It happens. Accident, that is.

But every accident offers lessons to learn. Have you seen this checklist? Whatever your business, if no, take a look, if yes, take a look. TL-DR: read the bulleted questions below, and apply to your business.

While studying cognitive biases, I've also read through quite a many accident analysis, as accidents often are driven by cognitive factors. One of the best checklists I've seen was the one in the picture by Fiona Macleod and Stephen Richardson published in The Chemical Engineer (by Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE)) in 2018 article to commemorate the Piper Alpha disaster 30 years earlier. For the full article, see the link: https://www.thechemicalengineer.com/features/piper-alpha-the-disaster-in-detail/

They aimed the article for "all hazardous industries", but I'll go further and claim the questions posed in it are valid for every business and should be asked by every business leader and manager regularly. Let's go them through one by one:

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1?? ?What changes have been made to the operation of my facility since it was built? How are those changes managed? Who has the technical knowledge to ensure changes don’t compromise the fundamental process safety design?

? Your business process has been built to be a solid, risk proof, with checks and balances and a managerial chain, right? That was the initial stage, but are you aware of the changes to the original and documented processes that are currently (right now when you read this!) taking place? Did the persons who decided to alter a certain step in the process know, why the step was there?

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2?? ?Who is authorised to override automatic safety systems? How many overrides are in place today? Why are they overridden? Is it necessary? What process ensures that the problem that caused them to be overridden is fixed and they are re-instated or upgraded?

? Every organization have some sort of safety systems. They could be as simple as the locks in the gates and doors or a key to operate the machinery. But who is authorized and capable of unlocking the door, why would they do it and how is the relocking of the door ensured (is that the untold "responsibility" of the delivery truck driver")?

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3?? When did I last carry out a permit to work audit to see how the?system actually works in practice? On a live maintenance job that spans several shifts? Or where several multidisciplinary permits are live on a single system? How many live permits can I find today?

? When was the different permits for users to the business systems thoroughly audited? Does the business apply "need to know" or "nice to know" protocol for business data? Do we give access rights to the premises for unlimited time or set all passes to expire and require renewal? Is it easier to give all users all-access pass (to ICT, the premises or funds) than to set a pass to match a certain limited need?

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4?? When did I last audit a critical procedure on night shift? Tonight might be a good time to start.

? Most of the businesses operate these days 24/7/365. You have presense online, your facility could operate in three shifts, you might have freezer that stores your frozen food items for the lunch you've promoted for tomorrow... And equally well you know how it always goes even at home: the dishwasher breaks down on Friday evening, the power outage takes place at night when its dark (or you notice it then), etc. The resilience of your business is only as good as it is at the time of lowest manning, most tired managers and when it is least expected.

5?? How is my facility connected to other facilities, what could go wrong at the interface?

? No business is an island. There are always interconnections with your business: data, power, finance, supply chain up or down... And even if you've taken perfect precautions on fire safety by having sprinklers, portable extinguishers and using led candles instead of the real things, the restaurant next door sharing the wall with your office, could have a very different understanding of the safety culture when flame grilling street food for hungry folks.

6?? When did I last test each part of my emergency response in practice?

? Fire drills we all know, but have you done a power outage drill? Or a critical ICT-system outage drill? Or a drill to see how long your business can run if the supply of any single component gets disrupted for a certain period of time? And in case someone one day does not show up, would that disrupt your business (say e.g. the person holding the rights to grant access to just one part your financial system)?

Now that we've gone through the list, it's good to finalize this post with the final sentence in the list, the essence of this posting:

?Don’t be alarmed by what you find. But do something about it.

Do something.