Metrolink could have updated their safety devices. The didn’t. Now they wish they had. With 25 dead and 135 more injured, they really wish they had. Instead, they balked at spending the money.
Worse, instead of investing the money in the safety devices that would automatically apply the train’s breaks if the operator missed a signal, Metrolink had asked congress for special dispensation in upgrading the railroad system. Special dispensation was called “flexibility.”
Wile some argue that the new safety technology has “not been proven,” others argue to the contrary. Meanwhile, you have the couple of dozen dead, forthcoming lawsuits, and the embarrassment of seeing your company in the middle of a major disaster. This is the last thing from good publciity has it breaks and continues to break on every news media outlet in the country.
So the moral, I suppose, is when it is time to upgrade, spend the money. Safety first is a cliche, but the reason it is a cliche is because disasters like this result from putting safety behind expenditure. There are other areas that may be old and moldy where technology allows you to upgrade is well. Don’t be cheap. Pay less attention to the bottom line and greater attention to the long term prognosis of your business.
The litigation, publich embarrassment, injuries and loss of life, make the investment look like a bargain by comparison. Now they do.
