I was working with a multinational pharmaceutical company when an FDA audit at one of the company’s main facilities resulted in a production shutdown of a major product. The CEO, fending off upset customers, regulators and stockholders, as well as questions from reporters, wanted to know what other risks might rear their ugly head. He asked the company’s EHS manager where hot spots were in facilities around the world.
The story has a happy ending: The potential public relations nightmare was mitigated and the company recovered, including its stock price. Mitigation of potential worker safety and health risks became embedded in the organization’s global business plan. Safety and health risks in places as far away from the home office as Indonesia, Vietnam, Brazil and China were now on the leadership’s radar screen.