Letter from the Editor

Always Be Creative

By: | November 1, 2013

Dan Reynolds is editor-in-chief of Risk & Insurance. He can be reached at [email protected].

Creativity, in whom it resides and what it is, is culturally misunderstood, I believe.

When we think of creative individuals, we tend to think of the famous ones, like Elton John, Michelangelo or Cate Blanchett. Those three individuals are/were very good at what they do and are rightfully world famous.

But many more “creatives” walk among us that we might not think of as being creative. This is very true in the world of workers’ compensation risk management, which this magazine and this issue celebrate with our Teddy Award.

The crop of 2013 Teddy Award winners has done what we did not think a group of risk managers could do so emphatically. They have proven that they are advancing worker safety and health through creativity.

Sometimes it’s a simple solution, like making the dangerous world of construction safer, as Teddy Award winner American Infrastructure has done. By putting green hard hats on the heads of newer workers, American Infrastructure has used a simple, but creative solution to help keep workers safe.

The study of ergonomics, which just a decade or two ago was looked on as some kind of new age voodoo, has been implemented by Boston-based Partners HealthCare to reduce stress and strain on workers’ bodies as they go about their daily tasks.

Creativity such as this cannot be pursued in fits and starts. It must be constantly applied to achieve results that matter. If you work in risk management and do not think of yourself as a creative, you are wrong.

Making the world safer through innovation might not win you an Oscar, but it just might win you a Teddy.

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