Stories chronicling the progression of man-made disasters appear frequently in the news. Many of these calamities are human error generated: neglect, poor concentration, lack of adherence to rules, and countless others. The proliferation of phone cameras and CCTV systems brings these events to public view almost as soon as they take place in sharp images and vivid colors, sometimes from multiple POVs. We shake our heads in disbelief; how could they have done that? What was (or not) going through their heads? Moreover – could something like this happen to us?
We all try to follow a vast array of laws, rules, and policies in our everyday life, from the personal to the professional. Despite all the awareness and good intentions, we find ourselves erring in judgment from time to time, the results of which hurt us and/or others. To err is human, and luckily, most of our mistakes are embarrassing at most. Still, there are those slip ups we will never forget. The ones that nearly resulted in a horrible outcome and those that actually did. Then there are the cases of erring in a group, where even the presence of others who could and should keep us in check fails to do that. The first was an error of our own making. The second was similar, but even the group presence did not prevent the dire outcome.
As we look back and recall our involvement in such events, we can use them as examples and reminders for our volatility and faultiness. We know to not shop hungry or drive angry, but reality suggests that even decent intelligence, good training, and the help of others may not save us from causing harm to ourselves or to others. Wishing for the best outcome is not good enough. Our level of accountability must be set to the best it can be by immersing ourselves in the know-how and surrounding ourselves with reliable people whose judgment we can trust and rely upon at all times. Our training and experience may come up short at times, and our faculties will need to be at their best for us to succeed through a situation. These people, our network, are there to support and defend us, sometimes against our own bad instincts and intentions. We will do the same for them in a heartbeat.