In the ten year period between 2004 and 2013 the UK lost 13 operational, and one non-operational, firefighters at fires, a relatively large number in relation to previous losses. These fatalities occurred during a period in which fire fatalities of members of the public were at an all‐time low but fire and rescue services (FRS) and their staff were being accused in the media of becoming risk averse. This research was focussed on investigating the risk attitudes and safety culture in the English fire and rescue services. The research question asked how the safety culture manifests itself in the English fire and rescue service and what are its implications? A mixed approach to the research was adopted utilising both quantitative and qualitative methods. The research strategy was inductive using a multiple case study. A safety culture questionnaire was designed and then piloted in one FRS with the responses being subjected to a factor analysis the results of which indicated there were four dimensions: management, procedures, competence, and work pressures. The final version of the questionnaire was then distributed across five FRSs from which 845 were returned, of which 823 were used in a series of statistical analyses. Two independent variables were used in the analysis; the first consisted of the individual FRSs, the second consisted of three groups based on Schein’s three generic subcultures of executive, designer and operator. These were aligned with principal officers (PO), senior officers (SO), and Watch based (WB) staff respectively. The analysis of the completed questionnaires indicated that the WB group had a negative attitude towards their FRS safety culture, while the SO and PO groups had a more positive attitude with the PO the most positive. All three groups were significantly different to each other. In conducting the qualitative part of the mixed methods the researcher rode with three Watches at a station in each of three FRSs to observe the behaviour of WB staff and attending SOs at incidents and during their daily activities. During the course of the fieldwork nineteen members across all of the participating FRSs were interviewed, and twenty‐four focus groups were conducted. What was clear was that the competence based training system was not popular with WB staff who believed it to be too bureaucratic, whilst SOs and POs believed that it had not fulfilled their expectations of what it would deliver. There were also concerns expressed that the promotion system, associated with the competence‐based training, was producing managers and not the leaders required on the incident ground. It was concluded that safety culture within the FRS is associated with the systems, policies and procedures reflective of FRS management’s level of risk tolerance producing a rule-based decision‐making bureaucracy; this level of risk tolerance then influences how operational firefighters operate on the incident ground. In the world of the operational firefighter a typical incident, which by its very nature is a temporary event, is laden with uncertainty, complexity and in which all the potential risks may not yet have been identified with decision‐making being focussed on problem‐solving. FRS personnel find themselves operating in a risk climate in which they build temporary command structures, construct temporary processes and controls reflecting the incident commander’s risk appetite for the purpose of moving towards operating in a safety climate in which to resolve the incident. The combination of the FRS’s safety culture and the operational firefighter’s risk climate determine what the researcher has defined as the FRS operational culture.

This exploratory research is based on an objectivist epistemology with a positivist theoretical perspective that deployed concurrent mixed methods (MMR) design through a quantitative administered survey alongside an in-depth qualitative analysis through interviews exploring the perspectives of leaders on EHS leadership and governance. The research literature review focused on EHS leadership, corporate governance and strongly related topics. This MMR research employed both an expert panel-validated survey and a semi-structured interview protocol which explored 9 themes which emerged from the literature review including EHS/Safety Leadership; Risk Management; Influence and Accountability. Due to pragmatics relating to the number of leaders accessed (N=30) the statistical analysis is limited to descriptive type statistics. Almost all respondents supported the monitoring role of the Board of Directors (BoD), but disagreed that the BoD should play an active role in risk management. Comparisons are drawn between the Oil and Gas and non-Oil and Gas organizations with interesting results especially in matters relating to risk management. Structured thematic content analysis yields that Safety Culture; Leadership; Influence and Accountability were the three leading themes accounting for just over 50% of the responses analysed. Many sub-themes have also emerged and are discussed. A Model of EHS Leadership and Governance was created and is presented which positions themes and factors that influence monitoring of EHS performance and ultimately risk management. The research can be considered as a unique contribution as a relatively small body of currently published work in this subject area, both globally and more so in the GCC.

This exploratory research is based on an objectivist epistemology with a positivist theoretical perspective that deployed concurrent mixed methods (MMR) design through a quantitative administered survey alongside an in-depth qualitative analysis through interviews exploring the perspectives of leaders on EHS leadership and governance. The research literature review focused on EHS leadership, corporate governance and strongly related topics. This MMR research employed both an expert panel-validated survey and a semi-structured interview protocol which explored 9 themes which emerged from the literature review including EHS/Safety Leadership; Risk Management; Influence and Accountability. Due to pragmatics relating to the number of leaders accessed (N=30) the statistical analysis is limited to descriptive type statistics. Almost all respondents supported the monitoring role of the Board of Directors (BoD), but disagreed that the BoD should play an active role in risk management. Comparisons are drawn between the Oil and Gas and non-Oil and Gas organizations with interesting results especially in matters relating to risk management. Structured thematic content analysis yields that Safety Culture; Leadership; Influence and Accountability were the three leading themes accounting for just over 50% of the responses analysed. Many sub-themes have also emerged and are discussed. A Model of EHS Leadership and Governance was created and is presented which positions themes and factors that influence monitoring of EHS performance and ultimately risk management. The research can be considered as a unique contribution as a relatively small body of currently published work in this subject area, both globally and more so in the GCC.

Many recent scandals in banking highlight the importance and challenges of risk governance due to non-financial risk issues such as misconduct and failed risk cultures of financial corporations. The study of risk culture and misconduct in banking requires addressing questions on corporate governance beyond compliance; next to the empirical level, it is important to focus fundamentally on normative aspects, such as ethical norms and values. The heuristic of the ethical focal point of moral symmetry is developed and used to unravel these complex culture and conduct issues on both the normative and empirical level to differentiate good conduct from misconduct in the banking industry, and to guide leaders and risk-takers in decision-making. Based on three case studies on recent banking scandals, the following main drivers of risk culture and misconduct issues in banking were derived: (i) bad leadership, (ii) decoupling of actions and values, and (iii) ignorance of risk policies due to the complexity and ambiguity of the banking business. Banks are requested to internalize a heuristic such as the ethical focal point of moral symmetry to overcome the issues of misconduct and its spill-over effects on risk-taking and risk culture in the banking industry.

Parmi les risques naturels, le risque d’inondation est le plus fréquent et le plus dommageable en France avec près de 50 % des communes exposées. Dans le département du Haut-Rhin, c’est 80 % des communes qui sont concernées. L’absence d’étude historique approfondie sur les inondations en Alsace et plus particulièrement sur celles de la Lauch, théâtre des derniers grands évènements, a constitué la principale motivation quant au choix de ce sujet. A défaut de pouvoir éradiquer ce risque, l’Homme a, au cours de l’histoire, engagé des actions palliatives pour s’en prémunir. De quelle manière et dans quelle mesure, les évènements historiques ont-ils été pris en considération dans les politiques de gestion et de prévention du risque d’inondation mises en place dans la vallée de la Lauch, durant plus de deux siècles ? Pour répondre à cette problématique, nous avons eu recours à une approche diachronique, avec pour point de départ l’évènement funeste de février 1990, et adopté une démarche interdisciplinaire. S’appuyant sur un important corpus de sources, cette thèse met en perspective l’évolution de la gestion des inondations sur la période considérée en fonction des évènements hydrologiques restitués via une méthode régressive, des enjeux, des contextes politiques très contrastés, et des acteurs, tant au plan local, national, qu’européen. S’inscrivant dans une logique de démarche appliquée, cette étude a pour ambition d’améliorer l’information sur les phénomènes et de constituer un « socle de connaissances scientifiques » pour une meilleure maîtrise du risque. Ainsi, il paraît fondamental de connaître l’aléa afin de pouvoir l’anticiper, s’en prémunir et mieux le gérer. / Among the natural hazards, the flood risk is the most frequent and the most harmful in France with about 50 % of the municipalities exposed. In the Haut-Rhin department, 80 % of the municipalities are concerned. We have chosen this subject because no historic study exists about floods in Alsace and especially about the Lauch valley, where the last big events have taken place. In front of the impossibility to eradicate the risk, the Man committed palliative actions to protect himself through history. How have the historic events been taken into consideration in policies of management and prevention of the flood risk in the Lauch valley for more than two centuries ? To answer this question, we have used a diachronic approach which begins with the disastrous event of February 1990, and adopted an interdisciplinary method. Based on an important corpus of sources, this thesis puts in perspective the evolution of the management of the floods over the period considered according to the hydrological events restored via a regressive method, the stakes, the very contrasted political contexts and the actors, over the local, national and European plans. This thesis is part of a logic of applied reasoning and has for ambition to improve the information about the phenomena and to constitute a "basis of scientific knowledge" for a better control of the risk. This way, it seems fundamental to know flood hazard to be able to anticipate it, to manage it better and to protect ourselves.