The passing of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill in the UK and increasing public and investor pressure for good Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility, means organizations now, more than ever, need to ensure they do all they can to prevent major accidents. However, past experience shows that just implementing safety management systems is not enough and this book makes the case for a more holistic and ethical approach to improving corporate systems as a whole.
Preventing Corporate Accidents shows how major accidents can result from human error and defects in corporate systems. The book describes accident prevention strategies, from safety culture, safety management systems, foresight and planning to safety regulations, corporate ethics, corporate social responsibility and the learning organization. Barry Whittingham illustrates with international case studies from various industries how and why these defences have failed in the past, and more importantly, how to strengthen corporate systems to prevent future major accidents.
The case studies include:
- The loss of the space shuttle Columbia
- Infant heart surgery at Bristol Royal Infirmary
- The Davis-Besse nuclear power plant incident
- The fire and explosion at the Conoco-Phillips Humber oil refinery
- Herald of Free Enterprise and Southall rail accident manslaughter prosecutions
This book is essential reading for all those with a professional interest in health and safety management, the control of major risk and accident prevention, in particular for directors, senior managers and health & safety professionals in high-hazard industries and public operations, such as nuclear, chemicals, construction, oil and gas, energy, manufacturing and transportation.
Barry Whittingham has worked as a senior manager, design engineer and consultant for the chemical, nuclear, offshore, oil and gas, railway and aviation sectors. He developed a career as a safety consultant specializing in the human factors aspects of accident causation. Barry is a Fellow of the Safety and Reliability Society.
Introduction to Part I
1 Management error
Introduction
Human error
The corporate environment
An ethical approach
Afternote
References
2 The corporate entity
Introduction
Corporate origins
Corporate characteristics
Corporate accountability
Corporate manslaughter
Critique of legislation
Conclusion
References
3 Corporate ethics
Introduction
Ethics
Ethics and the law
Individual ethics
Corporate ethical behaviour
The influence of human actors
Managerial and professional ethics
Conclusion
References
PART II STRATEGIES TO PREVENT CORPORATE ACCIDENTS
Introduction to Part II
4 Safety culture
Introduction
Culture
Organizational culture
Safety culture
Changing the safety culture
Case studies
References
5 Understand the risk
Introduction
What is risk?
Expressions of risk
Risk assessment
Risk perception
Case studies
References
6 Safety regulation
Introduction
Historical background
Safety regulation in the UK
Risk acceptance criteria
The ALARP principle
Reducing the regulatory burden
Case studies
References
7 Safety management
Introduction
Regulatory and standard setting approaches to safety management
Auditing approaches to safety management
Behaviour-based approach to safety management
Analytical approaches to safety management
A systems approach to managing safety
Case studies
References
8 The learning organization
Introduction
Organizational learning
Learning from accidents
Building a just culture
Information disclosure
Case studies in failures of organizational learning
References
9 Corporate social responsibility
Introduction
Corporate ethical policy
Corporate citizenship
Corporate structure models
Corporate social responsibility
Case studies
References
10 Conclusions
Summary
Part I: Companies at risk
Part II: Strategies to prevent corporate accidents
Case studies
A better way forward?
References
Appendix 1 Case studies in corporate manslaughter
Introduction
A1.1 The capsize of the Herald of Free Enterprise
A1.2 The Southall rail accident
References
Disclaimer
Appendix 2 Case studies in corporate accidents
Introduction
A2.1 The loss of the space shuttle Columbia
A2.2 The Davis-Besse nuclear power plant incident
A2.3 The fire and explosion at the Conoco-Phillips Humber oil refinery
A2.4 Children’s heart surgery at the Bristol Royal Infirmary, 1984--1995
A2.5 The Tokai-Mura criticality accident
A2.6 The disposal of the Brent Spar oil storage facility
A2.7 The Tylenol incident, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 1982
References
Appendix 3 Safety management tables
References
Index
Biography
R.B. Whittingham