One headline read "Chemical Blast Levels Plant in Gary, Indiana." Another read "1000 Neighbors Evacuated to Escape Toxic Release Along Houston Ship Channel." Still another read, "CEO of Weaver Chemical Company Personally Convicted of Reckless Endangerment in California Toxic Blast." You can substitute whatever company name, city, state or country you'd like in these headlines, but the impact won't change: fatalities, major property damage, environmental damage, loss of community trust, major lawsuits, business interruption, loss of market share, insurance problems, adverse publicity locally and nationally, and, in a few cases, personal liability of the CEO and other senior executives. These are events that have a very low chance of occurring but that can have catastrophic consequences when they do. A business manager with a 3-year assignment may be charged to grow the business or "milk" it for cash, but his or her time horizon is very short compared to the life of the business or the risk time scale. If the probability of the disaster occurring is once in a thousand years, the business manager may be tempted to ignore it or minimize efforts to avoid it. That way he or she can avoid process safety management costs whose only effect could be a reduction in quarterly profits and his or her performance rating.
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