1st Edition

Preventing Corporate Accidents

By Robert Whittingham Copyright 2008
    376 Pages
    by Routledge

    376 Pages
    by Routledge

    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.

    PART I COMPANIES AT RISK
    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