Are your Controls really controls?
Christian Young
Simplifying Critical Risk Management In The Real World. Clients Include Ampol, BHP, Glencore, Newcrest & More
Warning - this article may result in a complete review of your fatality prevention process! If you don't want to read this article, you can watch my video below.
Most bowties for fatal risks have many causes, consequences and controls. We feel good about ourselves because we believe that the more controls we have in any given pathway, the better chance we have in preventing or mitigating the pathway.
Pictured below is an example of a bowtie for a multiple fatality risk from one of our client sites.
At first glance it appears to be a robust Bowtie Analysis, however when we go below the surface a different story emerges.
Control Selection Framework
The process we can use to challenge our controls is through the utilisation of a Control Selection Flowchart.
The flowchart enables an assessment of our controls to determine;
Application of Framework to "Supervision"
Below are some of the controls from the above Bowtie Analysis.
We are going to apply the control selection framework to the control of "Supervision".
In the first column we must answer the questions below
The Analysis finds;
We find that Supervision is not a Control, which moves us to the Support Activity question set in the second column pictured below.
Our Analysis finds;
We find that Supervision is not a Support Activity, which moves us to the Verification activity question set in the third column pictured below.
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Our Analysis finds;
The Control Selection Framework application has determined that Supervision is not a control and is a Verification Activity (at best).
For orgnisations that use Supervision in their Risk Assessments as the magic panacea, this may come as a surprise, for others this will be a matter of fact.
If we were to apply the Control Selection Framework to the other controls such as Statutory Inspections, Hazard Reporting, and Induction, it's likely the process will determine these are also not true controls.
Uncovering Issues with Controls
When we applied the Control Selection Framework to the Bowtie Analysis we identified a significant number of controls which were not true controls.
As the review demonstrated a reduction in management of the risk, we were requested to facilitate an end-to-end review and update of the Bowtie.
What you need to do
1. Apply the Control Selection Framework to Fatal Risk
If you have fatal risks within your business we recommend applying the Control Section Framework to the Risk Assessments for these risks as the place to start.
This will provide you with an understanding of your True Controls.
To help with this process note the following;
2. Get Help
If you are not sure where to start, or need help, contact us [email protected] and we will perform a free Control Selection Framework review on a Risk Assessment of your choice.
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What do you think?
In this article I've shared my thoughts on what has worked for us. I would love to hear from you.
Cheers, Christian
Bruce Treasure at Treasure and Treasure
7 个月Critical controls can give you a sense of assurance that is often not what you believe is actually happening. There can easily be be a huge disconnect between a bow tie and what is happening at the coal face so as to speak. I think the gentleman who wrote Paper Safe call it the illusion of safety. There is really only one possible solution to our love affair with paper and systems. The only solution is Leadership that actually get out of the air conditioning and is very visible and spends time talking to people who actually do the work. I have been promoting proactive and visible leadership for 40 years and maybe one day I will actually see it happen and happen on a consistent basis. Once or twice is just not enough. I was at a DuPont plant many years ago and the Plant Manager was on the floor for the first 4 hours every day. He stated this solved 90% of all issues. He also provided what I think is the most valuable quote I have heard. “Your actions speak so loudly I cannot hear a word you say” Very powerful In conclusion and this is only my opinion controls or critical controls are only strong, functional and available when you have strong leadership who get out there and verify.