The complaint about the safety conditions at an all-day conference in 1987 on preventable disasters is taken as the starting-point of discussion, both during that Conference and at a meeting afterwards, on the responses, typically irritation and denial, generated by warnings of disasters in general. These responses are linked to those of a child warned by his parents, as in the example of Tiresias's warning to King Oedipus in Sophocles's play, which illustrates such responses to warnings and reasons for them. It is suggested that an understanding of such reactions could lead to generally more effective responses to anxiety about possible dangers.