Operational Safety Economics

Chapter 1Introduction

1.1 The “Why” of Operational Safety

In this book, safety within organizations, or safety linked with the operations of an organization (i.e., goods, services, installations, equipment, employees, and so on), is termed “operational safety.” The term “operational safety,” instead of “organizational safety,” is employed to make it very clear that there is a distinction between, for instance, operational organizational safety, and finance-related organizational safety, health-related organizational safety, or public safety. Operational safety, for example, includes making strategic decisions on safety, or using tactical tools to deal with safety. The term “operational” merely indicates the relationship with the operations (all operations) of an organization, nothing more, nothing less.

Operational safety, or the lack thereof, is the result of a series of choices, great and small, within organizations. These choices are extremely complex and depend on a variety of factors within every organization. Important factors are legislation, available technology, socioeconomic aspects, ethical considerations, to name a few. Trade-offs often need to be made and, importantly, a diversity of assumptions need to be made and agreed upon within an organization prior to the safety-related choices. Uncertainties are involved and preferences may differ hugely between people making the decisions. Nevertheless, the goal is always the same: avoid losses! The idea is that by avoiding ...