Risk Management Magazine

Flying offshore can be dangerous, and I heard horror stories from folks I knew who’d done the job. They shared tales of helicopters being blown off platforms and pilots having to perform emergency landings “in the drink.”

I grew up in Hawaii. You know what that’s like — warm, sunny weather just about every day. Our summer temperatures typically run in the mid- to high 80s, with winter cold snaps plunging the mercury into the mid- to low 80s. My only previous winter driving had been at Fort Rucker in the polar regions of south Alabama.

I know that most of you are not planning on moving out of your swanky city apartment so that you can chop wood to heat your quaint little country cottage, but the lesson learned here is more fundamental than that. We find ourselves in unfamiliar situations all the time. Take a moment to do a little informal risk assessment.