NASA Leadership
The Space Shuttle Columbia (SSC) disaster occurred on February 1, 2003, leading to seven deaths and discrediting NASA management (History, 2018). The tragedy initiated a series of internal organizational changes, and it was evident that NASA required additional safety regulations for workers and astronauts (Howell & Dobrijevic, 2021). From these considerations, NASA should have identified the management failure elements that led to the disaster and substituted them with sustainable alternatives.
Stop Work Authority (SWA)
Consequently, the implementation of the SWA policy could have helped prevent the tragedy. The crucial stage of the SSC disaster was when the NASA officials rejected the suggestion to document the damage of the breached wing, which later led to malfunction (Howell & Dobrijevic, 2021). In other words, if the organization had a functional SWA policy, the astronauts could potentially ignore the officials’ statements and inspect the breached wing. SWA also implies the Right to Refuse (RTR), which could be implemented by the crew of the shuttle and potentially save their lives (Skjerven, 2019).
Risk Management
ISO 31000: 2018 guidelines concern the extent of organizational influence in risk management. Therefore, the implementation of ISO 31000 increases safety awareness and directly relates to the SWA policy (PECB, 2018). Improving security culture in the organization is one of the most effective methods to prevent future disasters, similar to the SSC tragedy. ISO 31000 also provides guidelines on how to implement risk management activities in all organizational operations, including the autonomy of workers in decision-making (PECB, 2018).
Implications of SWA in Risk Management
As a speculation, it is safe to assume that SWA in connection with ISO 31000:2018 could potentially save the lives of the astronauts during the SSC disaster. It is a known fact that some of the NASA engineers attempted to persuade the officials of the necessity of documenting the damage of the breached wing (Howell & Dobrijevic, 2021). In case either engineers or astronauts had more autonomy due to SWA, they could initiate their Right to Refuse and inspect the shuttle. While it is not certain whether they had time or resources to fix the problem, they still would have had a higher chance of survival if the SWA policy had been implemented.
References
History. (2018). Space shuttle Columbia. Web.
Howell, E., & Dobrijevic, D. (2021). Columbia disaster: What happened and what NASA learned. Web.
PECB. (2018). ISO 31000:2018-risk management guidelines. Web.
Skjerven, H. (2019). Stop work authority: Why you need it and how to successfully implement an SWA plan. Safeopedia. Web.