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OTTUMWA, IOWA -- More than 300 emergency service workers from fire departments, law enforcement, corrections systems, as well as private industries from all over the state of Iowa attended a risk management presentation by Gordon Graham on Thursday.

Graham is a 33-year veteran of California Law Enforcement.

“The focus is on managing risks. And it’s one of the most misunderstood topics in America today. We are big on lawyer-think around America waiting for things to go bad and then trying to fix them. What risk managers do is try to identify and evaluate risks and put together some control measure up front to present to problems before they occur. It's a multi-faceted approach where you look at things differently than a lot of people do and gives you an upper hand and allows you to spread the word about what we need to be doing today. I try to open up people's eyes as to the various risks they face and what they need to be doing individually and as an organization to prevent problems from occurring,” said Graham.

Graham’s presentation focused on the five pillars of success: people, policy, training, supervision and discipline.

And because of all of Graham’s life experiences, he could resonate with the entire audience.

“So he knows and understands what those folks are doing and he's trying to develop or has developed a program that will allow them to mitigate risk beforehand. So there’s a lot of lessons that our first responders can take away that may help them in the long run,” said Josh Stevens, Wapello County Emergency Management Coordinator.

“Things that go wrong are predictable, and predictable is preventable,” said Graham.