Oversight or out of sight: the intersection between talent management, OHS governance and the issues for boards

In the wake of the Montara spill many companies have renewed efforts to review and implement leading safety and environmental performance; however, the issue is conceivably even more fundamental. With the recent Deepwater Horizon spillage, BP has booked a $US 32.2 billion provision to cover the costs of the spill—with the result that the company recorded the worst quarterly loss in British corporate history. What would a board need to know, in what form, and by when, in such a situation? Does the governance of such issues need to be strengthened? And in what way? How material and how effective is the oversight exercised by boards over operations of high technical expertise and remote location? What are the questions that boards should be asking about safety and environmental performance? And what are the real lead indicators of risk and performance shortfall? This presentation will draw from research by Deloitte’s Centre for Corporate Governance, as well as from interviews with Australian directors. It will also explore the issue of safety and environmental risk from the human capital perspective of talent management and shortage—mindful that the very impetus for the recently released report by the National Resources Sector Employment Taskforce was the decision to sanction the Gorgon LNG Project now underway. Finally, this presentation will outline some of the latest data analytics available to boards and management to gain insight into OHS and environmental incidents so that they can design measurable interventions to minimise risk.