RISK OR BLAME

RISK OR BLAME

As I sit here this morning drinking my morning coffee I started to think about risk and safety. Through reading material on risk I have learned that without risk taking we would not begin to learn what may or may not happen. From my personal experience’s I have taken many risks ( I have driven race cars, done bungy jumping, been on roller coasters, climbed trees, jumped off bridges into unknown water to have a swim.) These are just a few of the risks I have taken in my life time and I am sure I will take many more of them. I look at the list and I can say they would be a considered little risky or maybe some are considered high risk. When I did any of these things I knew there was a risk but had done so anyway as I was thrill seeking, looking for that sense of excitement to stimulate something in my mind that I thought I was missing.

My mind then turned to other thoughts such as what if that bungy cord broke? What if the roller coaster failed or I crashed the race car and was injured?

Surely someone inspected the bungy cord before it was attached to harness and they deemed it to be safe to use. So does that remove the risk that was taken in order to get a thrill of excitement? The same would hold true for any of the other risk that was taken to get a thrill of excitement. Can it honestly be said we did not think about most of the risk involved or the consequences? So with not thinking about the risk does that mean if something goes wrong someone else is to be blamed for it? After all it was just thrill seeking. Does anyone have to be blamed and if so why? When do we take the responsibility for action that we have taken?

One of the most high risk things that most people do daily is drive a vehicle. They have a license so they must be good drivers. (In one of Dr. Rob Long’s articles But We Have Safety Systems in Place there was a few lines written that because we have a license or a ticket to operate something does demonstrate we are good at it.) Do they think they may have an accident before they get in the car? If they were to think about it would they still take that risk? If they knew they were going to have an accident would they still go get in the vehicle and drive off?

Some of the risk taken is minor some are major the key is that there are learning’s from them and not to place blame but to try and find solutions.

As humans are not perfect and do not live in perfect world let us embrace the elements of risk and learn from them rather than placing blame for risks that are taken.