I AM A LONG-TIME SUBSCRIBER TO Advisen Front Page News (FPN) 1. While Advisen’s main target market is the insurance industry, I have always found it a “must have” for enterprise risk management practitioners (i.e., this scrivener).
On Friday, May 17, FPN presented me with several items that caught my attention.
FROM ADVISEN FPN for 17 May 2019:
Schools turn to technology to reduce toll during shootings2
- An AP story lead reads: Efforts to combat school shootings are starting to shift from preventing the violence to reducing the number of victims through technology that speeds up law enforcement’s response and quickly alerts teachers and students to danger.
Technology is nice, but if this article is accurate, then the schools are “closing the barn door after the horses have escaped.”
The AP’s second paragraph notes that School districts are using products like gunshot detection systems that identify where shots are fired and apps that allow teachers to report attacks and connect with police. While a focus on gun control often emerges after shootings, technology can be a less partisan solution that’s quick to implement — though some experts say funding preventive mental health resources should be the priority.
All that is good, but it ALL is “after the shooting starts," and to this practitioner’s mind, that is (take your choice) foolish, stupid, or a dereliction of duty by the people charged with keeping our students — of all ages — safe.
Alleged Somali war criminal has been driving for Uber, Lyft in Virginia3
- The Washington Examiner reports that An accused Somali war criminal has been driving for Uber and Lyft in the suburbs of Northern Virginia for the past 18 months.
An investigation by CNN reveled that Yusuf Abdi Ali, also known as “Colonel Tukeh,” has been working full time for the companies and is an “Uber Pro Diamond” driver with a 4.89 rating.
Ali told undercover reporters who were riding with him that it was easy to get approved to drive for the companies.
While I am concerned enough to discourage my spouse from using either company, especially after dark, my initial reaction to the Examiner story is: “How the devil did this guy get into the U.S.?”
So much for the highly flaunted (both meanings) vetting process.
The Examiner/CNN article carefully avoided mentioning when — under whose watch — this alleged Somali war criminal entered the U.S. and on what type visa. Did he enter from Somalia as a refuge? Did he enter from a third country?
Canada: Car Surfing Is An Ordinary And Well-Known Activity4
- From the Canadian Litigation Counsel via the Mondaq web site, readers learn that even though it is a criminal activity insurers are still on the hook for some people’s stupidity.
According to the article, In Charbonneau v Intact Insurance Company, 2018 ONSC 5660, the plaintiff stood on the rear bumper of a 2013 Nissan Quest which was in motion. She held onto the roof rack with one hand, and onto a friend's shoulder with the other hand. When the driver made a sharp turn, the plaintiff fell and hit her head on the concrete. The plaintiff commenced a claim against Intact Insurance Company for accident benefits coverage under s. 3(1) of the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule – Effective September 1, 2010.
In Alberta, "accident", for the purposes of the Insurance Act dealing with automobile insurance, means an accident arising from the use or operation of an automobile.<
Why make an insurance company pay for a person’s injuries when the person was injured committing a crime, as the plaintiff — assuming the report is factual — clearly was doing, standing “on the rear bumper of a 2013 Nissan Quest which was in motion. She held onto the roof rack with one hand, and onto a friend's shoulder with the other hand. When the driver made a sharp turn, the plaintiff fell and hit her head on the concrete.”
- (Being pedantic, the report should have read: When the car’s driver put the vehicle into a sharp turn . . . but modern reporters and editors don’t bother with grammar and accuracy.)
Insider: $56 Billion Later, Airport Security Is Junk5
- Wired.com tells us that The Department of Homeland Security has spent billions since 9/11 trying to keep dangerous people and dangerous explosives off airplanes, and treating us all air travelers like potential terrorists in the process. But according to a former security adviser to a leading airline, the terrorists have changed the game – and the government hasn't yet caught on.
According to Ben Brandt, a former adviser to Delta, the airlines and the feds should be less concerned with what gels your aunt puts in her carry-on, and more concerned about lax screening for terrorist sympathizers among the airlines' own work force. They should be worried about terrorists shipping their bombs in air cargo. And they should be worried about terrorists shooting or bombing airports without ever crossing the security gates.
I know it’s not nice, but I want to yell “VINDICATION” and offer a hearty “Welcome Aboard” to Ben Brandt, a former adviser to Delta. (I hope he is a “former” adviser due to his own volition; people who say what he said usually are not popular with Very Senior Executives.)
I have for years been telling anyone who would listen that airlines or someone should closely vet ALL personnel who have access to an airplane.
- A can of pineapple soda was converted into the bomb that downed a Russia-bound passenger plane in Egypt — killing all 224 people on board, according to the New York Post on 18 NOV 2015.6
The best defense is still developing solid intelligence on terrorist groups interested in targeting aviation," Brandt said as the Post ends the article.
Where is the best airport security? Israel.
Which is the most secure airline? El Al.
Israel, unlike the U.S. where the Supremes banned it, profiles all passengers. Contrary to Israel bashers, Arabs — Christians and Muslims — clear the inspections in many cases faster and with less hassle than Israeli Jews.
- I have been there and seen this first hand.
- Again, been there, seen that.
People who load luggage into a plane’s hold (baggage area beneath the passengers) are not the best paid people at the airport and can be tempted, by money or ideology, to put more than luggage on board.
Mechanics also must be vetted; a missing bolt at a critical juncture might bring down a plane.
Neither Brandt nor I dismiss passengers as a threat; they may be, but they are neither the only nor, in my opinion, the greatest threats to aviation safety.
Sources
1. Advisen, http://tinyurl.com/yd8s4fup
2. Schools, http://tinyurl.com/y33dq2k6
3. Alleged war criminal, http://tinyurl.com/y3l88j68
4. Car surfing, http://tinyurl.com/y3wtaq23
5. Air safety: http://tinyurl.com/y2rfe6lk
6. Soda can bomb, http://tinyurl.com/y3rnnac7
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.
No comments:
Post a Comment