Beware Mushroomed Tools
A stylised photomontage shows a worker's face half hidden by a bandage, a red warning triangle, a pair of spectacles and a chisel with a splayed (mushroomed) head, under the words 'Beware mushroomed tools'. The tell is the bandaged face used as the consequence of ignoring the warning.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Ministry of Labour and National Service, produced by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents; artist Pat Keely; printed by Loxley Bros. Ltd.
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Labor, Health
- Event
- World War II
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (UK Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired before 1996; no URAA restoration)
Ministry of Labour and National Service / Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents; artist Pat Keely; printed by Loxley Bros. Ltd. U.S. National Archives, WWII Foreign Posters (NAID 44266286, 44-PF-101).
Text on the object
BEWARE MUSHROOMED TOOLS Issued by the Ministry of Labour and National Service and produced by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, Terminal House, 52, Grosvenor Gardens, London, S.W.1. ML/47 Printed by LOXLEY BROS. LTD. [signature:] Pat Keely
