The East Palestine, Ohio train derailment is a catastrophic event. Owner-operators bear specific responsibility for disaster recovery and business continuity ("BC/DR") in their individual and enterprise roles.

Clinical observation of other owner-operators in process during catastrophic events is a primary channel for strong, capable leaders to observe, assess, and reposture their own affairs with productive improvements in Operational Excellence ("OpEx").

The procedure statement from Norfolk Southern is an excellent example of clinical disposition of catastrophe into digestible information at population scale:

On Feb. 5, NS reported that “during the monitoring of the derailed cars, it was found that the pressure relief devices on some of the cars had stopped working. If not addressed, it could result in a catastrophic failure of the cars. In coordination among all agencies and stakeholders, we have put together a plan to manually vent the cars. The contents will be drained in a controlled fashion. To protect the environment, we have prepared pits and embankments to drain the material into which will then be remediated. When it is safe to do so, the manual release of the pressure will be via a controlled breach of several rail cars, and under the supervision of experts and first responders. This will be loud and visible. Some of the material will burn off as it drains for a short number of hours. We have been and will continue monitoring air quality with Ohio EPA. Afterward, cleanup work on the site can safely continue.”

OpEx brings with it certain demands on our investors, partners, and clients. Owner-operators in the Executive Cadre bear additional duty in Project Rome as officers with responsibility for BC/DR in their local and regional areas. This competence includes intimate familiarity with the reality of ground operations.

A regional Cadre officer had this to share:

It was the right call to make and done well but the follow up was poor.

Tank cars have a fire rating in hours. The VC cars were well past that and their temp was spiking. There was a legitimate concern the cars would detonate, worst case leveling a part of the town.

Someone actually had the guts to make the call to do a controlled burn. I assume it was the Governer considering it was the Ohio National Guard that actually did the shot. A hard choice that was made not just ignored. Also with the Guard doing the shot it removes liability from any individual. So far it’s reasonable. The Gov even personally gave the press conference.

But they have not controlled [or] guided the crowd well.

Owner-operators are reminded that their primary duty of crisis management and decision includes strong, capable leadership during times of triage and population dependence. The Company operates by specific and nonnegotiable values regardless of the arena. Your performance to Operational Excellence ("OpEx") in the Age of Militants is a requirement for survival and prosperity.

Your crisis outcomes depend on both your character and clinical performance. Ensure that you train and model successful examples.

The Company maintains Fortune 100 class emergency support through Risk Division for BC/DR triage and management.