HSE professionals and caring leaders, we all work hard on the safety and risk systems to do the best for our employees and companies. However, no matter how strong the system is, it gets trumped when the culture overwhelms it. Even companies renowned for the strength of their risk and safety management systems continue to experience large and significant incidents, and in some cases catastrophes. It is only when leadership, culture and systems work in complete harmony that the resilience of an organization to manage its significant risk is at an optimal level. And even then, it is a precarious balance to maintain that optimal mindset in the organization.
In this presentation, a case study is presented that shows where the maturity of the company's risk systems and safety culture have been benchmarked against a global data base of companies. The risk maturity model and the scientific basis of measurement of culture are presented. The case study will demonstrate the practical application of the approach, and how the outcomes of the study provide input to leadership to make the necessary changes to the culture and the risk systems. And this can be done before significant events strike.
It will also highlight how the process provides input to build systems that are less vulnerable. Within the presentation, Ewan will discuss a case study of a large South American miner, and highlight their efforts to perform a deep dive into their leadership, culture and risk management systems.
The presentation will appeal to those who want to use culture and risk system maturity as a benchmarked key leading indicator to maximize the performance of their risk and safety management systems.
As human beings, we have managed risk since the dawn of the ages, and have been adept at doing so. In order to survive, we hunted or gathered. If we did not take enough risk, we died. If we took much risk, we died. As individuals and tribes, risk had to be optimized to maximize our chances to thrive, as individuals and as tribes. (Figure 1)
