Risk-Based Thinking: Managing the Uncertainty of Human Error in Operations

by Tony Muschara

Society at large tends to misunderstand what safety is all about. It is not just the absence of harm. When nothing bad happens over a period of time, how do you know you are safe? In reality, safety is what you and your people do moment by moment, day by day to protect assets from harm and to control the hazards inherent in your operations. This is the purpose of risk-based thinking, the key element of the six building blocks of Human and Organizational Performance (H&OP).

Generally, H&OP provides a risk-based approach to managing human performance in operations. But, specifically, risk-based thinking enables foresight and flexibility—even when surprised—to do what is necessary to protect assets from harm but also achieve mission success despite ongoing stresses or shocks to the operation. Although you cannot prepare for every adverse scenario, you can be ready for almost anything. When risk-based thinking is integrated into the DNA of an organization’s way of doing business, people will be ready for most unexpected situations. Eventually, safety becomes a core value, not a priority to be negotiated with others depending on circumstances.

This book provides a coherent perspective on what executives and line managers within operational environments need to focus on to efficiently and effectively control, learn, and adapt.

297 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 14, 2017

Reviews

[Emanuele Gemelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent safety book, which incorporates a bit of the last 10-20 years of developments in safety science with some practical suggestions; well, until it does not do that anymore and the author put himself in the rabbit hole of pure behaviouralism. I was writing the word appalling, but it might be a bit too strong. For me, the journey from the old view of safety to the new view and the HOP implementation has to clearly cut the ties with behavioralism for good. There is no point to get rid of the stick (the "no blame culture") and to keep the carrot (the reward system) if you want to progress: the two are inexorably linked together and they create a barrier in implementing a restorative just culture (sooner or later, we should really stop using this word that very few people have tools to describe, me included). Said all of the above, although I am a bit disappointed, there was some useful tools for both the beginners and the initiated which could be bolted on every safety program in any company/

[Joe Kopacz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I work in the nuclear power industry. While reading through an INPO document on human performance, I found this book referenced several times. It makes sense now, knowing the author was one of the original progenitors of the H&OP development in the industry.

The book is well laid out with many concepts that should be familiar to anyone in the industry. I found it clarified a number of concepts surrounding Human and Organizational Performance I'd heard people talk about at work or read about through other INPO documents. It's worth the read - not essential if you're already steeped in nuclear lore and culture, but it's a great one-stop shop of sorts for any number of topics on management and human error.