Managing Product Hazards at Volvo Car Corporation

This chapter examines Volvo&s;s hazard-management structure and process within a broad societal context. The first Volvo automobile made its debut in 1927 and through the early 1930s the company made only a couple of hundred cars each year. Volvo is particularly noteworthy as a leader in automobile safety. The organizational structure of the Volvo Car Corporation, with an emphasis on hazard management. Within Volvo, the Safety and Environment Department is responsible for establishing and maintaining the required posture for product liability and for coordinating the overall product-liability prevention and reduction program. Whereas the Safety and Environment Department mainly analyzes information in documents, reports, and journals, the Volvo Safety Center also generates a great deal of research data bearing upon hazard identification and assessment. In fact, Volvo uses a well-articulated system of extensive feedback for improving the safety of its cars.