Page 22 - West Virginia 811 Magazine 2018 Issue 1
P. 22

lie reeenl evenls surrounding the failed and lragic
I Niger attack wiili ilie loss ofAmenean soldiers and
the ensuing barrage of news coverage from differ-
em camps regarding Lhe liandling of virrually every
aspeel of llie evenis liigliliglued, for me, an issue wliicli is
Pr-Oper 
I l firsl grappled with Lliis issue wlien wearing Llie dual lials

e r S c t I  of safely office! and risk/ loss manager for a large conslrue-

iion company Fmm my viewpoinl, iliese are rwo of ilie mosl

MM ,3, difficull roles to fulfill simullaneously Many years ago, l

was asked to as~l~'t a coniraclor wlio liad been involved in a
falal arcideni willioui going lnlo its specifics, llie accideni
was of a naiure Lhal involved noi only safely protocol liui
also several regulzlory agencies and llius a greai numbcr of

‘ redundanl and someiimes eonflicnng rules and regulaiions.
nel poured over ilie siie, our sole focus was on llie polentlal
liabililies iliai ilie cunlmctur miglil liave. Records were
ordered to be pulled, pliolos were ialren, papezwoxk veri-
fied and re-elieelred, drug and alroliol proloeols followed, all
wiili ilie primary focus of proieciing llie eoniraelor fmm ll-
ability, saiisiying the aniinpzled requesis from ilie insurance
carrier and laying the foundafion for a defense sliould iliere
ullimalely be a lawsuil.

As ilie anal pieces of iliis puzzle were falling Into place, one
of my people called me to ask now iliings were going l re-
porled mucli as lliave noied already in iliis piece, ilial Lliiiigs
were coming logellier rliere was a pause on the ollier end
of are conversalion. wliai followed was liis voice reminding
me that iliere is nodling correci or easy when "someone goes
liome in a box” as lie called ll. l paused and refleeled and re-
alized lie was riglil. l was embarrassed. l apologized lo liim
and discussed llie eommenls willi llie person l was worldng
wiili And akhclugh iliese evenls were over a decade ago, the
commenl has served as a reminder for me since.

nie naniral thing is to focus on ilie nsk and loss eonirol side
firsl and foremosl. And N is a necessary lasle. But so many
iimes, our success or failure is gauged by liow we prepare
for Lhe afiermalli of lliese ealamilies. And wliile lliis is our
role, llie constant reminder Lhal someone is mil going liome

= E IDI1'1El! family and loved ones, or ilial someone lias been

injured, perliaps affeeling ilieir ability lo perfonn work or

3 even daily life funelions laave lieen impaired should be pan
of our focus as well.

H g lwisli Lhal noi only for myself, bulioz olliers, lcould advise
ilie properbalance lielween ilie dualiry of ilie rwo roles.
wlial l do know is iliai any lime l am involved in or vnlness
an aceidenl, l pause and think of ilie people liun in ilie ae-
cidenl. It rempers any feeling of accomplislimeni from doing
my job as risk and loss coniroller. Perliaps Lhal is llie way ii
sliould be.

And lo ilie reminder from are beginning of this essay, my
memory was focused on four soldiers ilial were not going
home to ilieir families, inslead of the poliiical uplieaval ilial
surrounded it for days. Anything else is secondary

Ml rm, erimii mum as 1/ml yrcslllcm Mme C4>ov';(>z! l;_v1IBCo,lllr,
a/in (l‘0Uml;_' Hitwr‘/mllltln‘ mm. 35 l/ems‘ mg Safely H 3, mam“; .
2a . was Wglmn arr 201.8, Issue i





























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