Bold yellow dominates the cover art, where a worker’s face is pressed uncomfortably close to exposed machine wheels and belts. The poster’s headline is brutally specific—“HALF A HEAD, 20 Square inches of scalp lost”—a line designed to jolt anyone who’s ever leaned in “just for a second” to check a jammed or running mechanism. Below, the challenge “CAN YOU AFFORD THIS” turns injury into an unmistakable cost, with the National Safety Council of Australia credited at the bottom.
Instead of relying on gentle reminders, this 1970s safety poster uses shock and immediacy to make workplace hazards feel personal. The illustrated scene focuses on the dangerous proximity between hair, skin, and moving parts, echoing the era’s hard-edged approach to occupational health and safety messaging. It’s a visual lesson in guarding machinery, keeping clear of moving components, and respecting the consequences of inattention.
Collected today, National Safety Council of Australia posters like this read as both public-health history and graphic design history—simple composition, high-contrast color, and unforgettable phrasing built for factory floors and break rooms. For readers exploring Australian safety campaigns of the 1970s, the artwork offers a window into how prevention was communicated before modern compliance language took over. The result is a piece that remains strikingly effective: direct, unsettling, and impossible to ignore.