Safety Leadership: Prevent catastrophic incidents: 5 aspects of organizational performance
From our Friends at: Safety and Health Magazine December 20, 2020 Mike Snyder Editor’s Note: Achieving and sustaining an injury-free workplace demands strong leadership. In this monthly column, experts from global consulting firm DEKRA Organizational Safety and Reliability share their point of view on what leaders need to know to guide their organizations to safety excellence. It’s easy to think a catastrophic fire or explosion is an anomaly rather than a sign that a deeper problem exists within an organization’s safety systems and culture. By their nature, catastrophic events are rare. This makes it easy for leaders to lose their sense of vulnerability. It takes a different kind of organization to develop leaders who, instead of asking, “Can it happen here?” ask, “ How can it happen here?” Catastrophic occupational and process safety incidents usually occur after early warning signals are overlooked. Some organizations have been very successful in avoiding catastrop...