Coordination of European Research on Industrial Safety towards Smart and Sustainable Growth
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed significant variability in how industrial organisations and their supply chains can maintain safety and business continuity during large-scale disruptions. While some organisations adapted rapidly, others struggled to implement effective measures, leading to impacts on workforce, operations and resilience. Existing industrial safety approaches often focus on preventing accidents under ‘normal’ conditions, and may not capture the organisational capabilities required to respond to exponential, system-wide changes such as a pandemic. At the same time, resilience concepts from management science emphasise dynamic capabilities, stakeholder collaboration and data-driven decision-making, but are not routinely translated into industrial safety practice. DISC4R addresses this gap by combining dynamic capabilities and industrial safety/human factors perspectives to identify, assess and support capabilities that enable resilient response, sustained safety performance and continuity of business activities in the face of large-scale disruptions.
The project investigates which challenges industrial organisations encountered during COVID-19 and which solutions were devised at organisational and supply-chain level, including across different national contexts. It examines how industrial safety–related resilience can be assessed and evaluated, and how weak links in supply chains can be identified using appropriate qualitative and quantitative methods. Another research question concerns which dynamic capabilities enable organisations and supply chains to respond resiliently to rapid and exponential changes that can generate future industrial safety risks. The project explores how stakeholder collaboration and data-driven decision-making contribute to resilience, and how these elements can be operationalised into assessment methods and actionable recommendations.
DISC4R will deliver an evidence-based mapping of COVID-19-related challenges and effective solutions for industrial organisations and supply chains, supported by cross-country comparisons. It will produce methods and tools for assessing industrial safety–related resilience and for identifying vulnerabilities and weak links in supply networks. Outputs include an analysis of dynamic capabilities relevant for resilient response and continuity, along with guidance and recommendations that industrial stakeholders can apply to strengthen preparedness for future large-scale disruptions.
The project is implemented through six coordinated work packages. - WP1 – Project management and coordination: ensures overall governance and reporting. - WP2 – Disaster scenario definition: defines representative disaster scenarios and requirements. - WP3 – Data integration and analysis: develops methods for integrating heterogeneous disaster-related data. - WP4 – Decision-support tools: designs tools supporting response and coordination. - WP5 – Validation and demonstration: validates tools through exercises and case studies. - WP6 – Dissemination and exploitation: promotes uptake and knowledge transfer.
BMK
Austria
