Cooking up a crisis. PHOTO: SCOTT MACGREGOR
WEEKEND INCLUDES:
Two Days Instruction both LAKEWATER and WHITEWATER including SOLO and TANDEM by TOP INSTRUCTORS
Canoe Demos try ALL MAJOR BRANDS
• Two Nights Camping • Reel Paddling Film Festival • Kids’ Clinics and Daycare • Saturday Dinner/Social • Certifi cation Available IN ASSOCIATION WITH
May 14–16, 2010 Madawaska River
Palmer Rapids, Ontario [ exPert tiP ]
spilt pot of steaming spaghetti noodles and the string of choice expletives pouring out of his mouth added up to a cooking burn. “How bad is it?” I asked. “The pot caught me on the back of my leg,” he
Squeezing the Lemons A
responded, with a painful twinge in his voice. An examination revealed that the second-degree burn was severe, ending the trip and requiring an evac- uation over the next two days. I frequently use this story as my introduction for risk management
seminars. What I’ve found interesting is how the discussions that follow have changed, over the years, from one paradigm to another—from lem- ons to systems. In 1987, James Raffan introduced a risk management theory referred to
as the Lemon Theory. The Lemon Theory’s premise is that during the course of an outdoor trip a sequence of events occurs, that if left unchecked, can lead to a crisis. Raffan uses the analogy of the slot machine that if too many lemons line up—jackpot, an incident occurs. The genius of lemons is that they serve as an easy symbol to incorporate
into day-to-day tripping activities. Canoeists, kayakers, mountaineers and skiers across North America spend their trips counting lemons—literally. In our scenario above, it was late in the day, lighting was poor, equipment
was new and unfamiliar and dehydration put pressure on my partner’s judgment. All these lemons would have been manageable, if the proper routines of setting up camp and creating the conditions to safely operate the stove had been established. Today’s risk management paradigm recognizes that we no longer have
to identify and pre-empt all those lemons and instead, we should work to establish a series of systems. By focusing on systems, we don’t need to account for every interaction
that could lead to a jackpot. Once implemented, these routines create the conditions to have safe and fun adventures.
MATT CRUCHET is an educator, consultant and co-author of the new book Managing Risk, which is an exploration of systems planning, applied to outdoor adventure activities.
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PRODUCED BY RAPID MEDIA HOSTED AT PADDLER CO-OP
THE EVOLUTION OF NEW RISK MANAGEMENT
s I quickly approached the accident scene, I could see that my paddling partner was in considerable pain. I gathered that the overturned canoe,
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CANOE 10 The Canadian Canoe Symposium offers the best beginner to
advanced on-water clinics, certifi cation courses, canoe demos, camping, music, food and fi lms.
presents SYMPOSIUM CANOE The Canadian
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