I moved from Texas to upstate New York in September 2019. It was a culture change for sure. Not only did no one understand my Southern phrases, they kept thinking the word “y’all” was someone’s name. It took me forever to figure out when they said, “Who’s that?”, they were referring to the word “y’all”. I am coming up on my two-year anniversary and I think things have gotten better — or at least people aren’t give me the side eye when I speak.

In addition to the language barrier, I also had to deal with snow. Talk about culture change. I was a bit overwhelmed when we started measuring snow in feet and not inches or “dusting” as we called it in Texas. I figured I could make it through the winter in my 2WD Tahoe. After about two months of not being able to leave my driveway and a couple of sliding-off-the-road incidents, I knew I had the wrong tools for my climate. I was being high-risk by not having a safe vehicle to drive. I traded in my car for a 4WD, got some snow boots and some winter clothes. Now that I have been through my second winter, I am not going to say I love the snow, but I will say I am prepared and I have the right tools to be safe and survive the winter.

The right tools make everything easier and safer in life. When we do an equipment install, the right tools make the job faster and easier and more precise and accurate. When we deal with food safety and meat quality, having the right tools can help determine product disposition, yield and employee safety. I have started incorporating the tools in the toolbox discussion with all my customers and colleagues/team members. It has become a common theme to talk about having the right tools for the job before we get onsite.

I think having the right tools in the toolbox is especially important when it comes to risk assessments. We often conduct risk assessments in-house and use whatever data is collected to make a risk-based decision. Quantitative and/or qualitative risk assessment helps us determine magnitude of risk and factors that control the risks by using the scientific method.

We normally use plant data to help answer this question, but is this data collected the right tool to answer the risk objective and do we have the right data analysis tools to answer the objective? The other components to risk assessment also require special tools. Risk communication is the promotion of dialogue among all members of a company that focuses on the risk and the control of the risks. Are we using the right tools to properly communicate and drive the dialogue?

Risk management is a process that focuses on all the components to risk that are to be evaluated before a risk-based decision is made. It can include all aspects such as regulatory, science, politics, and economics and timing prior to making a decision. Do we have all the expertise needed to make the right decisions? Are we using the right tools to drive the decisions based on data collection, analyses, communication and expertise?

This weekend is Labor Day. I am sure most of us are going to have some fun plans — fishing, cooking out, hiking, paddle boarding, etc. Each of these activities require the right tools so we can be safe and have fun. Food for thought: Just like I needed a 4WD to make it through the winter safely, do we all have those same needed tools on Tuesday morning to help us make good decisions regarding risk assessments?

A 4WD makes all the difference

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