Poland continues to provide me with material that no Health & Safety textbook could ever hope to compete with.
This time, the attraction was located in an ordinary residential stairwell.
Some workers renovating one of the apartments had apparently decided that paying for their own electricity was an unnecessary extravagance. Why bother with such administrative inconveniences when the entire building has a perfectly good electrical board downstairs?
So, allegedly, they helped themselves.
And this was not some discreet little extension lead tucked carefully along a wall.
Oh no.
This cable deserved an audience.
It emerged from an open electrical cabinet containing a wonderfully improvised-looking collection of connections, plugs and wires, then travelled confidently across the communal floor before beginning its journey up the staircase.
Several floors.
Along the stairs.
Beside—and at points against—the metal handrail connecting the building’s floors.
It was less an electrical installation and more an interactive experience for the residents.
Every trip downstairs now came with additional entertainment:
Will I trip over it?
Will somebody damage the cable?
Is that handrail still just a handrail?
And should touching it be considered an act of faith?
The workers themselves apparently had tremendous confidence in the arrangement. Perhaps their risk assessment consisted of:
Likelihood of something going wrong: Probably not.
Severity if it does: Let’s not spoil the mood.
Control measure: Don’t think about it.
But the most fascinating part wasn’t even the improvised electrical supply.
It was everyone else.
Residents apparently walked past it. Up the stairs. Down the stairs. Past the open electrical cabinet. Over or around the cable.
Day after day.
And nobody seemed sufficiently concerned to contact the building management or local authorities.
Which made me wonder whether I was looking at an unsafe electrical installation… or whether I had accidentally discovered a perfectly legitimate Polish utility tariff:
Electricity Plan: Neighbourhood Unlimited
€0 per month
Installation by whoever happens to be renovating Flat 7.
Extension lead included.
Public liability not included.
Metal staircase handrail may occasionally provide additional features.
Perhaps everyone simply assumed that if something genuinely dangerous were happening, surely someone else would report it.
And because nobody reported it, it couldn’t possibly be dangerous.
A beautiful circle of reassurance.
I still don’t know whether the workers were convinced nothing would ever happen, or whether they were quietly waiting for the building to provide them with one of those legendary “something funny happened at work today” stories.
Personally, when the potential punchline involves electricity and a metal handrail serving several floors, I prefer my comedy slightly less interactive.
But once again, I have to admire the optimism.
Why install proper temporary power when you have an extension lead, an unlocked electrical board and the unwavering belief that electricity respects confidence?
Another day. Another informal Polish risk assessment.
Hazard identified.
Risk acknowledged by absolutely nobody.
Work continues.