A long way down in a galaxy far, far away.

 

 

As I've mentioned before, I'm involved in training for longshore workers at British Columbia's cargo terminals. Obviously safety is a large part of that training, and after almost seven years of working on content dealing with hazard recognition and management, I've been left with a heightened awareness of workplace safety.

This awareness sometimes pops up at unexpected moments.  After seeing Rogue One, I was talking with Glen, our Safety Systems Manager, and I asked if he'd seen the movie yet.  He said that he and his wife had seen it the previous week.

"Tell me something, Glen - did it bother you that it was so easy to fall off of things?"

"YES!!!  I told Tina that!  Why are there no railings or safety cages??"

It's an odd thing, but every Star Wars movie offers its characters an opportunity to easily fall a long, long way. It happens twice in A New Hope, once in The Empire Strikes Back, once in The Return of the Jedi, once in The Phantom Menace, I think once or twice in Attack of the Clones, at least twice in Revenge of the Sith, once or twice in The Force Awakens (depending on your standards) - and, of course, three times in Rogue One. How is it that there are no occupational health and safety people demanding proper safety standards in the Star Wars universe?

Forget lack of faith, Vader - personally, I find your lack of guard rails disturbing.

- Sid

P.S.  There are much, much better examples from Rogue One than the shots I started with, but until it hits Blu-ray and iTunes I'm stuck with the trailer and whatever I can find online.