Risk management - A ticket means nothing without experience.

One of the stupidest things any government can do is to ignore the way anybody can be  qualified to speak with authority .

Strangely this arrogance can take the form of a false trust based on worship of academics and the world of  innovative approaches to management .Sadly academia are unwilling to admit when they too " don't know" .  I consult academia less and less.

To say " we do it the old way" in the public service is akin to saying "I like living near the back door with the dinosaurs" .This just shows how little the office knows . Dick Smith is one of our most successful entrepreneurs, He like many of us who have found success  knows that copying others is the key to progress -at least at the start.  This dumb worship of new technique is still a cancer in our midst even though it was well squashed by Jacques Ellul in the 1930's

 Fortunately there are some well spoken people like Niall Ferguson saying that the study of history can  free from our addiction to this  quite false analogy from evolution: change worship is  the biggest and dumbest gully trap  in recent history .  

The Victorian Andrews Labor government is in a bit of stupid mood at the moment . It doesn't really want to listen.   It has got itself into a grand old mess by not taking the proverb on the floor of parliament seriously . As Hans Christian Anderson pointed out over 300 yrs ago, even a small child can be the authority to remind us we are dumb and dumber ; fascinated by golden new threads and sharing simple rubbish and worship talk with ourselves.
.

Professional firefighters ( mainly city based) want to tell volunteers how to manage Fires in the country

A ticket to ride is nothing without experience .Clearly the Labor team don't understand this . If they did , they wouldn't insist those with a ticket told those who didn't have one .
A ticket to ride is nothing without experience .Clearly the labor team don't understand that there are  forms of training.  If they did they wouldn't insist those with a ticket told those who didn't have one
The Labor team like to talk diversity and multiculture,   but they don't seem to understand how it works.

Diversity means a team for the city and a team for the bush .

A bit about fires in the bush Labour on the ground ASAP is critical to effectiveness and CFA people/ volunteers must have AUTHORITY to act . Grass and forest fires spread quickly and in many cases the roundup is the highest priority. Fire controllers should be able to insist on who goes where but this is not the issue, The issue is culturally different places needs and process and even equipment . The need for high level of ground authority may not apply to many fire jobs in the city , There are always failures at fires - only smart arses would use this an excuse to invent new structures rather than real reform and better training for a system that works .
The job in the country too is a part time job . CFA may run out of farmers to help train a new generation if the government if it turns the temporary job of volunteers into fulltime jobs for too many administrators. It can be true that CFA do not always engage professional firefighters when they should.
The implied insult about attitude . CFA can be seen to do things "in the same old way ".Its operatives can act without respect to others in authority and this can be a real problem . The reality is that the main job is not rocket science or management science - Its a lot about risk science . One day , the empire builders will be called to account for substituting helicopters/ technology and technique and process preoccupations for people Sound public service always builds from the bottom up How lucky we are to have the CFA and all its PEOPLE who know risk management like no city person ever will. A ticket is nothing without experience , esp when risk in involved. Our Volunteers can move to the edge of the cliff because they do it daily, Its a very sad day when city people don't know the above and insult out our " well qualified " volunteers . We all also know the country can't afford much of the constant risk averse ducking and weaving solutions dreamed up in the city .


Comments

Popular Posts