Advising boards of directors and supervisory boards

Safety information reaches the board after passing through several filters. It often boils down to a few indicators, starting with the lost-time injury rate, which say little about the risk of a serious accident.

A board can therefore approve, for years, a strategy, budgets and trade-offs that build up disaster precursors, without having what it needs to see them.

After the Boeing 737 MAX crashes, shareholders took the board of directors to court in the United States for failing to organise its oversight of aircraft safety. Directors' accountability extends to safety too.

• Insight into the organisation's critical risks and the disaster precursors that threaten it.
• The questions to put to management, and what a solid answer should contain.
• A critical reading of the safety indicators presented to the board.
• An independent audit commissioned by the board or one of its committees, whether risk, audit or sustainability.
• A briefing seminar for directors.
• After a serious event, an independent investigation carried out on the board's behalf.

I work for the board, with due respect for the role of management. As head of health and safety for major groups, I reported to the supervisory board. I have sat on leadership teams and I know what management presents to governance bodies, and what sometimes stays outside directors' field of vision.

My work gives the board the means to question, understand and decide with full knowledge on the risks that can cost lives.