Pretty much everything Ive thought about since I heard about this incident is what I wanted to say about this or more specifically how I felt. Being an offload team leader was the most exciting job Ive had or will ever come close to having. The task of getting 100,000 pounds of freight off of a jumbo jet, in most times less than 25 minutes, is monumental to say the least and thats before you factor in everything that can and will go wrong. It was the hardest thing for me when I realized that there were environmental situations combined with my health that prevented me from ensuring my own safety and I felt I could no longer comfortably ensure the safety of my team when I couldnt protect my own safety. There are many demons in this industry, but the most dangerous one is greed. Not greed within our own hearts, but the lust the consuming public has for all sorts of products that they insist on receiving yesterday instead of today. Economist Adam Smith described demand or greed as an invisible hand that pushes our free-market economy forward. Though ominous sounding, that greed or invisible hand is responsible for creating jobs, driving innovation, and easing and improving our day-to-day lives. As great as these things are, if you arent careful that invisible hand can send you under a hydraulic lift, or careening into the path of a school bus, or crashing to the ground from 35,000 feet. It is by no means a necessary evil, but it is the darker side of our jobs. As volatile a principle demand can be and the tremendous consequences it can have on our lives, we would be as affective at changing it or controlling it as we would be changing or even predicting the weather. So the best we can do is to keep our eyes open a little wider and our minds a little clearer and take an extra second to watch out for ourselves and the people around us. The only way this accident becomes a tragedy is if we dont learn anything from it and allow it to keep happening. This accident becomes a tragedy once its forgotten and we go back to making the same mistakes and that sort of change has to come from within each and every one of us. My condolences to this young mans family and friends as well as everybody at the Memphis HUB. Finally, let this be a reminder that when youre moving faster than your guardian angel can fly youve got to always, always, always look out for yourself and the people around you. Enough is enough!
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 01:24:25 +0000
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