I do safety work, and one of the key concepts is that idiots exist.
Say there’s a something so blatantly, incredibly stupid that only someone in the bottom 0.01% would do it (say, pushing their hand into boiling acid).
If 5 people walk past every hour, you’ll lose the first hand in April on average.
Even if you’re confident that the only people working a task are competent, they will eventually do something idiotic. Someone will have multiple nights with barely any sleep, or work really long shifts, or have a terrible event in their personal life. Eventually, someone will be trying to do their job while not fit for the task.
The concept of idiot proofing can sound derogatory or elitist at times, but the reality is that any one of us could end up being the idiot given bad enough circumstances.
