In the wake of the COVID-19 health crisis, which had highlighted the importance of managing uncertainty, the Foundation for a Culture of Industrial Safety (Foncsi) and the Institute for a Culture of Industrial Safety (Icsi) posed a fundamental question to industry leaders: Is a paradigm shift needed in safety management?
The event on June 23, 2021, held at ENAC in Toulouse, brought together major industrial companies (TotalEnergies, SNCF, EDF, Airbus) and internationally renowned researchers to discuss the limitations of current strategies, alternative approaches based on resilience, and the obstacles to such a change.
Aurélia Grignon participated in the final panel discussion, which focused on resistance to change and the social acceptability of acknowledging the unpredictable and the absence of total control. Moderated by Benoît Journé, a professor at the University of Nantes and director of the RESOH Chair at IMT-Atlantique, the session also featured Jacques Repussard, former director general of the IRSN, and Pierre Verzat, chairman of the executive board of Systra.
The panelists discussed whether society—and judges in particular—were ready to consider an alternative approach to risk management beyond the ideal of total control. Aurélia Grignon shed light on several issues from the perspective of criminal justice:
🔹 The Evolution of Criminal Liability for Accidents. Are we moving toward more or fewer criminal prosecutions, and will the search for liability shift to other parties?
🔹 A Comparison of Legal Systems, between the civil law and common law systems.
🔹 Delivering justice in a complex world. How should we adjudicate when safety is no longer merely a matter of compliance with a set of standards, but also involves balancing other objectives and constraints (economic, environmental, social, and health-related)?
The firm is pleased to have had the opportunity to share its experience in criminal law related to industrial accidents and disasters during these international exchanges, and to have contributed to discussions on issues that have been at the heart of the firm’s concerns for many years.
