on Risk & Safety

Guest Post by Keith Ridgeway (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

Every day we are exposed to all types of hazards, but what really makes these hazards become risks.

For the past 30 years, I’ve been involved in one way or another, investigating the root causes of failure modes be it a system, process, person, plant or product.   During this time I’ve applied different problem-solving tools like “FMEA, 8D, 5Whys, FEA’s, DMAIC etc” in order to find the true root cause of this failure mode.   Only to get frustrated, thinking I had found the root cause, only 3 months later a new failure mode would come to the surface. [Read more…]

In May of 2015, we finished ISO: Risk Based Thinking book.  We answer more than 300 questions about risk, quality, RBT, risk based auditing, and certification.  We will start answering questions that we get weekly.

SO WHY YOU?

So, what gives us credence since ISO 9001:2015 is coming out in 4 months.  Well ….   We coined and trademarked the expression: Future of Quality: Risk®.  We used the expression CERM: Risk Based Problem Solving | Risk Based Decision Making years before ISO developed Risk Based Thinking.   Twenty years ago, we wrote best selling ISO books.  We worked with the first ISO CB’s in 1987.  Anyway, you get the idea, we’ve been in this business a long time. [Read more…]

Guest Post by Stuart Rosenberg (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

The supply chains of most companies, large and small, exploit a world of opportunities.  But increasing global exposure comes with an increasing range of risks.  These companies’ complex networks of suppliers and customers are as diverse as the goods and resources they manage.  Within the same supply chain, giant multinational companies can sit side-by side with small to medium enterprises (SMEs). Yet among companies large and small there is growing awareness that extreme weather and a changing climate pose new risks and opportunities to old ways of doing business. [Read more…]

Guest Post by John Ayers (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

Most companies have policies and procedures for concurrent engineering but many are ineffective for various reasons resulting in poor implementation of improved producibilty in their products. I have made this observation based on working for a variety of companies in different industries. Three examples of different approaches I encountered are presented below for your consideration. Two of the examples were used by defense companies, one of which I consider excellent and the other poor. One method was used by a commercial company is one I consider to be very good. [Read more…]

Guest Post by James Kline (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

On March 28, 1979, there was a cascading failure in reactor number 2 at Three Mile Island.

This failure allowed large amounts of nuclear reactor coolant to escape. The accident coalesced the anti-nuclear movement and ultimately caused the decline in nuclear plant construction in the United States. [Read more…]

Guest Post by John Ayers (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

Reliability is designed into a product.  Quality is built into a product.  Poor reliability is long term, difficult and expensive to rectify because it is woven into the fabric of the product.

Quality is a relative short term problem because once the badly written procedure, non-compliant material or poor workmanship is identified, it usually can be fixed relatively quickly with minimal impact to the program. [Read more…]

Guest Post by John Ayers (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

Introduction

Risk management involves the identification of risks, prioritization of the risks based on probability of occurrence and impact of occurrence, and mitigation plans to control the risks.  Once identified and prioritized the question then becomes which risks should be incorporated into the schedule and which ones should be included in the risk register?

The general rule of thumb I have used requires risks with a 50% or greater probability of occurrence to be incorporated into the schedule. The other risks are entered into the risk register. [Read more…]

Guest Post by Greg Hutchins (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

When evaluating risk response strategies, executive management along with process owners must align risk responses with the organization’s risk appetite, business objectives, costs/benefits, and overall risk strategy/tactics. Risk response strategies and tactics may involve: [Read more…]

Guest Post by Geary Sikich (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

Introduction

There’s always a story that explains why an event is a “Black Swan” – after the fact. Where are the “Black Swan” prognosticators before events occur? I see “after the fact” articles and statements, such as, “we knew that was coming” or “we predicted this” – all after the fact. Generally projections and predictions seem never to hold sway until after the fact. Predictions and projections never seem to occur when the prognosticator specifies — is it just that the timing never seems to work out – until after the fact. From Nostradamus to the “Bible Code” we are enamored with predictions – after the fact. Does there seem to be a theme developing here? [Read more…]

Guest Post by Geary Sikich (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

Exposure to threats, hazards, and risks leads to vulnerabilities that an organization must deal with.

Commonly these are addressed via a mitigation process. Once mitigation is accomplished, often times the organization feels that the risk, threat, hazard does not need to be revisited. However, as a result of the mitigation efforts on the part of the organization, the risks, threats, hazards reconfigure and re-emerge in a different form.

In order for mitigation to be successful, it has to be a constant and ongoing process that produces a resilience to the negative effects of risks, threats, and hazards that are realized. [Read more…]

Guest Post by Geary Sikich (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

Unpredictability is the New Normal

As the world approaches 7 billion in population this year, there is an ever-increasing demand for food, energy and a voice in how things are run. How do these changes affect business continuity planners, you may be asking?

The simple answer is, they will have far-reaching effects on how business continuity planning is conducted.

No longer can we be satisfied with the assurance that our “hot site” is available, or that we can maintain business operations in the face of a pandemic; or that we can deal with the aftermath of a natural disaster. [Read more…]

Guest Post by Geary Sikich (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

Introduction 

There exists an overabundance of guidance for conducting risk assessments. Yet, it seems that we still have difficulty in getting risk assessments to reflect the appropriate level of concern for the identified risks that we are assessing. We also tend to view risk in relation to the place where we are employed and the industry that we work in. When we look at risk assessment from this perspective it should be clear that we are missing the point precisely, or at best, are being too narrowly focused, when it comes to assessing risk for our organizations. [Read more…]