Risk management - the risk is in the management!

Many articles are written about corporate risk management and its statutory requirements. Risk management in a chemical manufacturing company must also take into account the technological, asset integrity and manpower competency risk. In the board's of chemical manufacturing companies, there must be someone to understand these specific risks that are inherent in chemical units. Risk matrices when presented to the board often do not really communicate the risks the company is facing. No board of directors want an incident to happen.It is the failure in communicating these risks to the board that is most worrisome. At the present rates of attrition of management personnel in chemical industries in India, there may be a gap in risk communication to the board, with the result that an incident happens later.
When I conduct process safety management audits, I often observe a huge gap between what is happening at the ground level and the board's perception of management of process safety. The Baker panel report after the BP incident specifically recommended that a member of the board in chemical units must be someone who understands the process safety issues and can communicate the risk to the rest of the members of the board. But this is yet to happen. It is not a question of culture. It is a question of commitment. Without commitment there is no culture.