In The Smoke Clears, there is a sudden realization of the extent of loss, the aftermath that includes detailed investigations, enquiries, inquests, trial acquittals, convictions and the recommendations put forward in the hope that similar events will never happen again. Some questions may be immediately answered, others may linger for days, sometimes weeks that turn into months and years. Some answers, unfortunately, may never be answered. The pain that is felt by those who have lost a loved one never goes away; their memory must be treasured, honoured and never forgotten. The who, what, why and when start to unravel as the experts try to form some logic for the disastrous events. If they share one thing in common, they are not restricted to any region, population, industry, activity, or country. Disasters are universal and seldom anticipated; however, when we delve into them after the fact, we sometimes come across some smoke signals that may have forwarded us. It starts with securing the scene to ensure further injuries will be prevented; care and attention to those injured; preservation of the location to protect valuable evidence and to ensure it is not altered or disturbed; notifications of police, government officials, company officials and, of course, the next of kin: spouses, mothers, fathers, grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles. Life is very much about the choices we make, and with those choices comes an element of risk. It is all about risk; many of the victims who lost their lives never had a choice in the matter, and the risk that they were exposed to was determined by others. Whether it was through ignoring a regulation, code, rule, procedure or practice, or to enhance profits or monitory gain, it is my sincere hope that readers who may have a responsibility where they put other people's lives at risk have done so diligently and to the best of their ability. There is a lot of sadness and heartache within the pages of my books, but there is also a lot of hope and understanding that lessons that have been learned from the past will continue to provide us with the ability to reduce risk in the future. Continuous improvement is a torch that gets passed from one generation to another. It becomes a beacon of light for knowledge and understanding.
