On 21st December 2001, Richard Reid tried to fly from Paris to neighbouring Antigua but missed the flight because of an extensive security check at the airport, prompted by the 11th September 2001 attack on the World Trade Center in New York. The following day, Richard boarded an American Airlines flight to Miami and tried to ignite explosives in his shoe. He was stopped by passengers. Thereafter, airline passengers had to remove their shoes for scanning before boarding.

Passengers were instructed to place their shoes in containers that also held passengers’ computers, belts and jackets. Whenever I travelled, I explained the unsanitary nature of this practice and would place my shoes on the scanner’s belt in protest – which they always allowed.

After the COVID-19 sanitary protocols, I would explain the lunacy of masking and hand-sanitising while putting the dirtiest wearing apparel in the same bin that computers, cell phones and belts were to be placed and then handled. Even that had no effect on their security protocols.

Last week I travelled to Grenada. This time the security officials at the Grantley Adams International Airport instructed persons not to put their shoes in the containers, but on the scanner’s belt. I smiled and wondered why it took 22 years of advocacy to make such a common-sense win-win health and safety improvement at no cost or disruption to the airport or passengers.

SHEAR WALLS.

In 1993, the Barbados National Building Code was published. It included a section on shear walls, which could prevent a house from collapsing during a major earthquake. Shear walls have no openings (windows or doors) from the foundation to the roof.

A rectangular-shaped masonry house should have a 3 m (10 ft) long shear wall in each of its four sides. If 3 m is inconvenient based on the layout, then two 2 m (6.5 ft) long shear walls may be used. There is no additional cost for constructing shear walls.

After a reported 300,000 dead Haitian residents from the 2010 earthquake, a common-sense response was for the Planning department to reject residential applications that did not have the life-saving shear walls or an equivalent structural system. However, despite approximately 30 years of advocacy, likely less than 0.1% of houses in Barbados that were approved by the Planning department have adequate shear walls.

FIRE RATING.

On 11th September 2001, first responders at the World Trade Center were warned by an engineer that the Twin Towers were in imminent danger of a total collapse. There were 343 firefighters who lost their lives at that site. It is likely that none of the over 1,000 first responders knew the building’s fire rating – the most basic information first responders need when approaching a building on fire.

On 3rd September 2010, robbers attacked the Campus Trendz store in Bridgetown. They chopped the owner and set fire to the property causing six young ladies to run to the rear for safety. Despite desperate cries for help from the ladies, the fire officers were reluctant to enter the building for fear of the building collapsing. The six would later die of smoke inhalation – and the building did not collapse.

I have accepted that it takes 20 to 30 years of advocacy for those in authority to accept simple improvements that can only benefit the public. I wondered why and the most likely explanation is spiritual blindness. I welcome another explanation.