Getting shot as a teacher should never be considered a “workplace injury.” When the news reported that our homeowner’s association’s law firm of Pender & Coward made that assertion about the Richneck Elementary school shooting regarding a lawsuit filed by the teacher who was shot, I knew something was very wrong. As a former fighter pilot, 27-year airline captain and safety expert, I can say definitively that the risk of death on the job is universally considered unacceptable. Even in high-risk environments, the greatest efforts are taken to mitigate tragedy, and first grade is no carrier flight deck.
As president of my HOA, I also knew that community trust and safety go hand in hand. Mailbox upkeep and moldy sidings can be a concern but having someone’s daughter shot as a schoolteacher makes everything else irrelevant.
We know how to manage risk. We have nuclear power plants, open heart surgeries and millions fly every day without anyone thinking twice. None of these activities are without danger, but we live comfortably in our 21st century because there is a great effort to continuously make, monitor and keep the public safe. To say there is a trove of documentation, regulation and studies in this field would be a gross understatement.
The one lesson written in blood is that you can’t sit on your hands and wait for bad things to happen. You must work hard at being proactive, gathering data and working on effective communications. I’ll bet you didn’t know that twice...
Albert Manifold claims he was ‘removed without warning or explanation’ Former BP chairman Albert Manifold has strongly rejected what he described as “false allegations” about his conduct following ...