A roll of plastic plumbing pipe I ordered for a heating job I’m working on arrived in a carton that makes me worried. A 15 word printed warning is the reason why. It highlights a creeping menace that’s making it harder and more expensive for people to make good things happen in the real world. This includes the professionals you hire to work on your house, and even those times when you want to do renovations and upgrades yourself.

Printed right next to the oval hand hole cutouts on this cardboard carton were these words: “No hand hole, access hole only. Use as hand hold is at users own risk.”

Legal warnings about cardboard hand hole hazards are ridiculous on two counts and worrisome on a third. First, the oval holes were obviously made so you could grab the light but bulky 20-pound carton and pick it up. Who could possibly hurt themselves doing this? Second, the idea that these holes could be used to “access” a stiff, coiled, bound roll of plastic pipe is insane. Who are they trying to fool? The diameter of the pipe is bigger than the width of the oval hole itself. Short of looking inside to see if the pipe is actually there, there’s no opportunity for “access.”

I suspect the people behind the pipe company feel foolish about their printed warning, as any reasonable person should. I hope they do, anyway. The warning is obviously absurd, yet probably prudent. That’s what makes me sad. The only thing worse than a cardboard hand hole warning is what it says about a society’s attitudes towards personal responsibility.

We’re steadily trying to eliminate the reality that people should be the ones looking out for themselves in most things. And the trouble with reality is that it never goes away just because we want it to.

A world where companies need to protect themselves against cardboard hand hole injury lawsuits is a world where an unelected, unaccountable legal system has gone way too far in its quest to profit from absurd and debilitating litigation. This kind of dangerous nonsense isn’t just an American thing, either.

It isn’t even about creating a kinder, safer and better Canada. Courts, judges, lawyers and lawmakers certainly justify the expensive red tape they create in the name of righteous causes, but don’t be fooled. The growing amount of over-protective absurdity we face profits an elite and wealthy portion of society only, at the expense of ordinary Canadians trying to make ordinary ends meet.

A substantial portion of the cost of your next home renovation is due directly to the pointless inefficiencies your contractor faces trying to keep is business operating. Same goes for the cost of materials you’ll buy for your next DIY campaign. I know for a fact that a large part of the cost of the next ladder you’ll buy goes directly towards liability insurance costs incurred by the ladder manufacturer protecting themselves against lawsuits launched by people who fall off ladders. It’s insane.

As ideas of personal responsibility are eroded by foolishness that passes for prudence, Canada is worse off. Safety rules are essential for any civilized society, but only if they’re framed in the context of realistic ideas of personal responsibility. Have you ever noticed how so many new rules that affect everyday life come from bureaucrats, judges and legal precedent, without ever being influenced by the democratic process? Why are we Canadians taking this kind of thing lying down?

So what should we do? We could start by intentionally choosing greater personal responsibility in the small, everyday choices we make. And whatever you do, don’t call up a lawyer to pursue a lawsuit if you break a fingernail lifting a box of water pipe using one of those treacherous oval hand holes.