Case Study: Safety science risk research and prioritization

Telesto strategy helped a global science safety and testing organization broadening its strategy and portfolio to proactively incorporate new and potential threats from technological developments

Challenge

A leading global safety science company that independently researches safety risks, publishes standards, and certifies products to standards has been broadening its strategy and portfolio to proactively incorporate new and potential threats from technological developments, such as electrification, Li-ion batteries, and AI-powered products. To this end, their executives reached out to Telesto to identify and develop:

Safety research priorities that align with the organization’s mission, capabilities, and the magnitude of risk to public safety
Cross-organizational priority topics that represent the biggest gaps in public safety today, where research, standards, and certification should spend the most time and resources collaborating together

To support these two goals, our team developed two strategy reports to be reviewed at the executive and board level. Our analysis factored in global risk reports and client’s capabilities, which were validated by interviews with industry experts and client’s leadership.

Our approach

We combined rigorous market research, stakeholder engagement, and forward-looking analysis to ensure our reports reflected the latest developments in safety science globally, to pinpoint where our client should prioritize.

1. Hazard Identification and Analysis

Identified and mapped 22 highest-priority risks to human life to 8 thematic areas
Identified and mapped 16 fire and electrical hazards to 4 thematic areas based on frequency of accidents and urgency

2. Stakeholder Engagement & Industry Insights

Conducted surveys of subject matter experts and stakeholders
Identified frequency and severity of selected fire and electrical hazards
Reviewed latest developments in regulatory landscape

3. Prioritization Exercise

Finalized the set of priority thematic areas using organizational capabilities and mission as criteria, resulting in 4-5 actionable priorities with rationale
Applied our framework to finalize highest-potential hazards in applications including EVs, batteries, and solar panels

4. Actionable Roadmap & Strategic Recommendations

Outlined clear steps and a 12-month roadmap for our client’s leadership to allocate resources and shore up internal capabilities in identified priority areas
Provided internally developed frameworks for continuous refinement of strategy

Results & Impact

✔ Amplifying Societal Impact – Our findings and recommendations are adopted by Research Institute, a non-profit safety organization, which actively engages the public, industry stakeholders, and regulators to achieve measurable improvements in public safety.

✔ Strategic Refinement – The finalized set of priority areas enabled our client’s executives and board to continuously refine and adopt their strategy and budget, as new and unknown safety risks proliferate faster than ever today.

✔ Organizational Priorities – By highlighting the organization’s current state and desired future outcomes, our framework brought the three distinct client organizations closer together and enabled new areas of collaboration through dialogue.

✔ Competitive Positioning – By identifying existing gaps and our client’s competitive advantages, Our client positioned itself as a leader where they can best influence stakeholders and offer differentiated solutions to new challenges.

Conclusion

Our work with our client’s leadership provided an actionable, repeatable framework for reassessing their organizational priorities and fulfilling their safety mission. By leveraging internal and external expertise, we enabled client’s leadership to refocus their efforts where it matters the most.

Looking to leverage market research and analysis for strategic impact? Contact us today.