Should Zip Ties (Cable Ties) Have a Warning Label?

[Wayne C.]

Should zip ties have a warning label?

As recent events at BE6 have shown, young people have a tendency to do less than safe things with them.

Your thoughts and stories......

[Mark McLeod]

It might be more efficent to put the warning labels on the humans...
"Delicate-handle with care"

[Alan Anderson]

WARNING
These devices are designed to wrap tightly around objects and not let go. Do not use them on things which should not be wrapped tightly, or on things which should be let go if they are wrapped tightly.

Actually, I think the standard Klingon warning label ought to be sufficient: yIQIpQo' (don't be stupid)

[DanDon]

I sincerely believe that when using zip ties for such nefarious and fun-giving purposes, all tools allowing these ties to be removed should be hidden away from said fun-goers. This would allow safe usage of these zip ties without providing for a chance of something like what happened to person M to occur.

The only damage to come out of this solution might be damage to the ego .

As for stories? I'll have to dig up a picture from last build season later today..

[Alivia]

I don't know if they should put warning labels on the zip ties, but people should be careful how they use them!

One time, while setting our robot up on a float for a Christmas parade, a team member thought it would be funny to put a zip tie on my wrist.
REAL TIGHT.
It was not fun, especially since it took a couple of minutes to get something to get it off!!

[Cynette]

Originally Posted by Alivia

...a team member thought it would be funny to put a zip tie on my wrist.
REAL TIGHT.
It was not fun, especially since it took a couple of minutes to get something to get it off!!

I also saw this happen at IRI, so fast, and then there was a zip tie around a wrist, turning pink, turning white, turning blue-purple as we all scrambled to dig for a tool to cut it off safely.

Somehow it just reinforced my perception that horseplay is never a good thing.

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by Cynette

... and then there was a zip tie around a wrist, turning pink, turning white, turning blue-purple as we all scrambled to dig for a tool to cut it off safely. ...

Bandage scissors are a good thing to have in the toolbox. Most drugstores have 'em in stock and they're usually about $5. Or if someone on your team has a nurse or EMT in the family there might be some extras available.

And Cynette is right, horseplay is never a good thing.

[Uberbots]

You can reverse zip ties by lifting the little locking mechanism in there... i have gotten out of many of messes this way

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Wayne C.

Should zip ties have a warning label?

As recent events at BE6 have shown, young people have a tendency to do less than safe things with them.

Your thoughts and stories......

The question should be: Should kids come with warning labels?
They tend to do silly dangerous things when they herd together, y'know.

[Zyik]

I'm all for the "don't be stupid" label. Should work out well.

As was said on the picture thread about this, 973 has experience with Zip-ties and emergency room visits.
- A student decided to tie a zip tie around his hand. It was tight enough to be hard to get off, but not tight enough to cut of circulation. However, to get it off the student got out his pocket knife... and cut down on the zip tie. Yes, this means he sliced his hand right open. I do believe stitches were involved after the mad rush to the emergency room.

[Molten]

Look at it this way. We have to put it on coffee, ladders, food, and countless other things. Why not put them on zip ties? Just a little print saves the company from law suits. That way the idiots of the world don't do something stupid and then turn a profit off of their own ignorance.

Personally, I'm against the use of warning labels in general. It's a slightly negative view, but the population issue would be solved if there were no more warning labels on anything... that would also raise the average IQ.

[technoL]

So what is the proper way to remove yourself from a ziptie? My hands got ziptied while unalert during my freshman year at the Palmetto Regional 2006. I actually had to run up to the top of the stadium from the field level, almost falling several times to find someone with a pocket knife to free me. Is there really a safe way to get them off?

I really don't think they should have warning labels though. Its almost like putting a warning label on duct tape.

[Jay H 237]

Originally Posted by Zyik

- A student decided to tie a zip tie around his hand. It was tight enough to be hard to get off, but not tight enough to cut of circulation. However, to get it off the student got out his pocket knife... and cut down on the zip tie. Yes, this means he sliced his hand right open. I do believe stitches were involved after the mad rush to the emergency room.

You can slice yourself right open with zip ties too. Sometimes when you cut them and you leave a little tab or tail of the tie sticking out of the lock it can be a razor.

We use zip ties everyday in work with our robots and the IGUS energy chains. I've gotten sliced pretty good on several occasions. Some people have needed stitches, I've been lucky and only needed butterflys so far.

I use a small 4" pair of snips when cutting them as they can get real close. This way if I brush up against one or have to reach down inside one on our injection molding robots at work my hand and arm won't look like they were attacked by cats!

[basicxman]

i think that if people are dumb enough to do something like this then a warning label isn't going to stop them

besides zipties are small do you think there going to be that readable?