380 Global Ethics for Leadership
2000, I had a phone discussion with Tony Blair who was concerned that
Shell tanker drivers might be supportive of the blockading truck drivers
and refuse to deliver fuel through the pickets of the refineries and de-
pots. I explained to him that I thought that this was unlikely; the reason
that fuel delivery trucks were not driving through the blockade was a
concern for safety. It was understandable if tanker drivers did not want
to drive forty tons of highly inflammable fuel through an angry mob
even if they had the protection of the police. He asked whether it was
possible to order them to do so. I explained that this would immediately
destroy a principle which it had taken us years to embed.
A short time ago someone who on behalf of shareholders had been
interrogating my successors in Shell on their approach to safety and
what the checks were told me that the Shell representative had related a
story of a cook on an offshore platform who had shut the operation
down on a safety concern. I know no details, but was encouraged to hear
it.
Cynthia Carroll adopted a similar approach when she became CEO
of Anglo American. She had not been in the job for very long when
there was a horrific string of fatal accidents in the majority owned sub-
sidiary Anglo Platinum. She announced that she was simply not pre-
pared to be CEO of a company which killed people in that way. So she
shut the mines involved down and had all the miners attend training on
surface. This had a big impact. She was fully supported by the board—
indeed I realised that we should have done it earlier. We announced
what production would be lost and had not a single complaint from a
shareholder although they could easily calculate the cost. There were
some grumbles in the diehard South African mining community saying
“Does she not realise that mining is a dangerous business”, but I also
heard compliments from someone in the South African utility Eskom
who remarked that it was a big help to him. He said they would love to
do the same, but unfortunately if they did lights would go out in parts of