Risk Management Magazine

The “so what” of this unfortunate incident is that the initial risk management worksheet didn’t discuss modifications to the training. By adding an assault team to the exercise, the unit incurred an additional risk.

After three deployments to Iraq, I saw a trend developing in my unit. During the last 30 days of each deployment, we had an accident. What was causing this to happen — complacency, nerves, ego or just plain bad luck?

Identifying fall hazards isn’t always easy because appearances can be deceiving, often affected by our own perceptions. For example, if you’re 6 feet tall, you’re taller than a 4-foot-high platform, which makes it easy to assume the platform isn’t a fall hazard. On the other hand, if you’re standing on that platform, you are now looking down from a height of 10 feet. If you fall, even from 4 feet, you could be seriously injured.