Why We Care About Safety

Here at the Old Place, we look out for each other.  One morning, I was taking my walk around the lake when I noticed Ms. Edith sitting on her back porch with a stranger.  It was a young man; his head was bent, he held a cup of coffee, and he was crying.  Edith got up, patted his back, and walked over to me.  The fella had recently lost his young bride to an act of violence, leaving him a widower at 28 and his 7-year-old daughter Teresa motherless.  All of a sudden, all my problems seemed like Disney World.  As I began to pray with them, the names Edith and Teresa kept coming to mind, and I wondered what God was trying to tell me.  I had been reading recently about a rather unique saint, a Prussian-born Jew and former atheist named Edith Stein.  Moved by the tragedies of World War I, Edith became a nursing assistant in a hospital.  Drawn to the Catholic faith, she was admitted as a Discalced Carmelite nun, taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.  Eight years later, she was martyred in a Nazi gas chamber.  God had chosen that moment of tragedy to show me, once again, why safety is a ministry.

Of course, safety is also the law.  The philosopher Aristotle said, “Law is reason free from passion.”  Does that mean that the law is a sufficient reason on its own to be safe?  I believe that rational arguments and inferences alone do not yield trustworthy knowledge.  Safety is about people.  Silly, emotional, passion-filled children of God.

As I reflected on the young man’s pain, I remembered St. Teresa saying, “Our knowledge of someone else’s pain is direct knowledge.” Say what?  Well, we know other people have a mind like ours, sure, because we know that we think, feel, decide, suffer, rejoice, etc.  Think of René Descartes’ phrase, “Cogito ergo sum, I think therefore I am.”  We all have experiences influenced by the world outside our own bodies, but what makes those experiences interchangeable between us?

In his 1995 Evangelium Vitae, Pope John Paul II, now St. John Paul the Great, clarified this when he wrote, “Recognizing the reality of a person as opposed to a mere human organism is as fundamental as recognizing the reality of being.”  In other words, recognize the soul in all persons.  So what’s it going to do with safety?

I must go back to St. Teresa for an answer.  The object of our awareness at first is awareness of a consciousness outside ourselves, let’s say one that “appears” to be in pain.  When we allow this awareness to unfold to its fullness, we find ourselves actually aware of becoming the other person, in a sense, “remembering” or “recognizing” their pain as if it were a memory in our own personal experience.  We achieve what amounts to intimate knowledge of others, a caring that transcends any desire to merely prevent pain but to eliminate it altogether.  The struggle for safety is a supreme act of virtue, and as St. Thomas Aquinas said, “nothing, except sin, is contrary to an act of virtue.”

Sitting in a rocker at the Old Place, I am Col. Jim.

No Time For A Parade

All over the country there are parades this Memorial Day honoring our fallen heroes.  There are no parades up here at the Old Place, but there is plenty of time for reflection.  I’m reading a small blue binder.  The author paints a vision of a terrified young sailor standing on the smoking, listing deck of a US destroyer.  A Japanese torpedo has just blown off the stern taking 19 of his shipmates to their deaths and leaving the ship dead in the water in the middle of a major sea battle. I could almost smell the cordite and hear the explosions.  As I close the binder, I see a patch glued to the front of it depicting a young wild Indian shooting a bow and arrow.  The arrow is pointed down.  I like to believe that is because he is shooting at that Japanese submarine, the preferred prey of our WWII destroyers. That patch is the unit insignia of Destroyer Squadron 23, “The Little Beavers” activated on May 11, 1943.  Under the command of then Commodore Arleigh “31 Knot” Burke, DESRON 23 earned a Presidential Unit Citation fighting 22 engagements while destroying a Japanese cruiser, nine destroyers, one submarine, several smaller ships, and approximately 30 aircraft.  That young sailor was a small, “Foote Note,” if you will, to this story aboard the Fletcher Class Destroyer USS Foote, interestingly the same class as our own embattled USS Kidd.  Wilbur V. Rogers was not even old enough to drink when with seabag hoisted over his shoulder he gazed up the gang way toward the ship that would be his home for the next two years. There was nothing special about the young sailor from Jonesboro, Louisiana.  Rog served in the Main Battery Director targeting enemy aircraft with the deadly twin 44 mm cannons.  He told me once, “You could get those guns to fire together or alternate.  I never liked it when they fired together.  If I could get them firing alternately that meant there was always lead in the air!”  Rog ultimately told me about the Battle of Empress of Augusta Bay. “It was 3 O’Clock in the morning and we had just executed a hard left turn to come up on the starboard quarter of the USS Converse.  A minute later a Japanese torpedo struck us at an angle behind the aft 5 inch gun mount.  We were making 31-knots and immediately went dead in the water.  All we could do was watch as the stern section, with 19 of our shipmates, turned slowly and began to sink.”  The Foote was repaired and returned to the war ultimately taking part in siege of Okinawa.  So, what’s it got to do with safety?  Those of you who know the Old Col know I’m a bit of a submarine nut.  So one day my father-in-law introduces me to his best friend Wilbur Rogers, with Marathon Oil and a tin can sailor.  Needless to say we eyed each other with some suspicion.  As I got to know Mr. Rog and listened to his stories he gradually became the grandfather I never had.  He took me on personal guided tours using our USS Kidd as a substitute for his long gone Foote.  As Rog shared, his stories of his shipmates, their battles and their laughter came alive.  This is a very difficult story for me to end.  “We all get old if we live long enough,” Rog once said.  Well I guess that’s true.  Mr. Rog and his sweet bride Ona Vee have had to leave Baton Rouge for Shreveport to be closer to their daughter.  To say I will miss him is not enough.  My world will be just a bit dimmer without Rog around.  His life and his character are a brilliant and blinding devotion to his family, his friends and of course to our country. Sadly, there will be no parade for Mr. Rog, but I send him on his way with “Fair winds and following seas” Mr. Rog, you will be missed.  

Sitting in a rocker at the Old Place, 

I am Col. Jim.

Good Safe Food

Cooking around the Old Place has always been an adventure.  Back in the day there was a wood burning pot-bellied stove which doubled as a heater.  It’s still a heater to this day, but now we have a separate wood burning stove/oven combination that uses propane as a starter.  As you can imagine, the safety challenges of cooking on a wood burning stove are manifest.  Burns are a given and in defiance of the old saw, an unwatched pot boils over so fast you just can’t believe it.  In preparing a proper Job Safety Analysis or JSA for this task I found that all the steps had the same hazards fire and burns so wearing gauntlet type oven mitts and keeping a full bucket of water close to hand are advisable.  Today I’m cooking bacon for the delicacy of day is the shamelessly male satisfying delight, chocolate covered bacon.  Oh yes, fellas, you heard correctly, chocolate covered bacon.  Please note, the bacon is not atop the stove rather it is sizzling happily on a foil covered cookie sheet inside the oven.  This increases the crispiness by allowing the grease to run off.  I find that “Wright” brand bacon works best when cut into 4 – 5 inch long sections.   Wood fires heat up quickly so put the tray in immediately after lighting.  15 – 17 minutes should do it.  The bacon is then placed on cookie racks to dry and cool.  Chocolate bark is best for coating as it melts quickly in a double boiler.  Take care not to burn the chocolate or the body on the stove top, the whole thing is hot.  Before proceeding, layout some wax paper on the table to receive the coated bacon.  Dip the dry, cool bacon in the melted chocolate.  Pay close attention here, the goal is to coat the bacon not cover the cook’s fingers in scalding hard to remove goop.  Keep a pot of cold water nearby, just in case.  I use a pair of Magill Forceps, grab the bacon on the end and slowly dunk it into the sweet confection.  Remove immediately and allow to drain.  The chocolate must be kept hot and the bacon dipped quickly.  Too thick a layer of chocolate will mask the taste of the bacon.  Layout the coated bacon to cool, then refrigerate for 10 minutes before boxing between wax paper layers.  Oddly enough the last step in this task is the most hazardous: that of not making enough chocolate covered bacon to go around.  

Sitting in a rocker at the Old Place I am, Col. Jim

Why We Must Change and What We Must Change Into

Change is inevitable wouldn’t you say?   I grew up with change watching “Superman” on the old black and white Magnavox.  George Reeve would dash into the store room wearing his street clothes and leap out the window a moment later, changed, transformed from the mild manner reporter into the invincible Man of Steel.   My grandmother Nora taught me about change with stories of the mysterious east where the cunning horseman Rewagunga changed into the beautiful Afghan jihadist, Yasmini.  And who can forget how the leopard changed his spots with a little help from his Ethiopian friend who had, “just a little color left over on the finger tips of his fine new black skin.”  Yes, change is inevitable my brothers and sisters.  Sometimes it is brought on by necessity and other times it is forced on us a knife point.  There has been a change in our safety world my friends, one which we ignore at our peril.  I am not talking about some deadly new chemical or dangerous new process, no.  In this case it is one both famous and infamous.  It is, the trial lawyer.   The Workers’ Compensation system has been turned on its head.  First off, since all of the comp judges used to be trial lawyers and since all of the comp attorneys are trial lawyers, well you can see it is rather like the fox guarding the hen house.   For years they have tried to find a way around the basis for the existence of workers’ comp that of “no fault.”   At long last, they have succeeded. 

In the last few years illegal immigrants injured while working in the US have been awarded huge settlements in addition to their workers’ comp benefits.  These settlements have now been upheld by the various supremes court.  Sadly, this means that the legal protection of workers’ comp for employers has been breached.  Oh sure, your basic simple comp cases will still work their way through the system no harm/no foul as usual just to make it look good but let some trial lawyer smell blood in the water and ohhh Ricky!

So what’s it got to do with safety?  Well you may ask.  Simply this, those employers who do not have proactive, preemptive and effective safety programs will soon be out of business.  Gone are the days of sitting presidents pardoning company officials and vacating their fines for multiple fatalities.   Gone are days of laisse’ faire safety attitudes of “they’ll never get me.”   The predictions of former OSHA Secretary, John Henshaw made just a few short years ago right here at our own Safety Council are about to come true, and I quote, “those companies who do not comply and continue to hurt workers will be run out of business.”

Mr. Employer, this means that now more than ever your corporate safety director needs to be more than a company man with a suit and secretary, and much more than a book worm with a high test score.  The modern corporate safety director must be a man who has come up through the ranks.  A man who has worked on his tools, swung the hammer, run the bead and the backhoe and climbed the scaffold.  The modern safety director is creative, a bit artsy, after all he was and is still a craftsman.  He should have a love of music and be musical himself.  The modern safety director enjoys the limelight, and even excels in it.  The modern safety director must be all of these things because he must be able to use all of these things to teach, coach, challenge, and entertain.   If your safety program is to prevent all accidents, it must change minds and touch hearts.

Sitting in a rocker at the Old Place, I am,

Col. Jim

Fight to Learn

Anyone who knows the old Colonel well knows I love books and movies.  Over the years, I have compiled a collection of my favorite quotes for specific occasions.  This one from Top Gun serves as a good opening for today's blog.  "Gentlemen, this school is about combat; there are no points for second place."  I know you will be starting college this fall, and it put me in mind of a collection of quotes my father, Fred, put together to send me off to school that fateful fall of 1975.  There were quotes from Vince Lombardi, Calvin Coolidge, and even St. Paul, but the one that stuck with me all my life was from Gentleman Jim Corbett.  No, not the LSU basketball star, but the famous pugilist.  Gentleman Jim was the last bare-knuckles professional boxing champion; from then on, every prizefighter wore padded gloves.  Corbet said, "Fight one more round. When your arms are like lead, and you can hardly lift your hands to come on guard, fight one more round. When your legs are like rubber, and you can barely shuffle back to your corner, fight one more round. When your nose is bleeding, and your eyes are black, and you are so tired that you almost wish your opponent would crack you one on the jaw and put you to sleep, fight one more round remembering that the fella who always fights just one more round is never whipped."  Those words shepherded me through many of the trials of my life.  True, they did not stand alone, and I fell many times. "Why do we fall, Bruce?  So that we can learn to pick ourselves up."1  The famous allegory, "Footsteps," tells of a man looking back on his life with Christ as footprints in the sand.  At first, there were two sets of prints as the man walked side by side with the Lord. Sometimes there would be knee and hand prints where the man had fallen, and once during the greatest trial of his life, one set of prints vanished! When the man asked the Lord why he had left him alone, Christ replied, "That single set of footprints was when I carried you, my brother."  Let nothing but your honor stand in your way during this phase of your life.  Be selfish of anything that keeps you from your studies.  Praise God for the well-done job and feel no shame in your small rewards.  For if a dog trainer rewards his animal, will not Our Father reward you better than this?  If motivation runs out, seek diligently for another, and do not rest until you have it.  It is only a few very short years.  Work it up the hill.  In closing, I will take poetic license firmly in hand and paraphrase the Fighter Pilot's oath, "Learn to Fight, Fight to Learn, Learn to Win!"

Sitting in a rocker at the Old Place I am,

Col. Jim

1 - Thomas Wayne in "Batman Returns"

A Great Place To Eat

Jasmine's On the Bayou is a tiny but very tasty little restaurant on Jones Creek Road.  A full lunch menu is available. I had the Shrimp Creole and salad. Crispy, cold greens, shredded carrots and crunchy croutons were served quickly. The creole had an Oriental/Cajun combination with big firm shrimp over perfect rice and a generous piece of French bread. All served with a smile. They also cater. I recommend it highly!

Sitting in a rocker at the Old Place I am,

Col. Jim

Unnatural Overreaction

In the rock opera, “Jesus Christ Superstar,” Pontius Pilate had a dream. He dreamed of an amazing man, a sad man, with a “haunting, hunted” look. Despite his best efforts, Pilate can not get the man to tell him what is bothering him. As the dream shifts Pilate sees the man being killed by a mob. As the dream’s fog finally clears he sees millions crying for the man and blaming him, Pilate for his death. Of course the Holy Bible says it was Pilate’s wife who had the dream. What sort of significance can the husbands of the world attach to that?

Old Pilate was a governor of sorts, charged with responsibility for keeping order and collecting taxes. Little is actually known about him and many scholars believe he was nothing more than a biblical allegory. In any case, rather than risk an uprising Pilate agrees to the violent demands of a very small but well organized mob and hands Our Lord over to be murdered. Angry mobs kill innocent people, destroy property and generally spread fear so it could be said Pilate erred on the side of caution. Ironically, it seems Pilate subscribed to an old Hebrew proverb that says, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” (No, it did not come from Star Trek.)

So what’s it got to do with safety?

Often, people and governments react to small, seemingly insignificant things and miss the big picture. Referred to as a “Knee-jerk reaction,” they result in sweeping legislation and regulations costing billions, serving no one, and occasionally causing great harm. As a Catholic, one of my favorites has to be the Roe v Wade decision. No matter which side you come down on philosophically, the law ignores the rights of the weak (the unborn) in favor of the strong.

Another group that burns my bacon is what I call the “have your cake and eat it too crowd.” Screaming for the rights of homosexuals on the one hand, while at the same time demanding a return to all “natural” foods and lifestyles.  Huge irony there!  Hey, if we are going all natural, I want them to bring back asbestos. It is still the best insulator there is, and all you have to do is just dig it up. Slip on an impervious suit and an appropriate respirator; once it is sealed properly, it is perfectly safe and lasts forever!

A discussion of asbestos brings me to group three, what I call the “Greed Breeders.” You would call them plaintiff lawyers; for them, asbestos is big business. There is even a boat in our marina named “Asbest There Is.” These creeps hide their massive greed behind the facade of “protecting” the rights of the injured. In 95% of all such cases, their clients caused their own injuries or illnesses by ignoring safety rules. Ever wonder why gasoline costs so much, insurance costs are so high, or medical fees are out of sight? Well, that is why.

If legislators and courts really want to know where the dangers are their best bet is to consult a safety professional. I know a whole bunch of good ones.

Sitting in a rocker at the Old Place, I am,

Col. Jim