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Creatures from the Black and Blue Lagoon

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Photo courtesy of The Times of London

 

Locals called it the Blue Lagoon. And over the years, the unused quarry at Harpur Hill near Buxton in the United Kingdom had become a popular swimming spot and tourist destination for people drawn by its picturesque turquoise waters. The only problem was that the lagoon was toxic. The mix of limestone rocks and quarrying chemicals that made the water so inviting had also left it with a pH level of 11.3 (normal water has a pH of 7), similar to that of household bleach, which comes in at 12.6, or ammonia at 11.5.

So local officials posted signs everywhere that not only warned swimmers that entering the water could cause skin irritations, stomach problems, fungal infections and rashes, but that the water itself was filled with wrecked cars, dead animals, excrement and trash. And still, people of all ages kept coming and and kept swimming.

Finally, officials had enough and in order to save people from themselves, they recently took a novel risk management approach and had the lake dyed black. According to a spokesperson, the dye job may be having the desired effect:

“There is already some anecdotal evidence that this is working as residents said that over the weekend people were coming up as they normally do to swim and then very quickly turning around again when they saw the water.”

So to sum up: swimming in bleach is great as long as it’s a pretty color. Further evidence that sometimes illogical human behavior is the toughest risk management challenge of all.

By the way, no word on whether the new black lake has attracted any goths, metalheads or sea monsters.

When Your Commute Becomes Derailed

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Just yesterday I remarked to my husband that my train, the Hudson line, has been amazingly stable and almost always on time. Especially when you consider that there have been major derailments of the Connecticut (May 17) and the Long Island (June 17) lines of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA).

I should have known better. Just when you think you can take a breather, something is bound to happen, as it did this morning. Normally I would have been listening to the news and traffic report, but I was spending some time with my puppy before rushing to the ferry station. Once there I waited, but no ferry, and the few people who were there didn’t seem to know why. Annoying.

I called my husband and asked him to drop me off at the train station across the Hudson (parking is impossible there). On the train platform, however, I quickly learned that there was a big problem—the derailment of 10 CSX garbage train cars on a narrow portion of track used by the Hudson line. There were no injuries, but that is a whole lot of cleanup, not to mention the two tracks that need to be replaced, according to the conductor I talked to. He estimated it would take at least the weekend to repair the damage.

I have to say that I was impressed with the MTA’s contingency planning. The MTA gets a lot of flack, but it’s worth mentioning that they did get it right this time. What I expected to be a nightmare of delays and standing around waiting—on one of the hottest days of the year—wasn’t bad at all. The MTA train took us to Yonkers, just north of the derailment area, where we were quickly led to waiting busses. The busses transported the train’s passengers to a large subway station where we were ushered through a special turnstile, and our train passes were honored. The subway ride took a while, since it was a local covering more than 200 blocks. But a fellow passenger gave me an idea of the subway route and at what stop I should get off. Happily, I had only a block to walk to work.

Research shows that the MTA has an enterprise risk management plan in place. I found a 93-page document online that outlines significant business processes for the MTA bus company, bridges and tunnels, individual train lines and much more. It also notes which business processes have been reviewed. Under the listing of Maintenance of Equipment for the Long Island Railroad, for example, items that have been reviewed include locomotive daily inspection and diesel locomotive periodic inspection, rolling stock inspections and equipment surveys.

From what I have read, however, some passengers last night weren’t as lucky. They were told to wait for busses which didn’t arrive. That was right after the derailment, however, and it takes some time to put a major plan into action.

So, lessons learned:

• Listen to the traffic announcements on the radio every morning

• Don’t be too complacent when things go well

• Roll with the punches, occasionally things do work out

• Take time to play with the puppy, no matter what, even if you’re a little late for work

Disaster Planning for Magical Rabbits

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I have a pet rabbit at home. His name is Boba Fett, named after the popular bounty hunter character in the Star Wars movies, and he’s a pretty laid-back little guy, as far as pets go. He’s not the type of animal that requires a ton of maintenance and he definitely doesn’t need a formal risk management plan. But according to a recent article in the Washington Post, not all rabbits get off so easily. Evidently not only does the U.S. Department of Agriculture require certain rabbits to be licensed, but their owners must also have a written disaster plan for what they will do with their rabbit in case of emergency. It sounds crazy, but bureaucracy often does, I guess.

According to the article, some years back Marty Hahne, otherwise known as Marty the Magician, got a notice from the USDA that based on a law that requires licenses for “animal exhibitors,” the rabbit Marty used in his magic act needed to be licensed. Marty complied. And then, this summer, the USDA informed him of a new rule from the agency’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS):

APHIS published a final rule requiring all dealers, exhibitors, intermediate handlers, carriers, research facilities and other entities regulated by the Agency under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) to take additional steps to be better prepared for potential disaster situations.  They are required to develop a plan for how they are going to respond to and recover from emergencies most likely to happen to their facility, as well as train their employees on those plans.

Basically, Marty the Magician had to come up with a disaster plan for his rabbit. The letter outlined the areas the plan had to cover, including a list of 21 potential disaster scenarios, training requirements for any of Marty’s employees and how to prepare for an evacuation. According to the law, all plans had to be completed by July 29.

Now, a lot of people, would have rolled their eyes at such absurdity and did nothing. One magician quoted in the article joked that his plan would be a piece of paper that read, “Note: Take rabbit with you when you leave.” But Marty seems to be an agreeable sort of person and actually got a disaster planning expert named Kim Morgan to put together what ended up being a thorough, 34-page emergency management document for his rabbit that addressed all of the USDA’s applicable concerns. Overkill? Maybe, but at least Morgan wrote the plan for free.

In time, hopefully common sense will prevail. The USDA has said that it plans to review the rule as it applies to small operations like Marty’s, but for now the rule stands. And Marty Hahne probably has the safest rabbit in the country. So at least there’s that.

 

Taking Action in Washington

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Recently, RIMS political action committee, RiskPAC, hosted a breakfast for Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) in Washington, D.

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C. RIMS was represented by Terry Fleming, a member of the RiskPAC board of directors and by Jim McIntyre, RIMS Washington D.C. Counsel. Representatives of other groups were also in attendance.

Fleming, a former RIMS president in 2010, expressed gratitude to Rep.

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Welch for the meeting that lasted over an hour. “In all my years attending RIMS on the Hill, I met with a House or Senate member only once. Meeting face-to-face at a table with only four other attendees gave us the chance to express our views on our issues unburdened by interruptions. Rep. Welch showed keen interest in our issues and indicated that he would consider signing on as a sponsor of the bills that will come forward on our issues, as well as discussing the issues with other members of his committee.” Rep. Welch is a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce and has historically shown interest in the issues that RIMS supports – reauthorization of the Terrorism Risk Insurance legislation that is set to expire in 2014, and amending the Risk Retention Act to allow those groups to offer commercial property insurance coverage in addition to the current automobile and general liability coverage that they offer to their members.

This meeting is another example of the importance in having a political action committee in place.

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One of the reasons RiskPAC was created was to provide RIMS a seat at the table. Because of RIMS’ contribution to Rep. Welch, Fleming was able to get critical one-on-one time with the Representative and his chief of staff to discuss issues of great importance to the organization and to the risk management community as a whole. This is access that would be nearly impossible to get without a PAC in place.