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From the Icelandic volcano crisis to the bituminous hell of the Gulf of Mexico
Air traffic has recently experienced a crisis provoked by the eruption of the Icelandic volcano with the “impossible name”. The accompanying economic and societal effects have been considerable: hundreds of thousands of flights cancelled at a cost of many billions of dollars. Evidently, most airlines and European governments were caught off guard.
Kevin W. Knight, Chair of the ISO working group that developed the new ISO 31000:2009 standard “Risk Management – Principles and guidelines” wrote in a recent article: “Given knowledge of the activity of the Icelandic volcano and the impact on aviation of past eruptions in Asia, it is surprising that no plans were in place to manage such a disruption-related risk.”
One has to wonder just how seriously, if at all, top management participates in planning and testing of disruption-related risk scenarios.
A similar question may be asked with regard to what is fast becoming one of the worst ever man-made ecological disasters in the Gulf of Mexico. To what extent did BP top management incorrectly evaluate the risks associated with the ill-fated well? Or did they know the risks and short-sightedly chose to hope for the best?
For Kevin Knight: “Risk is all about uncertainty or, more importantly, the effect of uncertainty on the achievement of objectives. The ISO 31000 standard can help organizations to confidently address such risks. Clearly, ISO 31000 requires significant commitment of the Board and top management, as well as sufficient resources to translate commitment into action.”
To do otherwise is tantamount to guiding the Titanic through thick fog with a flashlight.
For the full article by K. Knight, please visit the ISO website.
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