VDC is not making judgments related to BP’s handling of the Gulf oil spill, nor are we placing blame solely on Tony Hayward. Once the oil is gone and the media coverage has dissipated the facts will speak for themselves as to what went wrong, who is to blame and lessons learned.
Rather this tragedy is an opportunity to reinforce the importance of a company’s need to develop, and implement, an effective functional safety program; one that is embedded into the very DNA of a company’s operations. Not having or implementing an effective functional safety can damage a company’s reputation and impact its bottom line – BP is but an extreme example losing billions in market capitalization and $17 billion on the bottom line according to most recent financials.
At a minimum functional safety programs should be designed to protect a company’s most valuable assets – its employees and their morale and productivity and its equipment, property and processes.
Treating functional safety as a critical part of a company’s business leads to improved productivity, enhanced employee morale, lower overall costs including liability insurance and worker’s compensation, and helps to position a company as a good corporate citizen.
VDC is launching its 2010 Functional Safety program covering intrinsically safe devices, machine safety, safety (SIL rated) sensors, process safety systems and the services and support required for a successful implementation.
Our goal is help companies frame what an effective functional safety program may entail, how they can continue to educate customers to help protect their own employees, equipment and processes and what are the requirements and preferences of their customer base.
We welcome any questions, comments or feedback on how we can design the most valuable and actionable market research possible.
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