77 Seemingly Harmless Things That Can Be Incredibly Dangerous, As Shared By People In This Online Thread
Have you ever wondered if the health threat lurking in your pantry may be something as innocuous as a plastic cutting board? Apparently, many pathogens, primarily E. coli and salmonella, thrive in those cuts and crevices made from all the dicing and slicing. When you think of it, there's no need to leave your house and engage in some of the most dangerous activities to put one's health in danger. In fact, many hidden hazards in a space we believe to be our safe haven could pose a health threat if we don't take appropriate measures.
However, on a pessimistic (or realistic) note, the world around us isn't as safe as it seems. Human bodies are programmed to react with a fight-or-flight response to dangerous activities that may potentially threaten our health. However, this reflex won't operate in the face of hidden dangers. Hence, it's essential to educate oneself on dangerous things and activities that seem safe but can be incredibly harmful. When someone in the AskReddit community asked, "What seems harmless but is incredibly dangerous?" many jumped on the thread to share their thoughts and experiences that others may learn from.
Below, we've compiled some of the best responses from the thread, sharing things that seem safe but can be incredibly dangerous. Upvote the answers you agree with, and let us know in the comments whether you have encountered something that initially looked harmless but turned out to be dangerous.
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shindleria wrote:
"Wild mushrooms."
TheMightyJ62 replied:
"In the famous words of Sir Terry Pratchett, "All mushrooms are edible. Some are only edible once.""
"There’s that Peppa Pig episode about spiders, teaching UK kids that they are nice and friendly; and that episode is banned in Australia.
So there you go, here’s my answer: Peppa Pig episodes."
No, that episode is not banned in Aus, thankfully though Peppa Pig is no longer a thing in Aus thanks to the genius of Bluey.
bomboclawt75 wrote:
"Pushing someone’s face into a cake as a joke.
Some cakes have little wooden spikes inside to support the cake.
Saw a post where a girl’s face was gored by one of these."
irisheye37 replied:
"Not to mention literally no one wants their face shoved into a cake."
catsonmyface wrote:
"Petting someone’s dog without asking."
softcatsocks replied:
"Or worse, hugging and putting their face near theirs. People need to know that not all dogs are Doug from the movie Up.."
"Putting your feet up on the dash while riding as a passenger in a moving car. You do NOT want to see post-accident photos of what happens when someone is in that posture in a surprise head-on collision."
darthatheos wrote:
"Silence in a house with toddlers."
Jadou454 replied"
"Toddler noises in a house at night when you don't have children."
"A human bite. I worked at a kindergarten and one kid was sometimes super sweet but sometimes really mean. He could switch in a second. While I was naming the colouring pages they were about to get he walked up to me and bit me in the arm. Didn't think it was through, cuz no blood. But it started swelling and getting red and the marks were clearly there. Went to the doc right after my shift. He explained a human bite is the second most dangerous bite there is. Got antibiotics but they didn't work. Arm just kept swelling and getting completely dark purple over two days. Doctor sent me to the hospital where I got strong antibiotics. Basically everything in me was cleaned with that sh*t, felt weak for months. If it didn't start working by that night is have to come back and be hospitalised to get my underarm removed. I've sh*t some bricks there. Never thought a kids bite could cause this. Luckily the swelling got less and the bruise stopped spreading so I still have my arm, but that was very close."
"Having a small snack before a medical procedure that requires anesthesia. Intubation can cause you to throw up your food and you can choke."
"Horseback riding or biking without a helmet. Sure helmets suck and don’t look cool, but you gotta protect those BRAINS. And soooo many people just don’t."
Riding a motorcycle with only a helmet. For some reason motorcycle suits aren't obligatory where I live, only helmets, but it takes 30 cm of pavement for denim to be scraped away, imagine how fast your skin would peel away.
alekdefuneham wrote:
"Throwing your friend in the pool."
Arqueete replied:
"I have only the most basic swimming skills and have never jumped into deep water. It is my nightmare that someone will make assumptions about my swimming skills and think it's funny to push me in or dunk me under."
"Amateur mental health advice. Everyone is an armchair psychologist these days and that creates problems. Diagnosing and treating mental illness is actually incredibly complex. There's a reason we make people study for so many years before we call them experts.
If a friend comes to you complaining about a serious mental health condition like depression, suicide, anxiety, etc. your first advice should always be "see an expert". It's way easier than you think to give negligent advice that can make the problem worse. Instead, be a listener. Chances are nothing you say can fix your friend's mental health issue. It's far more helpful to be a sympathetic ear than to give potentially negligent advice."
Sometimes people just need to vent and want you to lend an ear without advice and feedback.
"Not wearing sunscreen."
I've got 8 stitches in my arm right now after getting a small mole removed. It was about as close to melanoma as you can get without actually having melanoma so they had to cut big and deep to clear it. I've had over 40 of these surgeries since high school, and usually need another about every 6 months. Granted, skin cancer runs in my family, but wear your sunscreen! And yes, voice of experience, you can get a second degree sunburn on a cool overcast day!
"A lot of "pranks" do not end well. They involve a toxic combination of physical action with surprise based on (misplaced) trust which often than not end badly- if not physically then emotionally."
I hate pranks with all my heart. Some are harmless, some are even funny, but generally speaking, they're a recipe for disaster.
"Lint. too much lint in a dryer can cause a fire. gotta clean that stuff out on the regular"
JanusIsBlue wrote:
"DULL KNIVES. Dull knives are far more likely to cause an incident compared to a sharp one."
AddSomeSpice replied:
"Also, a falling knife has no handle."
"Driving when sleepy!"
I can confirm this. Tried to drive and sleep at the same time, did not end well. Totaled a truck with only 15,000 miles on it. Scary thing is that I didn't feel sleepy. Felt fine and wide awake. The sleepy snuck up on me and WHAM! Across the road, through a ditch and into a tree.
"ER nurse... I had a teenage girl come from Home economics class. She was sewing and had a pin between her lips. I mean, who hasn’t done that? She sucked it in and it got lodged in her throat. While waiting for a scope she felt it dislodge and went deep into her main bronchial. She required major surgery. Had a young boy running with a toothbrush in his mouth. Got jammed way deep, almost hit a major artery..."
"Grapefruit juice.
By itself it's perfectly fine, but a lot of people aren't aware that grapefruit juice specifically has interactions with a LOT of different drugs, both medical and recreational, and can be potentially very dangerous when combined"
fireball2294 wrote:
"Texting while driving. You might think this is obvious but I see many people texting and driving everyday. Not cool and definitely not safe."
Narge1 replied:
"I saw a dude pull onto a busy street from a parking lot without looking up from his phone for even a second to see if it was clear. I couldn't believe the stupidity and luck I'd just seen."
It is just selfish, mindless behavior. Anyone can be a good driver, but here's the thing-you need to PAY ATTENTION!
"Being conflict avoidant. People think they are trying to keep the peace by not causing friction, but when you don’t have healthy conflict, boundaries get run over, your get burnt out, you feel unheard or taken advantage of and on a higher level, terrible people get into and keep positions of power and oppression when people opt to stay silent rather than challenge the status quo for the sake of pseudo-unity."
"For kids, someone online with a sympathetic ear for their problems. Responsible adults will try to put you in touch with real-life help, not encourage a pattern of reliance and inappropriate intimacy. Bonus danger points on anyone who throws down "You're really mature for your age." Predators online work just like real-life hunting predators; their first goal is to separate you from your herd."
"Following too closely in your car. Not just tailgating, but even following 50+ feet behind in fast traffic. Next time you're in your car, wait for the car in front of you to pass a clear marker like an exit sign or a bridge, then count the seconds until you reach this marker. This is the amount of time you have to react (and potentially save your own life) in an emergency. I always shoot for 3 seconds, which is about 20 car-lengths in 70mph traffic. For people who follow a 3 car-lengths rule, you have about .4 seconds to react in the same situation, and I'm not that quick under pressure."
kwick818 wrote:
"Walking along the train tracks. It’s crazy how fast millions of pounds of freight can sneak up on you."
tx-tapes-n-records replied:
"Yes! You would think “how can you not hear that thing coming?” But I run on a trail next to some train tracks and they can literally be right behind me before I hear them."
boodoorooloo wrote:
"Energy drinks. So much woo woo with actual consequences."
SageSilinous replied:
"Our class was taught CPR & First Aid by a real, live ambulance driver / paramedic. Cool guy.
One of his 'fail revives' was a teenager-kid that did too many energy drinks combined with video games. Heart attack was the result. He told us the worst part was his dad, right there, begging to bring his lad back, his boy.
So you may not die slowly. Even kids in their (relative) prime can die instantly with enough excitement with the wrong drinks."
Conversely, dehydration from sports. A healthy, strong athlete can drop dead from loss of fluids and electrolytes.
"Cat bites. Cat fangs puncture deep and trap bacteria deep within your tissue, leading to horrible infections. You might think one isn't serious because it's not bleeding much, but that just means the wound isn't flushing properly - if you get seriously bitten by a cat, it's very important to go to urgent care so they can properly disinfect the wound."
My great aunt, and a cousin, both contracted sepsis from a cat bite, and both passed, (I think BP censors the d word?) I had a bite that swelled up to the size of a beef tomato, but a quick rinse with salt water and the application of sudocrem sorted it.
acker1je wrote:
"Giving grapes to dogs. They’re quite toxic."
reebs01 replied:
"A while ago I knocked some grapes off the counter and they rolled all over the place. My dog managed to eat some before I could run around and pick them all up. Of course it was the weekend so we had to go to the special weekend vet. They gave her stuff to make her puke, which she did and then she immediately started to eat the grapes she puked up. Not her brightest moment."
Another really bad thing to give your dog: Xylitol sugar free anything. Have had to treat a couple of dogs who got through the dangerous low blood sugar level issues then got into a very serious liver failure. Both survived btw.
"Not checking / changing the tires on your car.
Someone back me up on this.
You can't just drive around with the same tires on forever. Eventually you'll end up doing donuts in the middle of a wet interstate because your back tires lost traction."
"Pool covers. It's like being wrapped in a bedsheet underwater. You cannot get free and you cannot scream for help. Once you're in the only way to get out is to be incredibly lucky and get free or have faith that someone saw or heard you fall in and hope that they get you in time.
It's a lengthy, terrifying, death that's completely avoidable."
garbage_band wrote:
"Riptide and 4ft waves... my friend drowned at the beach from a sneaker set. Terrible."
Commenter No. 2 replied:
"For everyone else reading this - keep swimming parallel to shore. You’ll get pulled out a little bit, but more importantly you’ll also get out of the riptide without being exhausted and can then get back."
Lifeguards. Don’t swim anywhere deeper than your ankles that is not watched over by trained lifeguards. Swim Parallel to the shore, swim across the rip current—whatever. Just keep your head above water and stay alive long enough for a trained lifeguard to reach you. Also for your consideration, the fatality rate for untrained persons who try to assist drowning or struggling persons is 75%. Fearful odds. Support lifeguard programs.
"Hippos look like goofy, cute, friendly animals; but they are among the most dangerous animals that you could ever encounter. They are the one animal that even Steve Irwin was afraid of and wouldn't go near."
PattyMeltz420 wrote:
"Cat Scratch Fever.
Yeah the song is pretty cool but that’s about it. A stray cat scratched my dad one time and F*CKED his sh*t up."
RaeKay14 replied:
"I got Bartonella as a teenager, and was part of the 0.0001% who get it and have no symptoms other than literally GOING BLIND. Woke up one morning and couldn’t see out of my right eye. Took a few months to diagnose, got some fun steroid infusions, and finally regained sight like 6 months later. Suuuuuper fun as a 14-year-old."
FireTrick wrote:
"Walking up and down house stairs."
eleanor61 replied:
"I have four flights in my house, and I always have my hand on the railing. It’s no joke having that feeling of losing your footing while your balance is off heading downstairs."
Don't!! My grandma fell down a flight of stairs and hasn't been the same since. Knocked herself out, and now she can hardly even walk. This was about 7/8 years ago and she wasn't even 60. Be careful peeps...
"Turbulence. If proper precautions are being taken, it's not dangerous, but under certain circumstances, it can be.
Keep your seatbelt on at ALL times when you're sitting, even if the light isn't on. The flight crew doesn't just recommend this to ruin your day. CAT (clear air turbulence) can happen at any time, without warning, and people have been seriously injured by being thrown from their seats and hitting the overhead bins, seats, other passengers, etc.
Lap infants - BIG no-no. I'm not sure why the FAA even allows this. Infants are safest in a car seat for air travel. The minute the plane hits a bump, mom's (or whoever is holding the baby) arms are going to loosen and a child whose skull hasn't fully fused together is going to go airborne. In the case of baby-wearing, any impact the wearer incurs is also going to affect the child, and given how little room there is between rows of airplane seats, there's a much greater chance of injury to the baby. It probably seems ridiculous to most folks to have to purchase a separate seat for a small child, and while I wholeheartedly agree that the airline industry is rife with money-grubbing blood-suckers, this is one expense you can't afford to skimp on.
Source: I personally know several airline pilots and crew members who have seen this sh*t first-hand."
YES! I always think this. Why are infants and small kids advised to be sitting on the parent's lap for the sake of room? Why is the sake of room and giving up their seat for another adult the reason children should sacrifice their safety? The safest place IS their car seat. They are not little accessories. They are people with just as much right their seat as anyone else.
Symnestra wrote:
"Oceanside cliff blow holes. People think they're so much fun to stand around and play with. You fall into one of those things, you aren't getting out. The waves will just bludgeon you against the rocks until you die or you're lucky enough to drown first."
SafeEducational7139 replied:
"I live on the Oregon coast & that happened to a young man years ago in a town that's about 40 minutes from me. He jumped over the cement wall boundary at a lookout spot & was standing on rocks where the ocean was very active that day & water was hitting rocks & spraying all over. There was a hole right by him & the water came up & hit him, knocked him down & took him down the hole out into the ocean. There wasn't anything anyone could do. - (I can't imagine dying that way. What he must have gone through. Wow.)"
I heard that incident from Mr. Ballen on Youtube. There's other videos of people walk outside the fence and going close to the blow hole.
"Garage door springs. I DIY a lot of things, but after reading about door springs I'll let the professionals handle it."
WilliamBruceBailey wrote:
"Cute little palm-sized octopi with cute little blue rings on it."
Crimtot replied:
"Sounds adorable."
fubarbob added:
"Up until the tetrodotoxin starts doing its thing, I suppose."
Commenter No. 1 wrote:
"Pushing people over as a "prank"."
Choo- replied:
"Yep, you should only ever push people over out of malice and discontent."
JohnLayman wrote:
"Cleaning ammonia with bleach."
Mollusc_Memes replied:
"Never clean up cat pee with bleach. When my dad taught me to clean the litter box, that was the first thing he said. It’s a violation of the Geneva Convention, and could kill the family."
My mom demanded I clean the litter box with bleach because she was so disgusted with it. My lungs that day. I thought I was going to die.
doyley27 wrote:
"Riding a horse."
jonndos replied:
The riding is mostly fine, it's the falling off or getting kicked in the head that is the problem."
When I was a child my friend and I used to go to a paddock nearby and just sit on the horses without a saddle or any support and rode them for a little fun. Nothing ever happened but when I think of our stupidity now, I really believe we were just really lucky. Btw none of us ever learned riding, we just did it.
Commenter No.1 wrote:
"Sports gambling apps."
_illegallity replied:
"Gambling in general honestly. For some idiotic reason Twitch is allowing it, a site that has a massive amount of children watching."
"Oil painting in a closed studio."
My mom and grandma used to oil paint landscape pictures together in the dining room. Used to give me a terrible migraine.
I_might_be_weasel wrote:
"Escalators."
kumocat replied:
"When I was a kid, I saw a news report about about a freak accident on an escalator. A woman was standing on one and the stair collapsed beneath her feet. She feel through and her legs were ground up by the gears. Ever since I heard that, I'm a little bit scared of them. I think about it every time I get on one."
I got a new fear with escalators now. I don't understand and find it so infuriating when I see people balancing strollers on them. A baby can fall out, the wheels can roll, the brakes can break (they're often plastic), the adults could lose their balance and their grip. I don't know why this is even tolerated in malls.
"Jumping into bodies of water. In most northern countries, jumping into the ocean or a lake can be deadly. as soon as your body hits that freezing water, your muscles can seize and those with heart conditions can even have a heart attack. It only takes water"
I'd advise against jumping into any body of water regardless of temperature because all it takes is one good bonk between your head and the bottom of whatever it is you're jumping into to become a paraplegic for the rest of your life.
"Water in general, but fast moving water specifically. 2 or 3 inches of water is all that's needed to sweep you off of your feet if it's moving fast.
12 inches of water will lift and sweep away a car.
Water is heavy and will f*ck you up if you don't respect it."
Almost drowned in a river years ago, and had just realized I had to surrender to it when someone saved me. I never knew you could cough up so much water.
badtattoodude wrote:
"Texting coworkers after you’ve been drinking."
kutuup1989 replied:
"I'm a sober alcoholic, and I used to make this mistake all the goddamned time. It was actually doing this that alerted my colleagues to the fact that I had a problem and led them to give me an intervention and direct me to get help. I was lucky enough to have colleagues that cared about my wellbeing over my performance at work. They're still my colleagues to this day, and I hope we will be a team for a long time :)
(and yes, I perform a lot better at work without the sauce!)"
"Climbing a ladder. It doesn't even have to be a big ladder. Even one of those two step ladders are incredibly dangerous. One ill placed step can change your entire life."
I read somewhere (probably insurance statistics) many years ago, that 50% of the retail cost of a ladder went to Litigation !
justanotherlead wrote:
"Mandolin slicer. USE THE HANDGUARD. Or lose a thumb..."
Commenter No. 2 replied:
"One of my favorite ED notes it’s been a few years but it read something like this: “31-year-old male sustained laceration to 3rd digit on right hand while using mandolin.” also in the same room “28-year-old female sustained laceration of 2nd digit on right hand while using mandolin after partner sustained similar injury.”"
Butchers and Woodworkers that have not lost a digit yet, are just standing in line
ComputerDeletus wrote:
"Well, cows seem pretty harmless but these guys aren't to be underestimated i got attacked by a mother one for getting a bit too close to the calf, i was lucky the horns were specifically made to be round otherwise i would have lived with one kidney from then on, since It rammed into my kidney but not hard enough to damage thankfully, still hurt like hell after tho."
Tkieron replied:
"Your chance of being killed by a cow are low.
But never zero."
"'Just closing your eyes for a few more minutes' after cutting your alarm off. I have to either get up or hit the snooze button or I’m going to be out for hours lol."
"Feeding wildlife. Even if it seems safe for yourself to do so it's probably very dangerous for the animal you feed. It's very likely that feeding a wild animal may lead to it's death."
"Paracetamol and/or Ibuprofen
It's a really common, easy to get hold of and cheap pain killer but can be deadly as f*ck.
I work in the health care business and I've seen people who have tried to kill themselves with paracetamol. They generally take 30-50 500mg tablets. This is usually a potentially fatal dose (dependant on body weight) as it can lead to liver failure.
Yet I have seen people with a simple toothache (and I know it can be the worst pain ever as I've had it myself) who have taken 3-6 times that dosage as they can't cope with the pain but don't think they have done anything wrong since it's kept the pain at bay not whilst realising they are blitzkrieging their liver. Most recently was a 23 year old who'd had toothache in his wisdom tooth for a couple of weeks and had developed and abscess. He was taking 2x 500mg Paracetamol and 2x 200mg Ibuprofen every 15 minutes as the pain was so bad that it was the only way he could dull the pain.
When told they have to go to ED right away the response is usually "why? it's only paracetamol and ibuprofen. They wouldn't sell them if they were bad for you"."
Paracetamol, AKA Acetominophen, is indeed nasty and many overdoses, accidental or otherwise, end up with severe irreversible liver damage. Ibuprofen is not in the same category; yes, it can cause gastric issues with sustained over-use, or in some people even normal dosage for an extended period, but it's nowhere near as bad as paracetamol.
"Flour.
As a dust it is highly flammable."
Most anything that has been ground into a powder is flammable. Coffee creamer, sugar, flour, even metal.
valakom wrote:
"Jumping on a trampoline."
Commenter No. 2 replied:
"Worked EMS for years. A trampoline fun zone place opened up in our city. Suddenly it accounted for like 10% of our traumas. (mostly just broken arms and legs but still)"
i actually broke two bones in my left arm at the same time because i was bounced off the edge of a trampoline! i’m glad i had the foresight to stick my arm out because otherwise i would’ve broke my neck.
Niblick_Henbane wrote:
"The "cinnamon challenge" that was all the rage a few years back. When aspirated, it can cause severe burns on nasal passages and airways."
lsqueakerzl replied:
"I am actually deathly allergic to cinnamon. I joke with my friends that on my deathbed I'd like to try Cinabon."
"Kids picking flowers in the park. I am a conservation Technician for a county park system, at least once a year I have to stop parents with kids picking flowers off the trail because I see kids with either poison hemlock (one of the deadliest plants if injesting even a tiny amount) or wild parsnip, which can cause some serious permanent scarring, burns, and boils if the sap gets on to your skin and is exposed to sunlight. Don't let your kids pick or eat anything you aren't 100% sure of."
DarthMalec wrote:
"Stone fish: camouflage fish, very painful venom
Cone snail: orange white cone-shaped shell that often looks attractive and enticing, until you pick it up."
definitelynecessary replied:
"I wanted to look at these wondrous creatures so I typed "stone fish" into google, had a look, and marvelled. I then typed "c" and... cone snail was the 2nd suggestion.
Algorithms be knowin."
I found a stone fish in Egypt. It was in shallows, camouflaged on the sand. I had a snorkel on and I still almost touched it. Someone could easily step on it
"SPILLWAYS.
As an Engineer, I have seen and understand that they CAN KILL YOU. I know that when the toe or last half of a spillway is filled and there is a pool at the bottom, a whirlpool can be created. Not the whirlpool your thinking off at the public pool that spins you around. It's similar but turned on its side.
The whirlpool it created will prevent you from swimming away from the spillway or even create waves pushing you down. The water goes down the spillway and then rushes back up where the incoming water pushes it back down again. The force can be so great that you cannot get out.
Kids see these spillways as water slides with pools on the bottom. If they're large spillways. Canoe-ers see them as a small waterfall. These hidden whirlpool CAN KILL YOU! People go down the spillways and get trapped and will drown. They can become extremely dangerous."
"Small cuts you get when doing marine stuff.
If you are diving/snorkeling at a coral reef and lightly scrape yourself on some coral, for the love of god disinfect the living sh*t out of that, no matter how "mild" it looks. The bacteria on coral will literally eat your leg off.
Having small cuts on your hand while handling stuff like diatomaceous earth or sea sponges can cause tiny glass spines to enter your blood stream and poke tiny holes in all those blood highways running through you. While this is a bit of a he-said she-said story, my professor apparently had a student hospitalized and die due to massive internal bleeding issues from handling this sh*t day after day."
"Those black foodstuffs with charcoal in them. Charcoal interacts with a bunch of medications, gets in the way of nutrient absorption, an can really upset your digestive tract."
"Taking pictures of bears (apparently it looks harmless to people in yellowstone) bears are faster than many expect especially uphill so if you are ever near a bear and want a picture stay in your car to do it."
"I read a study recently on a rare disorder called eagle's syndrome. A little bone at the base of your skull gets too long.
There were about 30 cases in the US last year where someone was talking on their phone, dancing, just looking up and pointing at something and that little bone was long enough to sever their internal carotid artery.
Weird to think someone's body just tried to end it all for looking up."
"Having loose, untucked shirt, or long sleeve, or long, untied hair pulled into any type of spinning motor such as a drill press, cut-off (chop) saw, table saw to prevent being pulled into a machine and becoming macerated as it can happen exceedingly quickly or when cleaning steel with naphtha prepping for patina around sawdust on a table, as it can spontaneously combust (set your work table on fire)."
Many winters ago, I was a machinist. There are so many ways to be hurt or killed using tools. Tools don't care. Get tangled up in a lathe, it starts to reel you in and wrapping you around the moving parts. If it isn't turned off, it doesn't stop. Just keeps going untill your meaty parts are torn off.
"Putting your mouth on a helium tank nozzle. Years ago when I was about 10, my younger brother and I were at a wedding that last late into the night. We had grouped up with the other kids no longer under the watchful eye of adults and proceeded to look for entertainment. We started on the balloons rather quickly but thought it took to long to suck the helium out and since no one was really watching us anymore we decided to go to the source and take turns with our mouths on the tall tank we found. God, when I look back and think of the damage we could have done."
I knew a guy who used a helium tank to take his own life. They're no joke
"Watching WWE as a kid and practicing moves on the neighbor's kid. DO YOU SMELL WHAT THE ROCK IS COOKING?
waaaahhh I have a broken arm!"
Caverjen wrote:
"Over-the-counter medicines. Just because you can get something without a prescription does not mean it's safe in all cases or in high doses."
woundedbearhair replied:
"A former NFL player died from liver disease caused by OTC pain medication..."
"Weirdly specific, but leaking hydraulic fluid from a small crack in a pressurized manifold. It doesn’t shoot out like a gas would, instead looks like droplets, but if you put your thumb over it, it shoots toxic hydraulic fluid into your bloodstream."
Also bursting hydraulic lines. High pressure oil spray can slice you like a knife. Saw this happen once. The spray cut through someone's shirt like it was nothing. Fortunately only minor injuries, but it happened in less than the blink of an eye.
"Inhaling helium.
It can cause a gas or air embolism if inhaled by a pressurized tank. Breathing in pure helium can cause physical asphyxiation in mere minutes.
It's all fun and games normally, until you stop laughing literally forever. I never realized it was dangerous until a mother started an educational campaign bc her daughter was inhaling helium at a party for fun with her friends making the funny voice when she fell back and was dead near instantly."
"Letting water from a fresh water source up your nose. Most of the time it will be fine, but every once in a while you'll get a brain eating amoeba that has a 99.9% fatality rate. This is in the US as well."
Commenter No.1 wrote:
"My floor when I have socks."
Aebous replied:
"In this line, my stairs, doesn't matter if I'm socked or not. Stairs are my arch nemesis."
"Starting a car in a closed garage."
"Procrastination. At first it's actually good for you to blow off some steam and you'll be back more focused than where you left. But once procrastination turns into literally procrastinating even with the things you like, the things you NEED to do to live, such as cooking, washing your clothes and else, you'll realize it has consumed your life without it actually consuming it, you'll just be there in a limbo, knowing how it happened but avoiding getting out of that cycle unconsciously."
erebus wrote:
"Eating spoonfuls of peanut butter. Easy to choke on, impossible to dislodge."
Commenter No. 2 replied:
"I love spoonfuls of peanut butter but who just shoves all of it in there in one go? You lick it off the spoon like it's an ice cream cone."
irishdancer2 added:
"Preferably dipping it in chocolate chips between each lick."
"Keeping a wrong position at the chair while playing or using the computer, after some time it's gonna cost you your back health later on."
jonnyk999 wrote:
"Taking more Tylenol then suggested."
Commenter No.2 replied:
"Also, don’t take Tylenol with alcohol, or even for a hangover! Makes liver risk even higher."
"Eating raw or undercooked kidney beans can make you very sick or even kill you. It only takes like 3 undercooked kidney beans to ruin your day."
"Silicon chips. Very safe in the finished product form, but dear god the chemicals involved are dangerous.
One component in production is pure hydrogen and it is the safest one.
Another is trichlorosilane. It’s auto ignite temp is ~40 Fahrenheit. It’s combustible on contact with moisture (which includes humidity). When it mixes with water and doesn’t manage to explode its temperature skyrockets and the byproduct is hydrochloric acid.
I learned this while working in a polysilicon factory when they dumped it on my crew from an “empty vessel.”"
I've used hydrochloric acid in testing precious metals. You do not want to breathe that in, and getting it on your skin can cause third degree burns
"A room full of nitrogen, or some other non CO2 gas. The urge to breathe comes from the buildup of carbon dioxide, not the lack of oxygen. You'll feel fine until the moment you pass out. Lab techs have died in such rooms, so I'm told."
