Pro-Safety is all the buzz. If fact soon we will be so safe that we won’t even respond to incidents because it is just too risky. A friend recently told me that he replaced the word “safe” with “smar…

Pro-Safety is all the buzz. If fact soon we will be so safe that we won’t even respond to incidents because it is just too risky. A friend recently told me that he replaced the word “safe” with “smart” in all his SOP’s. I think that is OUTSTANDING. The word “safe” is defined as:

adj. Safe

1. Secure from danger, harm, or evil.

2. Free from danger or injury; unhurt:

3. Free from risk; sure

“Free from risk”……we can rarely be completely free from risk, secure from danger or free from danger. We work in a very complex dangerous environment that is full of risk. Eliminating the risk to others is our job and therefore we incur risk in the process. This is not to say that we have to be “dumb” about our approach. But nothing says safety like a competent, well equipped, fire company that puts a fire out while understanding the situation and making sound smart decisions. Risk can be mitigated through competent actions. The gas company responds and caps gas leaks, the water department responds and patches water leaks, fire department’s should respond and extinguish fires from the position that is most efficient and effective at the time. With all of these activities we are at risk. Early elimination of the fire reduces current and potential risk with alarming success.

Hidden and subtle cues always make us weary of certain motives. Find the hidden message in today’s Hump Day and you will be on the inside track. No motive here just trying to make you think!