Why do we manage health and safety hazards?
Why do we reduce our environmental impacts?
Why do we minimise the cost of poor quality?
Why are we doing what we are doing?
The first three are easier to answer, we manage health and safety hazards to reduce the likelihood of people being hurt, we reduce our environmental impacts to protect our planet (the only one we've got) and minimising the cost of poor quality has direct links to the other two - a badly designed process or product has potential to cause injury, increased waste is bad for the environment, wasted time is inefficient.
Why are we doing what we are doing, is much harder to answer. The reason I set up HKW Risk Management was because I really believed there was a more simple and straightforward way to do things which was better for businesses, people and the environment. I also feel an instinctive need to look after people and make things better (and to provide cake).
Yes, there are legal requirements to be met and financial penalties for not complying, but for me, the key reason for doing (or not doing) anything is the underlying morality and sustainability of that decision.