Look, some vintage horror movie posters! Or are they really?
Nope, they’re just posters reminding factory workers of some basic precautionary measures when working with all sorts of heavy equipment.
These images are undeniably striking, featuring bold fonts and surprisingly graphic imagery sending one’s imagination into the unpleasantly tactile land of torn appendages and squirting blood. Produced in the early-to-mid 20th century, these were meant to bring home a specific message* during dark times when safety measures were sorely lacking and working personnel was mostly illiterate. Unfortunately, it’s rather difficult to find these posters in decent condition, so today’s selection was somewhat dictated by what could be located online. This leaves out, alas, a couple of particularly gory examples. Still, I think you’ll agree that these fit a Hallowe’en count-down in graphics, if not necessarily in spirit!
*Something that goes like ‘don’t stick your body parts into the machine‘ is a good beginning.
The USSR was not the only country to resort to such candidly illustrated images in an effort to improve safety (let’s face it, a worker with fingers missing is no longer a good worker) – for example, Holland seemed to have its share of posters of chopped off fingers and electrocution.
~ ds
Who's Out There? 
“This could be you!” safety posters have a long history. I have a copy of one from the “Police Gazette” of 1889. Linemen, dealing with those wires on posts, up above the street, were reasonably common. The wires themselves were relatively safe, carrying telegraph and telephone signals. Then the electrification of everything began to happen, and incautious linemen found power lines were quite another level of danger. Sometimes they got fried in the experience. It taught the remaining linemen caution.
(And how the devil can I send you a copy of the picture? Replying to your e-mail posts just confuses the WordPress mailbox.)
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