Resource Hub The Bowtie risk-management method is considered a best-in-class approach for effective risk management in highly complex, high-risk industries. Bowtie diagrams provide a clear picture of potential hazardous scenarios and the controls in place to handle them. Now, through a partnership with AeroDirections, HAI members can enjoy a special promotion on BowTieXP software and individualized training to accelerate and enhance their risk-management programs. Bowtie diagrams make it easy for operators to visualize and plan for complex safety risks. They show how accidents and incidents follow predictable patterns of threats that lead to consequences when safety measures or preventive barriers aren’t in place or aren’t working effectively. Bowtie risk-management diagrams provide operators with a method for visualizing risks in complex, high-risk scenarios and developing mitigating measures. External-load operations, for example, are hazardous but manageable. In the bowtie diagram, above, users can display potential threats in a heavy-lift rotorcraft operation—an overly heavy load, bad weather, a tired pilot—and the safety measures in place to prevent the load from dropping—a crew briefing, compliance with weather limits, a load inspection, and weight-and-balance checks. Should those safety measures fail, the risk of the load being dropped increases dramatically and predictable consequences can occur, such as injuries or damaged ground equipment. With a bowtie diagram, operators can see what reactive measures are in place to ensure the incident doesn’t escalate to that point. In the diagram above, safe zone markings and a procedure for clearing unnecessary personnel and ground equipment from the area are in place. With BowTieXP, users can build out hazardous scenarios like this one and see what’s preventing and mitigating their impact. The more safety measures or barriers operators put in place on either side of an incident, the better the odds are that the worst-case consequences won’t happen. Bowtie diagrams also provide a road map for safety assurance activities, providing insights into critical controls to monitor and measure for effectiveness and corrections when failures are identified. Using BowTieXP, operators can assign an accountable person for each task or procedure and share the information with others. Any label can be changed to suit an operator’s in-house terminology. The software facilitates analyzing hazardous situations, guiding operators to see and address their weakest areas. HAI members who take advantage of this special offer receive member-only pricing for BowTieXP software as well as a live, online training session. To learn more about this new HAI member benefit, visit BowTieXP.
