I was hiking along what was supposed to be a marked trail with three friends in Muskoka, Ont., when, about 30 minutes into the hike, we realized we were lost. It was only by carefully attempting to retrace our steps that we eventually found our way back to the main road.

How much time have you invested, both professionally and personally, in improving your ability to create and deliver new value? How many different methods do you use to develop your capabilities and knowledge? What have you contributed to your profession this past month or year that no one else can claim? How many people know the answers to these questions?

In any business venture, we get results through careful planning of activities and through measuring not only the results but the activities that the people undertake to get those results. The creation of safety excellence is accomplished in exactly the same way.

Toronto residents will be familiar with a recent, high profile news story involving the possible drug impairment of a public transit driver while on the job. A Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) driver was involved in a motor vehicle accident resulting in the death of one of his passengers.