Roads to Resilience

In terms of rewards for managers’ performance, “ you’re looking for people to take a long term view in the business not how do we do something this year that gives me a bonus and I don’t really care about what the future impacts might be, so I think longer term financial rewards I think yes that does drive you to get enterprise, managing enterprise risks ” (Head of Risk and Corporate Finance).

Summary

The three businesses in the Drax Group are all related to the generation and sale of electricity. The power station itself is viewed as a strategic asset, which must be operated to extremely high levels of safety and with constant improvements in efficiency and the sustainability of the plant. Due to this, much of the culture of the organisation is built on the awareness that being safe requires a level of controlled anxiety and stringent reporting of near misses, to avoid any manifestation of complacency. This is matched by a clear structure for risk recognition and reporting. Additionally, as Drax is dependent on the regular use of contractors, the company ensures that a culture of safety becomes part of contractors’ thinking. It is interesting that, with such a strong safety focus, the Drax Group also takes a strategic view of the value of risk management. Business plans are also viewed from both a risk and opportunity perspective. Senior management at Drax are highly-experienced in their industry and this, together with their focus on safety and risk, is very positively viewed throughout the organisation.

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Appendix A Case study: Drax Group