“There are ‘known known’s.’ There are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say there are things that we now know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we do not know we don’t know.” Donald Rumsfeld, former United States Secretary of Defense. June 6, 2002
Have you ever asked yourself, how are we supposed to manage the things we don’t know or have never experienced? Or, how do you assess the exposures that present no sign at all of being known?
Unknown unknowns involve us being aware of what relevant information is needed to guide us to decision. Common sense tells us, if you don’t know what you need you tend not to seek it. This concept is known as the relevance paradox. You don’t know what is relevant until it becomes relevant.
Many people live there entire life without ever experience an unknown that presents itself to them each & every day. Do they ever think to themselves, I would not know what I don’t know? I would guess not.
This paradox takes center stage when you think of what happened on 9-11. No one could of ever imagined such a horrendous event and by default, it was impossible to prevent. As you think about this, your safety team must remember, even if the information your team is gathering is limited to collectiveness and knowledge of your team members, try not to worry too much about what you don’t know. Focus your efforts on building strong sustainable incident and reporting management systems with proper communication and problem solving protocols. When the unknown happens, then you will know what to do.
Stay safe.
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