Project Profile
Managing Catastrophic Risk with THESIS BowTie Solution
See how we helped a British multinational automotive and aerospace systems engineering company implement a BowTie Risk Management Software solution for its multiple global sites to reduce workplace safety hazards.
Project Objectives
#1
Develop global Process Safety Management and BowTie Risk Management Training framework for multiple sites in the US, Europe and Asia Pacific regions
#2
Implement a global, internet-based THESIS BowTie software application so that each site could develop their own bowties within the global structure
Project Overview
GKN plc is a UK-based global engineering company, which designs, manufactures and services aerospace and automotive systems and components for original equipment manufacturers around the world. The company operates in nominally low hazard environments, but even these can contain areas with high hazard material which, if not managed, could lead to an increase in potentially catastrophic risks. To mitigate risk and improve safety culture, GKN has implemented an internal workplace safety campaign. The program focuses on behavioral safety issues and has contributed to a reduction in accident frequency rate (lost-time accidents per 1,000 employees per year) from 2.4 in 2011 to 0.98 in 2016. As GKN continues to improve safety performance, the company sought to develop systems that would reduce process safety risks (high hazard, low frequency but with potentially catastrophic consequences). The goal was to help GKN's global sites identify major accident scenarios and the barriers that they have installed to minimize risk. This effort would then empower individuals in the organization to own and manage these risks and so have the personal motivation to proactively and adequately maintain the barriers preventing hazards that could result in catastrophic consequences.
ABS Group was selected as a risk management advisor to assist GKN with implementing bowtie risk assessments across multiple sites by applying ABS Group's proprietary THESIS BowTie Risk Management Software solution.
Client Needs
- Need for increased cultural emphasis on process safety
- Reduce complacency regarding process hazards
Desire for immediate implementation of bowtie training solution- Need to identify risk management software solution to document and demonstrate the results of risk assessments across multiple global sites
Value Delivered
ABS Group's THESIS BowTie Risk Management Software solution introduced the Company to a new way of looking at the relationship between hazard and risk. Typically, the manufacturing engineering discipline focuses on the day-to-day safety issues and rarely on the likelihood of a catastrophic event. GKN recognized that this might be a possibility given the nature of some of its asset-intensive businesses, and thus began managing this risk more proactively at some of its high-risk sites using bowtie assessments to monitor the potential for major accidents.
Our solution enabled the client to raise awareness within the organization as to how hazards can become potentially catastrophic risks and how to assess whether the controls in place provided adequate protection. Additionally, we helped the client identify opportunities to improve/mitigate such risks and educated each level of the organization so teams can continue to evaluate risk effectively across the company's global sites. GKN has embedded the bowtie way of thinking using our training resources for more than 200 employees who are now addressing hazards using the Bowtie method to evaluate whether these hazards are controlled and/or mitigated.
"This is only a start; we will do more. We have a good base, and we will dig deeper, look harder and reduce the risk." – Martin Smith, Director of Health, Safety and Environment at GKN
Contact our team for more information on our Bowtie Risk Management Software.