Page 26 - Texas811 Magazine 2018 Issue 1

lie reeenl evenls surrounding the railed and lragic
I Niger attack wiili ilie loss niAm2n:an solrliers and
the ensuing barrage of news eoverage {mm differ-
em camps regarding ilie liandling of virrually every
aspeel of llie evenis liigliligliied, for me, an issue wlucli is
Pr-Oper
I l lirsl grappled with Lliis issue wlien wearing Llie rlual lials

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

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

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

was asked to as~l~'t a comraclor wlio liarl been lnvnlved in a
fatal arcirleni willioui going lnlo its specifies, llie accirleni
was of a naiure Lhal involved noi only salely protocol liui
also several regulatory agencies and llius a greai number of

‘ redundanl and someiimes eonrlicling rules and regulaiions.
nel porerl over llie sile, our sole focus was on the poienrial
liabililies that ilie coniraelor miglil liave. Records were
ordered to be pulled, pliolos were ialren, papezwoxk veri-
lied and re-elieelred, drug and alroliol proloeols followed, all
wiili ilie primary ioeus of proieciing llie eoniraelor fmm ll-
abiliry, saiisiying the aniinpaled requesis from ilie insurance
carrier and laying the fuundariun fur a deiense sliould iliere
ulumalely be a lawsuil.

As llie anal pieces of llus puzzle were falling Into place, one
of my people called me to ask liow iliings were going l re-
porled mucli as lliave noierl already in lliis piece, ilial iliings
were coming logellier rliere was a pause on the ollier enrl
of llie conversauon. wliai followed was liis voice reminding
me lliai iliere is nothing correci or easy when "someone goes
liome in a box” as lie called ii. l paused and relleeled and re-
alized lie was riglil. l was embarrassed. l apologized lo liim
anrl discussecl llie eommenls willi llie person l was working
wiili And aliliougli iliese evenls were over a decade ago, the
commenl lias served as a reminder for me since.

nie nanrral thing is to locus on ilie nsk and loss eonirol sirle
iirsl and ioremosl. And N is a necessary lasle. But so many
limes, our success or failure is gauged by liow we prepare
for ilie anermalli of lliese ealamilies. And wliile lliis is our
role, llie eonsianl reminder Lhal someone is noi going liome

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

iniurerl, perliaps affectlng llieir abillty lo perronn work or

3 even daily lire iunelions liave been impairerl should be pan
of our focus as well.

H g lwisli Lhal noi only for myselflbuliozothzm, lcould advise
ilie properbalance lielween ilie duilllty of ilie rwo roles.
wlial l do know is that any lime l am involved in or wilness
an aceidenl, l pause and think of ilie people liuri in ilie ae-
cirlenl. It iempers any fezllng of accomplislimeni from rloing
my job as risk and loss coniroller. perliaps Lhal is llie way ii
slioulcl be.

And lo ilie reminder [rum die beginning of this essay, my
memory was focused on four solrliers ilial were not going
home to ilieir families, mslead of the poliiical uplieaval ilial
surrounded it for days. Anything else is secondary

Ml (yer, .cai.av vnlvm as well yrcslllcm ave Cmrgzl l;_v1IBCo,lllr,
a/in (l‘0Uml;_' Hvcm/4)vIllon‘ NW] 35 l/Mn‘ mg Safely H 3, mmmi .
24 . Texzsall 2D1.8,!ssu2 1