Building the Resilient Firm: The New Challenge to EHS Organizations

摘要

A number of recent events have created a new challenge for the environmental, health, and safety (EHS) organizations of many firms—one that in too many cases has gone unrecognized. In the years since the end of the Cold War, the world has experienced several significant terrorist attacks, such as those of September 11, 2001, in the United States and the anthrax incidents of the following months; the October 2002 theatre siege in Moscow; the March 11, 2004, train bombings in Spain; and the July 7, 2005, terror attacks in London. At the same time, we have seen events such as extensive flooding in Europe in August 2002; the multiple hurricane landfalls in Florida during the 2004 season; the December 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, with its substantial loss of life; and, most recently, the massive damage from Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast. These events have refocused attention on the human and economic costs of natural disasters.