The 2nd reason why your organization should adopt the bowtie methodology

2 – Ability to visualize risk controls in scenarios

The ability of visualization often refers to two aspects: the risk scenarios with controls and the weakness of risk controls according to reference information on the bowtie.

“Risk is equal to the triplet (S_i, P_i, C_i), where S_i is the i^th scenario, P_i is the probability of that scenario, and C_i is the consequence of the i^th scenario, i = 1, 2, . . . , N” (Kaplan and Garrick, 1981).

Visualizing risk scenarios is the primary reason for many bowtie beginners. By using the bowtie method, multiple risk scenarios which connect to one hazard, can be displayed concisely. The bowtie diagrams show the scenarios, consequences, the likelihood of these scenarios, and the risk assessment results. In addition, risk controls are also depicted as barriers.

By using bowties, it is easy to point out the weakness of risk controls according to reference information on the bowtie. Some experienced users pay attention to critical controls and check their weakness through required reference data. Next to that, by using bowtie it is easy to differentiate between controls and non-controls and their effectiveness. For example, adding safety activities to barriers can distinguish the performance of assurance activities versus actual controls. Therefore, visualizing controls and reference data in risk scenarios optimize risk management tasks.

3 – Risk communication across the organizations

According to our survey, using bowties for risk communication is vital for organizations. Many users believe that bowtie facilitates QHSE risk communication, since bowtie improves the effectiveness and efficiency of their risk communication across the organization. Not only is the risk result of importance in communication, the critical data concerning controls is too. Our bowtie tools can for instance deliver accurate information to accountable staff members specifically.

The messages of communication are either positive, such as ‘we learnt and we corrected the mistake so it shouldn’t happen again’, or negative, such as ‘we thought we fixed it but the barrier is still not performing as we need so we need a deeper look’. Communication is about what is actually done to manage a hazard. It pushes people to consider, which feeds data to a bowtie and demonstrates the organization is learning from mistakes. Learning from incidents and other reference data displayed on bowties together is very powerful.

Further uses – Ensuring the integrity of controls and their performance

Many organizations focus on critical controls identified on the bowtie. This is only part of the identification process. Assuring that these controls function well and are being continuously tracked is required to manage the integrity of controls on an ongoing basis. However, a single method like bowtie can’t achieve this by itself. A systematic and all-encompassing approach is required. Building on the basis of bowtie and barrier management, various other issues such as ownership, management systems, performance standards, culture, etc. also need to be considered. Risk management is a journey and bowtie is the beginning.

Clients use bowtie to truly incorporate the conditions determined in the hazard analysis into the basis of risk management and effectively perform tracking. Bowties and especially barrier management need to be dynamic for continuous improvement. Either incident analysis or an audit process can let an organization learn from dynamic data. Mature bowtie users expect an efficient way to make use of this data, create and assure follow-ups to have a risk management system following the PDCA cycle. The Bowtie Suite portfolio is aiming to provide such a platform by facilitating a full tool set to achieve this.

In summary, regarding risk management, bowtie is adopted for various reasons, some of them specifically derived from the risk management process. The identification of risks and their analyses, the visualization of risk scenarios and controls, the risk communication including recording are initial; while, the continuous monitoring and review are increasingly considered and become the motivation for further use of bowties.

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