IT’S HEALTHY TO ACCEPT RISK By Matthew Allen, Vice President, State Government Affairs
At the time of this writing, my wife and I have a beginner driver at home who is just now getting comfortable with the basics of driving. His focus is on the steering wheel, gas and brake pedals, mirrors and (hopefully) the traffic that engulfs him on his drive to school. I drew the short straw to be his main instructor, but I admit that I am thoroughly enjoying it. I’ve found it to be a great bonding experience even though I am now somehow chastised if I happen to exceed the speed limit every now and then when I am in the driver’s seat. As the expression goes, “no good deed goes unpunished.” In all seriousness though, this new experience has prompted me to think more deeply about the issue of risk and risk management. These are two topics that I have written extensively about in previous articles. California state government at both the legislative and regulatory levels has made reducing risk a key objective across numerous issue areas. We are all too familiar with the ongoing drive to further mitigate pesticides, harmful air emissions and potentially harmful compounds in water. In addition, we are always told that more labor law protections need to be added to the books in order to safeguard the interests of employees since employers cannot be trusted. I’ve often wondered to myself and even spoken out loud, “what is causing this endless reaction?” Some of this can be attributed to labor interests but I think it goes deeper than that. My theory is that there has been a fundamental failure in accepting inherent risk within the environment in which we live. If there is no acceptance of inherent risk, then more always needs to be done (science based or not) to eliminate the risk entirely. The slippery slope becomes, “it’s theoretically possible, even with the new label restrictions, that this pesticide could have a de minimus impact on birds. Therefore, we need to further mitigate or cancel this registration.” This is not a healthy way to view or interact with the world around us. There is no such thing as zero risk. We accept risk when we take a medication for strep throat, when we take an over-the-counter medication for a headache, or even when we go to a restaurant. We are accepting inherent risk and enjoying our meal. Why? Because history has shown that 99.9 percent of the time we aren’t experiencing any negative health outcomes because the restaurant staff is engaging in the right food handling protocols to ensure food safety. I am accepting a slightly elevated risk level with my son as I drive with him to school. We are mitigating this by doing the right things by abiding by the speed limit, wearing seatbelts, scanning ahead for traffic avoidance
and allowing more time to get to our destination. If he or I failed to accept even inherent risk, there would be absolutely no driving. We couldn’t really find an alternative like walking to school or work either since that has risk, too. We would just sit on the couch at home or live in a bubble. Oops, that also has risk. One can never escape risk. Failing to accept and embrace some level of risk hampers learning, creates unbalanced decision-making and limits the ability to grow. Engaging in regulatory actions will be much more meaningful and the impacts of those regulations will be much more effective if risk is accepted at the forefront of the discussions. Once that is acknowledged, truly practical and attainable regulations can be promulgated that are protective of the workplace, the environment and the livelihoods of employers and their employees. Otherwise, we will remain caught in the endless cycle of chasing the unattainable. I don’t want to chase the unattainable. I want my son to get his license so that his mom and I don’t need to keep driving him to school and to his sports activities so he can thrive and gain a new level of independence as he embraces risk and learns to mitigate those risks.
8 Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com September | October 2025
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