Burgers Up!
Gordon Graham
here, and Happy New Year! Again thanks to Ted and Paul for all you
do, and by the end of this brief piece, I sincerely hope that you
will drop them a quick note and express the same sentiment. By now
you are completely confused about why you should be thanking them
for a column entitled “Burgers Up!!” Well, here goes the
explanation, and I hope it makes sense to you.
I have probably met some/many of you
in some live presentation over the years. In fact, that is how I met
Paul and Ted when they were both active in San Jose and San
Francisco. My programs in 1980 were on Haz-Mat issues and PCP. Over
the years, I put together many other programs; and one of the early
ones was entitled “Job Based Harassment – Techniques for
Elimination.” This topic was one that was “transferrable” outside of
public sector operations, and I ended up doing a lot of work for
private sector companies on this issue. So I get this call one day circa 1990
from the good people at “In-N-Out Burgers” (and I am a huge fan of
that organization). If you do a Wiki check on them, take a look at
their Corporate Mission Statement. You will see what I mean. They
picked a date, and they asked me to meet “the boss” about an hour
prior to my presentation; so I got there very, very early and met
Rich Snyder. He was the son of the founders, Harry and Esther, and
indeed was a class act. My program was to be delivered during
their annual “all hands” meeting where all the managers of all the
different “In-N-Out” locations came together. Mr. Snyder explained
to me what the company was all about, and he was pleasantly
surprised that I was aware of “the secret menu” — the stuff you can
order that most people are unaware of. Actually, it is the same
stuff but prepared in a different manner, dependent on your specific
taste and/or dietary requirements. At that time in my life, I was a
burger connoisseur; so I knew that stuff. My program was for a couple of hours
in the late morning, so I sat there with some of the executives and
watched the proceedings develop. I was very impressed with the
personal appearance of the managers who came to the meeting. They
were dressed nicely, spoke kindly to each other and seemed like a
decent bunch of people. When Mr. Snyder took the stage (he ran to
the stage, and I found that odd, but he was setting the tone), he
got a resounding standing ovation. He gave a major pep talk about
the organization — where they were and where they were going in the
future. He spoke for about 45 minutes non-stop — except for the
regular standing ovations which morphed into the entire group
standing and clapping just about the entire time. Then the music came on, and it was
time for ... “Burgers Up!!” The drift of this was that each store
manager is expected to sell more burgers every month than they did
in that same month one year earlier. If you sell more burgers every
month, you will sell more burgers in that year; and if you sold even
one more burger for that given time period, you got an award. They started with the manager with
the lowest increase in burger sales, and they got a small prize (I
will add that they all ran to the stage – just like they hustle
around their specific restaurants). As the numbers started getting
bigger and bigger, the prizes got bigger and bigger, including some
really nice trips and some other gifts. At the end of that “prize
competition,” I did my program on harassment issues in the workplace
(and there were some issues that Mr. Snyder was concerned about. Not
surprisingly, when you put young women and men together for a number
of hours, this is predictable). I was treated very well, and when I
was done, the big “In-N-Out” truck showed up. I had lunch with them
and then left. While I only did one program for
them, Mr. Snyder was very kind and spoke well of my program to other
restaurateurs; and that was good. Sadly, in 1993, he died in a
terrible plane crash on approach to John Wayne Airport; and that is
an interesting story about the “wake turbulence” created by the 757
aircraft. Like so many things, there were some in the aviation
business that knew of this problem; but it was not addressed until
there was a serious event. So why am I boring you with this? If
a manager was able to sell just one more burger — one more burger,
that was a big deal. It was an improvement over the prior year, and
in the “In-N-Out” world, that was significant. So let’s talk about something really
serious. I am finalizing these handouts on New Year’s Eve and
keeping an eye on some very important data re LODD’s in our
respective professions. Line of Duty Deaths in law enforcement were
up significantly from 2009, roughly a 40 percent increase (depending
on whose numbers you use ... and, by the way, that is a problem in
your profession also, as the LODD total every year is all over the
chart); so I will use a single source to make the comparison from
2009 to 2010 in the Fire Service. The USFA (United States Fire
Administration) is a source I trust, and the “informal” tally of
LODD’s for 2010 (as of midnight on 12-31-10) was 86. You and I know
that behind each one of these “numbers” is a name, friends, family
members and a lot of stuff involved in the “dash” between Date of
Birth and Date of Death. But the “numbers” are important because
that is the measure to see how we are doing. I am not in your profession, but I
have talked to a number of people in your business that tell me that
86 LODD’s is too high. I agree with that sentiment. But the good
news is that the total for 2010 was less than the total for 2009
(which was 93), and that “improvement” is welcome in my book. The purpose of this writing is
simple. What strategies and tactics (control measures) are available
to lower this number into the 70’s and possibly the 60’s and
possibly lower? Please don’t tell me that there is nothing that can
be done to lower the number of LODD’s even further. We know the
causes of death in the fire service. These are identifiable risks,
and thus manageable risks. You manage risk through systems.
Well-designed systems (policies and procedures) that are kept up to
date and fully implemented will never let you down. Your profession
has identified the “systems,” and I hope they are in place in your
department and kept up to date. The problem that I see in both of
our professions is a lack of “implementation” of the systems. Simply
stated, rules are not being followed; and that is a major problem. So if you are into the whole New Year
Resolution idea, then let’s each make a commitment to addressing the
identifiable risks of heart disease, vehicle operations and
structure fire issues that continue to be over represented in your
LODD’s. Ted and Paul and the contributors to this site regularly
talk about these issues and the “control measures” that are
applicable to that issue, so pay attention and spread the word with
everyone else in your profession. While I hope the number of LODD’s
drops substantially in 2011, if we can “just” reduce them to 85, you
have done something positive. By the way, the “prize” for reducing
this LODD total is one more family and one more set of friends and
co-workers who are not mourning the loss of a loved one. And that is
the best prize I can think of! That is all for now. Please take the
time to work safely.
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Seminar information can be found within Gordon Graham's website at www.gordongraham.com
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Risky Ramblings
GORDON GRAHAM is a 39-year veteran of California law enforcement. He is currently the co-president of Lexipol LLC (www.lexipol.com) He is a practicing lawyer specializing in keeping fire departments and firefighters/officers out of legal trouble. During his tenure as a police professional, he was awarded his Teaching Credential from California State University, Long Beach. He was later graduated from University of Southern California with a master's degree in safety and systems management. Subsequent to this, he was graduated from Western State University with a juris doctorate.
Mr. Graham has centered his efforts in providing knowledge to both public and private sector organizations in the area of organizational and operational risk management, civil liability, professionalism, ethical decision-making and related topics. Over the last decade, Mr. Graham has made over 3,000 presentations to various groups including law enforcement; corrections personnel; fraud investigators; fire professionals; EMS; other first responders; legal professionals; educators; city, county and district employees; law firms; hospitals; and real estate companies, along with many other private sector organizations.