Amid Cyber Breaches, Operational Safety Saves the Day

Published On: June 24th, 2025Categories: Governance, Risk & Compliance: GRC2.1 min read

When ransomware halts production lines and phishing attacks cripple control systems, cybersecurity alone isn’t enough. It’s merely a start. What’s next? Organizations need operational safety as their last line of defense. Operational safety ensures that people, processes, and equipment alike keep running effectively and efficiently, even under attack. From regulatory shocks to climate events to supply-chain failures, operational safety protocols shore up continuity when IT controls fail.

Did you know? Once, eBay got hit with a data breach that stole 145 million passwords, but there was no reported financial fraud. eBay teamed up with cybersecurity experts, put stronger security protocols into place, and worked to make its security stronger than before.

Operational Safety Drives Faster Recovery
According to SAI360’s 2025 GRC Maturity Survey of 850 professionals across six regions, organizations with board-mandated safety-focused GRC strategies recover from disruptions 30% faster than those without¹. Nearly 70% of respondents say a documented leadership directive on safety and resilience is “very important” for building an effective framework.

Why Operational Safety Is Your Last Line of Defense

  • Integrate Safety into GRC
    Embed safety checks directly into risk, compliance, and ethics workflows—so shutdown protocols and emergency procedures activate automatically when thresholds are breached.

  • Map the Safety Surface
    Identify every point where a safety decision is made: machine interlocks, manual overrides, emergency-response triggers—and document data flows, handoff points, and visibility gaps.

  • Benchmark and Codify
    Conduct formal safety assessments twice a year. Publish a board-approved safety strategy that unites cyber, operational, and compliance teams around clear objectives.

  • Stand Up a Safety Committee
    Bring Legal, IT, Operations, HR, and Compliance together as one to review real-time safety metrics—incident response times, policy adherence rates, and equipment-failure trends.

  • Extend Standards to Vendors
    Require third-party partners to meet the same safety benchmarks. Automate checkpoints in vendor onboarding and performance reviews.

  • Drill Quarterly
    Simulate cyber breaches, equipment failures, and supply-chain shocks. Update playbooks based on drill outcomes, then publish concise safety reports to staff, customers, and regulators.

  • Refresh Annually
    Reassess your safety maturity and recalibrate your framework against emerging threats and lessons learned.

How SAI360 Powers Your Safety Net
The SAI360 GRC Platform unites operational safety and risk management in one solution:

  • Predefined Safety Workflows assign tasks and log every action, from emergency shutdown through root-cause analysis.

  • AI-Driven Horizon Scanning extends capabilities and increases efficiency

  • Unified dashboards tie cyber exposure to strategic objectives so leadership sees the full risk picture

¹2025 OCEG GRC Maturity Survey: Preliminary Findings – SAI360

Ready to make operational safety your safety net? Explore the SAI360’s GRC software to automate shutdown protocols, streamline emergency workflows, and keep your organization running, no matter the situation.