Marin wrote:
A "trait" that seems to be missing in a lot of people is the ability to quickly assess a situation for potential consequences. The "if I put this here and it falls over later on what will happen?" frame of mind. A lot of people--- maybe even the majority of people--- seem to me to just do things without any thought of consequences other than perhaps the most obvious ones. Most of the time everybody gets away with it. But a lot of the incidents and accidents I've been made aware of for some reason or other very often are the result of the person not thinking ahead and envisioning all the possibilities for problems.
The earlier mention of this boater bringing a propane tank aboard made me think of this. I have no clue what happened in this case, but I can envision a person putting a propane tank in a place where it could fall against something and the valve be cracked open or perhaps putting it down without a final check of the valve to make sure it was shut tight, or hooking it up and not giving the connections a good once over and even smell test.
I'm not sure where the ability to run through all the possible consequences of an action comes from. Is it inherited? I heard recently a tested theory being discussed which says that about 50% of a person's character comes from the parents. Is it learned somehow at an early age? Can it be learned if a person doesn't have it inherently? Can it be taught?
I don't know the answer, but I do know that an awful lot of people I deal with, from some of our videographers to sometimes my wife, don't have the ability-- for whatever reason-- to do this. Most recent (and expensive) example was a cameraman shooting a takeoff at Paine Field on a very windy, gusty day. The plane was delayed and the cameraman wandered away from his camera, leaving it on the tripod. Big gust of wind, camera blew over, total cost to the company, $125,000 dollars. This was not a one-time event with this guy, he has done this sort of thing albeit not with as high a penalty, ever since we've known him. He just doesn't anticipate. Where our other cameramen in the identical situation will almost automatically realize the potential for a blow-over and take the camera off the tripod before they walk away from it.
