So many topics to pick from this fortnight. The risk of not winning gold. The risk of watching the olympics and ending up with Eddie commentating (maybe it's Channel 9s version of Roy & HG).
But I have chosen the "biggest" story of last week; taking apart a decomposing whale.
Imagine showing up for work in National Parks. Gosh it's a lovely day for a walk around my bit of the park. Biggest risk? ".. avoiding arrows of National Park feral animal controllers" (see todays August 6, Herald pg 5 story of a Joey injured by an arrow). As you're getting ready a call comes through " look Bob it's a great day for the beach so could you grab your chainsaw and head out to Newport Beach?"
You beaut a day at the beach. Pulling up you notice a few more rangers and a back hoe on the beach. Stepping out of your ute the stench of rotting flesh hits you. My god whose had a curry and beer night! No one, you're here to cut up the dead decomposing carcass of a whale!
Where do you start with the site and job risk assessment?
1. Job is sited right on the high tide mark.
- risk of drowning or just you swimming out to sea to get away from the smell. (Hoping the sharks sense of smell has failed them).
- The hazard of the beast rolling around as each wave washes up to it provides the enticing risk of being squashed by the smelly slimy thing.
2. Positioning yourself inside the belly of the beast. Beautiful! congealed blood, other whale body fluids dripping down. Standing on a rib or liver is rather slippery with the added risk of a few chainsaws being waved around by others in the same boat. Others who are gagging, trying not to look at what it is they are cutting up and generally thinking cleaning the sewage works would be better.
3. Being frightened to death as Jonah steps out of the whales' stomach and asks what has taken so long to rescue him.
And so it goes.
Controlling such risks needs some creativity.
Eliminate: Just leave the thing there. I suppose the locals would complain but you know we have to take a stand against this ever increasing NIMBYism. This is where the blanket statement of last weeks blog comes in handy: For health and safety reasons we can't let our workers near the whale. It's a natural event and we think we should let nature take its course.
Transfer the risk: Ask the Japanese whale scientific testers if they would like a free whale - to be removed at their cost.
Reduce the number of people handling the whale: Leave it until the swell drops and tow it out to sea. There is a possibility that every shark within a 100km radius will drop in for the feeding frenzy. When the frenzy is over what are those sharks going to eat next? Ocean swim anyone.
Ultimitely it comes down to turning the operation into a reality TV show - the Northern Beaches version of the Shire maybe.
We are looking for more identifiable whale risks and the associated management of such risks. So please forward them. We may even turn this into a competition! Include a name for the reality TV show - must be more inspiring than the pathetic Hobbitish name "The Shire".
