" because it even sounds like communism to me. But, if the government enforces one stupid law, then it need another to fix the problem the first law creates. Otherwise, just let people go.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

We had a law in Alabama that said that every store had to keep a bathroom open to the public. So, I had a child that had to go, so I pulled into a service station, and the poor English speaking person behind the counter said that I had to buy something. When I explained the law, with my child standing there crying, they told me to call the police then. I just dropped a dollar on the counter and grabbed the key myself... with a spattering of words I don't understand coming at me like a machine gun.
When I came back, I told them, "Call the police then."

There are rules, laws, and common decency.

 

[anotherbob]

Public defecation is a massively bad thing. As in the diseases it spreads are staggering. And nope you don't need to step in it to get some things that will ruin your day. All you need is the same fly that loves poopies to go walking around in it and then land in your soup or drink or walk on your hamburger. And then you've got a nice little case of some disease you thought that us in this area don't have to deal with. If you want to talk about what kind of rights people have and what kind of rights cities have you have to include anything that hits that level of public health issue. Doesn't mean you have to change your mind but it's a big enough issue and it's easy to argue that you have the right to avoid highly preventable diseases. And bad sanitation including public defecation contributes to the globally leading cause of death in children. Diarrhea. So again not really that hard to argue less children dying horribly over my grandfather shat where he liked and his grandfather before him and businesses should have certain rights. Again just pointing out that you can ignore an elephant but you can't ignore one stepping on you.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Public defecation is a massively bad thing. As in the diseases it spreads are staggering. And nope you don't need to step in it to get some things that will ruin your day. All you need is the same fly that loves poopies to go walking around in it and then land in your soup or drink or walk on your hamburger. And then you've got a nice little case of some disease you thought that us in this area don't have to deal with. If you want to talk about what kind of rights people have and what kind of rights cities have you have to include anything that hits that level of public health issue. Doesn't mean you have to change your mind but it's a big enough issue and it's easy to argue that you have the right to avoid highly preventable diseases. And bad sanitation including public defecation contributes to the globally leading cause of death in children. Diarrhea. So again not really that hard to argue less children dying horribly over my grandfather shat where he liked and his grandfather before him and businesses should have certain rights. Again just pointing out that you can ignore an elephant but you can't ignore one stepping on you.

I hope you didn't think that I was calling for people to just poop in the streets. That is vastly different from public restrooms, with or without privacy. Even Rome had sewage pipes for their open air toilets.