Fall 2001

The September 11 terrorist attack on America has given every citizen of the world much food for thought, especially with respect to safety. We at CSC/TC would like to share our thoughts with you.

Americans have taken considerable pride in the safety of their nation. We have believed that the two oceans that border our shores, together with our state of the art defense systems, provide us with a buffer zone of safety from exactly the sort of tragedy we experienced on September 11.

If this event has taught us nothing else, it is that we can no longer afford to believe we are an impregnable fortress of security, protected from the violence that has infested the rest of the world during the last hundred years of history.

The very word "safety" will, as a result of the September 11 attack, have a new and far more personal significance for each of us: we are learning in the toughest possible context that safety is not a foregone conclusion for anyone. We are learning that literally no corner of our own country, or indeed, of our world, can be completely protected from those who wish us harm.

The hardest lessons to learn are those that come from an experience like this, where thousands of lives are lost, billions of dollars’ worth of property are destroyed, the economies of virtually every industry are jeopardized and where the personal safety of every citizen is at risk. There cannot be a more dramatic illustration of the necessity, the value, and the priority that safety must be than this tragedy, and it is up to every single one of us to take a proactive stand - a visible and consistent stand - for the word that we in the safety industry represent.

As our President has said, there is not a quick, easy solution. The battle for global safety will continue as long as there are forces to threaten the world in which we live. What we can do is help to fight that battle wherever we are, by underlining the necessity to put safety first in every aspect of our lives. We are dependent on each other for safety support, and we must renew our insistence on safety in the workplace, in the schools, in our homes, our cities, and in every corner of the world, because on September 11, the world became a very small place.

Our admiration and respect go out to the hundreds of safety professionals who risked - and lost - their lives so that others might live. Let us all pray for a world in which no one needs to pay so high a price for what is really a basic human right, ever again.

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