On Fri, 19 Dec 2014 12:57:56 -0800 (PST), wrote:

S Ed Huntress

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On Fri, 19 Dec 2014 15:26:51 -0500, "Jim Wilkins wrote:


*
Does Mog dream up these imaginary obstacles to success to rationalize*
his own lack of it?*

Dream up -- yes. Excessive extrapolation from inadequate data. g*

Rationalize -- I don't know. He seems to be a speculator for all*reasons.*

Ed you can go by "seems" all you want. But at one end of the standard you've got my choice - business that plans for as many contingencies as is practical. On the other end, yeah. You mostly have those who lone - gun it. So there's strength in numbers. And they may have gotten away with doing that for decades, too. I just don't see where anyone would proudly publicize that kind of a risk about themselves, though.

Small business -- any business -- operates under the owner's own
"risk/reward" ratio calculations. You can't insure for every
contingency; it you try, the point becomes moot, because you can't
afford it and you're out of business anyway. And there are few
feelings more sinking than thinking you were secure with your
million-dollar insurance, and losing a lawsuit for two million.

So there are industry conventions about what to insure for, and each
owner's sense of how much risk one can control for while gaining a
reasonable reward. That's usually well short of what an insurance
company would recommend.

In many cases, the best way to reduce risk is to use your head,
combined with industry "best practices." Sometimes that will protect
you in court. At all times, it reduces the chance that you'll face a
liability in the first place.

But lawsuits can come out of left field. Then your insurance company
shrugs their shoulders and says "too bad."

As always, the best way to reduce your exposure and your risk is to
*think* before doing something stupid. A chain-link fence and some
visual barriers are better risk-reducers for a weld shop than personal
injury insurane. Another one is to never weld life-dependent parts. I
know two small weld shops that follow that practice. One of them
turned me down once for that very reason. He wouldn't shorten the
steering arms on a Ford Fiesta that I was preparing for IT-C racing.
Smart man.

--
Ed Huntress