Recently I spoke with a friend named Carol (name changed) who had just returned from a difficult ocean cruise. She works for an organization that was helping to sponsor the getaway for a group of more than 1,000 people. In the middle of winter, Carol flew with her colleagues from Chicago to Mobile, Alabama, where they were to board the ship. As she and hundreds of other excited vacationers waited ...

The winter of 2009 brought heavy snowfalls to Chicago, and at one point the snow had piled up over a foot deep on the roof of our two-story home. Then we had a thaw. One evening when I returned home from work, I noticed that a thick sheet of ice and snow was hanging over the edge of the roof like a glacier hanging over a cliff. Our driveway runs right alongside the house, and one of our cars was parked ...

The following warnings were found on consumer products:

On a Duraflame fireplace log: "Caution—Risk of Fire."

On a Batman costume: "Warning: Cape does not enable user to fly."

On a bottle of hair coloring: "Do not use as an ice cream topping."

On a cardboard sun shield for a car: "Do not drive with sun shield in place."

On a portable stroller: "Caution: Remove infant before folding for storage."

A 2008 Harris Interactive survey sponsored by CarMD.com found that 10 percent of the 2,041 U.S. adults polled were driving a car whose "Check Engine" light was on. An alarming 50 percent of those whose cars were showing signs of an impending breakdown indicated the light had been on for over 3 months. Another 10 percent said the light had been on between 1–2 months. Kristin Brocoff, marketing ...

For the last 11 years, an anti-lawsuit group from Michigan has held "The Wacky Warning Label Contest" to show the effects of lawsuits on warning labels. A warning sticker on a small tractor that reads "Danger: Avoid Death" took home the top prize in 2007. Kevin Soave, a resident of the Detroit suburb Farmington Hills, submitted the winning label. Carrianne, Jacob, and Robby Turin of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, ...

When Dave Boon first saw the avalanche that swept his car over a guardrail on Interstate 40 in Denver, Colorado, it was only "a puff of powder, 10 yards ahead" of his two-door Honda Accord. After that brief warning, a snowy burst of wind knocked the car out of control. "Not even a second later," Boon said, "a freight train hit us"—what he later learned to be a roaring boxcar blast of tons of ...

Jason Grisham shouldn't be alive. During his attempt to scale an electrical tower, the 22-year-old man received a shock that is usually fatal. Partway up the tower, 69,000 volts of electricity coursed through his body, knocking Grisham to the ground. Despite suffering burns to his chest and having his pants explode, the young man was admitted to the hospital in good condition.

How did Grisham get into ...

In March of 2007, in the Kuban region of southern Russia, at least 62 people were killed by a fire that quickly blazed through a home for the elderly. The greatest tragedy was that it could have been prevented. Authorities say a night watchman ignored two fire alarms. When the third alarm sounded, and the watchman saw flames, he finally took the necessary action for evacuation. Even then, other staffers ...

A 2006 Health Letter from the Mayo Clinic offered these 12 tips for ladder safety:

1. Have somebody nearby to get help if you fall. 2. Don't get on a ladder if you're not sure about your physical ability, if you become tired easily, or if you are taking medication that causes dizziness or drowsiness. 3. Before getting on the ladder, inspect it for loose screws, rungs, hinges, etc. 4. Someone needs ...

I used to go visit my brother in law, and he would never wear a seat belt in the car. I always berated him for it. I remember one time he picked me up at the airport, and he had on his seat belt and shoulder harness. I said, "What happened? What changed you?"

He said, "I went to visit a friend of mine in the hospital who was in a car accident and went through the windshield. He had two or three hundred ...