Risk Management Magazine

Failure to identify hazards on the job site is one of the root causes of workplace injuries. A critical element of any effective safety and health program is a proactive, ongoing process to identify and assess these hazards.

Many times in a deployed environment, things that were once high on the priority list are moved toward the bottom. This can be broken down to two simple reasons: time and threat.

When I was in college, I had the opportunity to take a class on the Korean War. Not only did I learn a lot about an interesting part of American and world history, my school also paid for a trip to Korea as well as visits to actual battlefield sites. As a bonus, on our return trip home, we stopped in Hawaii to study the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. We also took time to visit some of Hawaii’s world-famous beaches. I thought this would be my opportunity to finally surf some big waves.