"What Keeps Us Safe When Prevention Is No Longer Enough?"
This question kicked off the inaugural SAFETY 360° Summit in Altdorf, Switzerland. Bringing together leaders from healthcare, aviation, communication science, journalism, cybersecurity, risk literacy, and national security, the Summit explored what keeps societies safe in uncertain times.
While the eight keynote speakers approached the question from different sectoral perspectives, a common theme emerged throughout the day:
"Safety is no longer only about preventing failure.
It is increasingly about strengthening resilience."
Keynote 1: "Safety in Healthcare"
Sir Liam Donaldson (United Kingdom)
Former WHO Envoy for Patient Safety Sir Liam Donaldson opened the Summit with a question that has challenged healthcare for decades:
"Why do patients continue to experience preventable harm despite enormous investments in patient safety?"
Part of the answer, he suggested, lies in a contradiction that remains deeply embedded within healthcare systems worldwide:
"We educate in silos, but we practise in teams."
He also reflected on the still largely underused potential of patient stories in preventing and learning from harm. And perhaps the most powerful reflection of the keynote came at the very end where safety, Donaldson argued, is often invisible when it works:
"We never talk about beauty in healthcare. But if there's anything beautiful, it would be a system working safely in all the nuts and bolts and behaviours and cultures — the mundane things that keep people safe."
Keynote 2: "Safety in Aviation"
Captain Markus Jäger (Germany)
Aviation is often regarded as the safest industry in the world. Yet Markus Jäger argued that maintaining this level of safety may become increasingly challenging as systems grow more complex and automated.
Drawing on examples ranging from the emergency landing of US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River to a Lufthansa incident involving unexpected system behaviour, he demonstrated that safety-critical situations rarely unfold exactly as anticipated. As he put it:
"Human factor does not mean being flawless. It means creating new solutions for unknown situations."
This capacity to respond safely when the unexpected occurs has become an essential component of modern aviation safety. It is also one of the reasons why a seven-year Lufthansa-Airbus research project exploring single-pilot operations ultimately failed to achieve the required level of safety.
For Jäger, the lesson was the recognition that safety does not emerge from technology alone – it emerges from the interaction between sophisticated systems and competent people who can adapt when reality departs from the script.
Keynote 3: "The Human Infrastructure of Safety"
Prof. Dr. Annegret Hannawa (Switzerland)
Across healthcare, aviation, cybersecurity, and countless other domains, enormous effort has been invested in building structures, protocols, technologies, and safeguards designed to prevent harm. Yet despite these advances, preventable incidents continue to occur.
According to Hannawa, part of the reason lies in how we have come to understand the human factor. For decades, safety efforts have focused on reducing the risks associated with human error. What often receives far less attention is the uniquely human capacity to create safety.
Drawing on examples from healthcare and rescue operations, Hannawa argued that safety does not emerge simply because information is exchanged or protocols are followed. It emerges when people achieve shared understanding, coordinate their actions, navigate uncertainty together, and remain in dialogue under pressure.
"Communication, in this sense, is not merely a safety risk to be managed – but a safety resource to be cultivated."
The future of safety, Hannawa suggested, thus depends as much on unlocking human potential as it does on controlling human error.
Keynote 4: "Safety in the Arctic"
Kassaaluk Kristensen (Greenland)
News editor Kassaaluk Kristensen offered a unique perspective from Greenland, where local media suddenly found themselves at the center of an international geopolitical debate following sudden interest from U.S. President Donald Trump in owning their country.
For a small newsroom already preparing to cover national and municipal elections, the sudden global attention created an unexpected challenge: as foreign actors increasingly discussed Greenland's future, international narratives began to dominate public discourse, often without including Greenlandic voices themselves.
Initially, local media followed the breaking-news cycle. Yet Kristensen observed that the constant focus on external pressures was contributing to polarization and exhaustion among readers.
In response, her newsroom turned directly to its audience and asked a simple question:
"What do you want us to cover?"
The answer was clear: Readers wanted less attention on the geopolitical spectacle and more attention on the needs of their own communities, concerns, and future.
Kristensen's experience in Greenland illustrated how journalism can influence whether societies respond to uncertainty with polarization or with a stronger sense of collective resilience. As she reflected, responsible journalism does more than report events – it helps people make sense of uncertainty, find their footing under pressure, and maintain a shared understanding of who they are as a society.
Keynote 5: "Safety in Decision-Making"
Prof. Dr. Gerd Gigerenzer (Germany)
In conversation with science journalist Beat Glogger, psychologist and risk researcher Gerd Gigerenzer explored one of the most overlooked safety competencies in modern society: risk literacy.
According to Gigerenzer, uncertainty cannot be eliminated. The challenge is learning how to understand it and how to make sound decisions in the midst of it.
Drawing on examples ranging from terrorism and public health crises to medical screening and social media, he demonstrated how easily people misjudge risks when information is poorly communicated or statistical evidence is misunderstood. He also showed how people often fear highly visible but unlikely dangers while overlooking risks that are far more consequential in everyday life.
For Gigerenzer, improving safety thus requires more than technical solutions. It requires that citizens, journalists, healthcare professionals, and policymakers are able to understand risk, interpret evidence accurately, and make sound decisions – especially under pressure and in uncertain times.
Keynote 6: "Safety in the Shipping Industry"
George Michaelides (Cyprus)
Commissioner George Michaelides from Cyprus explored how digitalization is changing the safety landscape of modern societies.
Drawing on examples ranging from the Stuxnet attack on Iran's nuclear program to cyberattacks affecting energy infrastructure, water systems, and telecommunications, he argued that cybersecurity can no longer be viewed as a purely technical issue. As critical infrastructures become increasingly interconnected, cyber incidents have the potential to trigger safety incidents affecting entire systems and populations.
For Michaelides, cyber resilience therefore means more than protecting networks and systems. It involves the ability of institutions, organizations, and people to anticipate, withstand, respond to, and recover from disruptions.
While technological safeguards remain essential, he repeatedly emphasized the importance of preparedness, training, communication, and public awareness. Because cybersecurity, he argued, is ultimately a human challenge: resilient societies are built not only through secure infrastructures, but through people who are prepared to respond when those infrastructures become compromised.
Keynote 7: "Safety & National Security"
Lieutenant General Thomas Süssli (Switzerland)
Former Chief of the Swiss Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Süssli argued that the geopolitical landscape has entered a fundamentally new era.
Reflecting on developments over recent years, he suggested that the world has passed an inflection point – a profound shift in the international order that is unlikely to reverse. And that the assumptions that formed the post-Cold War era can no longer be taken for granted.
Drawing on examples from China, Russia, and the United States, Süssli described how geopolitical competition is increasingly unfolding not only through military power, but also through cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns, influence operations, and efforts to undermine public trust.
Yet his message was ultimately not one of fear, but of preparedness. He stated that if the world is becoming more uncertain, societies must become more resilient. The recipe is not censorship or withdrawal from difficult conversations – but greater awareness, open discussion, and a willingness to engage with the challenges affecting the world around us.
The SAFETY 360° Roundtable
The concluding panel discussion revealed striking areas of convergence across sectors.
First, the speakers agreed that safety is becoming less about predicting every risk and more about building the capacity to adapt when the unexpected occurs.
Second, they agreed that despite rapid technological advances, resilience ultimately depends on human capability. In particular, training, judgment, safe communication, teamwork, and the ability to act effectively under pressure emerged as recurring themes across healthcare, aviation, cybersecurity, journalism, and national security.
Finally, trust became a focal point of the discussion. Whether addressing public health crises, cyber incidents, geopolitical tensions, team communication or media environments, the panelists emphasized that societies cannot navigate uncertainty without the capacity to build and maintain trusted relationships and remain in dialogue.
What's Next?
By the end of the day, the discussion had moved far beyond any single sector.
Whether the topic was patient safety, aviation, communication, journalism, cybersecurity, risk literacy, or national security, the speakers repeatedly returned to the same challenge: uncertainty is becoming a defining condition of modern life.
Thus, the question is no longer how to eliminate uncertainty.
The question is how to remain safe despite it.
Across sectors, the speakers emphasized that resilience depends not only on systems, technologies, and regulations. It also depends on people — on their ability to build trust, maintain dialogue, share understanding, and adapt together when the unexpected occurs.
Safety, in that sense, is no longer only about preventing failure. It calls for strengthening our collective capacity to navigate uncertainty together.
The conversation continues.
We look forward to sharing the next chapter of the SAFETY 360° journey after the summer break.
