DECEMBER 2011 - Electrical Business Magazine

Dave Smith
Empty chairs at the table
mind your safety
Look around your dinner table and
imagine the horror of tomorrow’s
empty chair, and the horror should it
be your chair that’s vacant.
Iwrite this column following two of the most
brutal weeks I’ve ever experienced. On a
Monday night in Northern Cape Breton,
five teenagers were travelling in a minivan,
when Ainsley, 16, swerved to miss a fox, went
off the road and hit a tree. Ainsley and Noah,
14, died instantly.
Canada Training Group is a small, connected
company and these children were
related to one of our Cape Breton staff; Noah
the son of a first cousin; Ainsley, a sister’s stepdaughter.
Two others, Alannah, 16, and her
brother Logan, 13, went into intensive care in
Halifax; Alannah with her vertebrae cracked in
four places, and Logan with bleeding on the
brain. The fifth child, Jesse, called 911 and,
refusing to leave, stayed for four hours comforting
Alannah and Logan.
Cape Breton is an amazing place for many
reasons but mostly for its people. The fabric
of their society has been woven over the centuries
with people interconnected throughout
the island and further. When the fabric tears
anywhere, it ripples everywhere. The Cape
Breton map reveals the small, close communities
of Ingonish, Dingwall and Neil’s Harbour
that are equally close in friendship.
With only 200 students, their entire
school—classmates, teammates, friends—
grieved the loss of Ainsley and Noah. You can
imagine communities in tears as Noah’s wake
was Thursday evening, Noah’s funeral Friday
afternoon, Ainsley’s wake Friday evening, and
Ainsley’s funeral Saturday—all overlaid by
the fact that nobody yet knew the results that
would come from Halifax.
Every parent reading this article will know
and understand the horror that the children’s
parents and stepparents—Marjorie, Frankie,
Amanda, Michael, Robin and John—experienced
upon hearing of the death of their children,
as well as the fear of Danita and Robert
for their children in Halifax.
Those were dark, terrible days of indescribable
sorrow—and it was not over yet.
The following Friday my wife rushed to the
hospital with her children. Their father, at the
age of 55, had a massive, fatal heart attack. A
bit out of shape, stressed and worried over harvest,
his life also ended too early and abruptly.
Robert was a remarkable father; amazing in his
connectedness and devotion to his children.
Sarah, 22, and Bruce, 16, have also had their
hearts ripped out of them.
But it wasn’t over yet as that same night a
very dear friend, Shirley, passed away after
surgery at 59, giving us two more funerals.
Shirley was a devoted aunt and wonderful
friend for many.
The sorrow of these other tragedies will be
felt for decades as future harvests and Thanksgivings
will be celebrations wrought with sadness.
Even as I try to write this, the tears are
flowing freely, and I have to stop continuously.
I write this column to give you a moment to
think about your actions. I hope they can be
used in your safety meetings or drive changes
in your procedures and safe work practices. In
a physical world, it is so easy to make a mistake.
After years of working around machinery, my
friend Ken, 58, got too close and was instantly
mangled. We try to guard everything, but we
humans are hard to guard.
Birth and death are the bookends of life;
birth defines its wonder, death defines its value
and both move us equally. So look around
your dinner table and imagine the horror of
tomorrow’s empty chair, and the horror should
it be your chair that’s vacant. Robert’s death has
been a wakeup call for many of our community
who are a little out of shape, prone to worry, or
over-stressed.
For me, it prompted me to clarify my will,
create a health directive dictating when I
should be unplugged, powers of attorney for
my property and affairs, and several personal
letters. If you do not make your intentions
clear, there will be painful confusion on a list
of misinterpretations.
Rest in peace Ainsley, Noah, Robert and
Shirley. Until next time, be ready, be careful
and be safe.©
Canada Training Group has been providing consulting
services to industry since 1980; Dave Smith,
the president, can be reached at davesmith@canadatraining-group.ca.
At www.canada-training-group.
ca, you will find this article (and others) available to
you. Feel free to use them to support your own safety
program and other initiatives.
A pioneer in the design of teck cable
fittings, the Thomas & Betts
STAR TECK ® product line remains
an indisputable industry standard to
this day.
All STAR TECK ® fittings are designed
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A tradition of industry firsts.
www.EBMag.com • December 2011 • 11