Page 30 - Louisiana 811 Magazine 2018 Issue 1

he reeent events surrounding the tailed and tragic
I Niger attack with the loss uiAmnncan soldiers and
the ensuing barrage of news coverage from differ-
ent eamps regarding the handling of virtually every
aspect of the events highlighted, for me, an issue which is
Pf-Oper
I l iirst grappled with this issue when weanng the dual hats
of satety oiiieer and risk/loss manager fur a large construe-
tion company From my viewpoint, these are two of the most
By,” W diiiicult roles to fulfill simultaneously Many years ago, l
was asked to assist a contractor who had been involverl in a
= iatal accident without going into its specifies, the accident
was ui a nature that involved not only saiety protocol but
also several regulatory agencies and thus a great number of

‘ redundant and sometimes eontticting rules and regulations.
nel poured over the site, our sole iocu~ was on the potential
liabilities that the contraetor might have. R2curd~ were
ordered to be pulled, photos were taken, paperwork veri-
iied and re-eheeleerl, drug and alcohol protoeols followed, all
with the primary locus of protecting the contractor fmm li-
ability, satisiying the anticipated requests from the insurance
carrier and laying the toundation tor a detense should there
ultimately be a lawsuit.

As the final pieces of this puzzle were calling into place, one
of my people called me to ask how things were going. 1 re-
ported much as lhave noterl already in this piece, that things
were coming together There was a pause on the other end
of the conversation. what followed was lus voice reminding
me that there is nothing correct or easy when "someone goes
home in a box” as he called IL 1 paused and reaeeted and re-
alired he was right. lwas embarrassed. l apologized to him
and discusserl the comments with the person 1 was working
with And although these events were over a decade ago, the
comment has served as a reminder for me since.

The natural thing is to iocus on the risk and loss control sirle
iirst and toremost. And it is a necessary tasle. But so many
times, our suecess or iailure is gauged by how we prepare
for the aitermath of these ealamities. And while this is our
role, the constant reminder that someone is not going home

= E to their family and loved ones, or that someone has been
injured, perhaps affecting their ability to perioi-m work or
even daily life iunetions have been impairerl should be pan
E of our iocus as well.

m 1 wish that not only in: myseli, but for others, lcould advise
the properbalance between the duality of the two roles.
what 1 do know is that any time 1 am involved in or witness
cielent. lt lempzn any fezllng of accomplishment [mm doing
my job as risk and loss controller. Perhaps that is the way it
should be.

And to the reminder [mm the beginning of this essay, my
memory was iocuserl on iour soldiers that were not going
home to their iamilies, instead of the political upheaval that
surrounded it tor days. Anything else is secondary

Ml tvei, eaiiity mlml rlc Lltt‘ yrcslllctn atiiir Cmrgz i lgzl scat, lm‘,
lym (l‘0!lml;_' itreya. mun‘ Hlml is years 13,5 Safely H ,1 mm,.i .
25 s tovisiaa. an 2015 Issue 1