The Role of Corporate Governance Failure in the Grenfell Tower Fire

Abstract

The capacity for crisis perception and to foresee risk is central to project management where responsibility for safety is a central component informing decision making. This article examines the absence of this capacity as a cause and consequence of corporate governance failure. The example of the Grenfell Tower fire is used to illustrate the multiple inflection points within governance structures where relatively minor errors of judgement or inattention to detail individually or collectively undermine their shared purpose. The consequences of minor deficiencies include the risk of compromising the governance framework, misaligning stakeholder objectives, normalising miscommunication, mismanagement and neglect, institutionalising discrimination and, ultimately, eroding the protection measures required to prevent catastrophic events.