(11b) Leadership in Catastrophic Incident Prevention – Using Organizational Data to Assess and Respond to High Reliability Loss Prevention Precursors

Catastrophic Incidents usually occur after a series of early warning signals, often subtle, are overlooked. Some organizations have been very successful in avoiding catastrophic events, even in environments with high risk factors and complex operations. Known as Highly Reliable Organizations (HROs), these operations have developed work processes that effectively embrace the concepts of Anticipation, Inquiry, Execution, & Resilience.

Contemporary research has identified methods which use Big Data to identify incident precursors to catastrophic events. These tools allow organizations and their leaders to develop a comprehensive approach to catastrophic loss event prevention, when effectively acted upon. Organizations that have developed strong HRO traits are more effective in responding to these signals than those with weaker HRO capabilities.

This interactive presentation will provide an overview of contemporary High Reliability research, the practical application of HRO theory in the industrial environment, and how Big Data can be most effectively actioned to identify catastophic incident precursors, when managed through a disciplined approach to organizational Anticipation, Inquiry, Execution, and Resilience.

Learning Objectives:

1. Participants will become aware of Highly Reliable Organization Theory which allows organizations to deliver outstanding safety results in the face of high risk and complex operational environments.

2. Participants will be able to identify the organizational attributes that deliver High Reliability, including the aspects of Anticipation, Inquiry, Execution, and Resilience.

3. Participants will be able to link the methods used to apply High Reliability concepts with Big Data analytics, to aid in the identification of incident precursors to catastrophic events.

4. Participants will be able to apply approaches and principles that enhance Leadership skills to improve organizational capability in High Reliability.