Tag Archives: risk management software

Astronaut Chris Cassidy: Leadership Under Pressure (and its Value to Risk Management)

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Capt. Chris Cassidy, a Navy SEAL, led a number of diverse teams as NASA’s Chief Astronaut and Commander of the International Space Station. He’ll share his views on risk management and leadership under pressure.

I think most of us look up at the stars and wonder what it would be like to travel in space. One of my earliest memories is of being allowed to stay up past my bedtime to see Neil Armstrong take that historic step following the moon landing of Apollo 11.

I didn’t really understand what was happening, but I remember my parents were excited and anxious, and my father told me, “We’re seeing history.” And I will ever forget Armstrong’s famous quote: “One small step for man. One giant leap for mankind.”

Armstrong’s small step/giant leap was the result of years of training, thousands of hours spent researching and documenting risk management protocols and billions … Read more...

EHS Management Software Company Intelex Is Turning 30! So What’s the Big Deal?

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For 30 years, Intelex has empowered our customers to eliminate workplace deaths, reduce climate impact and create sustainable business. Join us as we continue our mission and usher in the future of EHS.

There are companies out there that have been operating for 100+ years, 200+ years, even longer, so what’s the big deal about a company that sells EHS management software, ESG management software, quality management software and risk management software turning 30?

I’ll tell you, and it’s two things: The pairing of EHS management, ESG management, quality management and risk management with the word “software,” and the fact that we are in it for the long haul and are even more excited about our future than we are about our storied past.

Think back 30-40 years. There weren’t any software companies serving the practice of EHSQ. There weren’t ISO management standards. People weren’t really talking about safety culture … Read more...

What Is Risk Management? Causal Factors and Risk Assessment are Keys to Unlocking Job Hazard Insights

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Rather than reacting to existing events, implement risk management software to anticipate potential hazards and implement risk management and assessment strategies.

What can be done today to prevent worker injuries and deaths tomorrow? The answer lies in the notion of predictive analytics discovered through the use of risk management software that use historical data to identify the workplace danger waiting to strike.

Rather than reacting or responding to what’s already happened, EHS leaders should be looking to anticipate and forecast potential hazards and implement necessary change and prevention strategies before an employee is harmed.

Predicting negative events or incidents that might happen in a workplace is a matter of identifying “causal factors” through data analysis, but these clues are often not apparent and likely to be hidden in variables not captured in incident reports.

A causal factor can be defined as any major unplanned or unintended contributor to an incident that if eliminated would prevent or reduce the severity or frequency of the incident. Identifying causal factors requires digging deeper into … Read more...

Tips and Tactics for Reducing Workplace Aggression

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An average of 455 incidents of workplace violence and abuse were perpetrated against retail shopworkers in Britain every day in 2019.
There are certain tactics that organizations can take to help reduce the frequency of aggressive acts toward front-line service staff.

An average of 455 incidents of violence and abuse were perpetrated against retail shopworkers in Britain every day in 2019, according to the British Retail Consortium. The U.K. Railway Safety and Standards Board reported that 94 percent of frontline rail staff experienced workplace abuse in 2020, with 25 percent of incidents being physical assaults. In the same year, the Fire Brigades Union found that UK firefighters were subjected to a total of 1,170 attacks. 

These sombre statistics illustrate just how serious the issue of aggression in the workplace is, particularly the variety carried out against frontline service delivery personnel.

Why are these numbers so high, and what can be done to reduce them? These were key questions addressed by Nicole Vazquez, Director at Worthwhile Training, a Stratford-upon-Avon, U.K.-based workplace consultancy … Read more...

Keep the Fire in the Fireplace: Seven Safety Tips for the Holiday Season

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When the fireplace is roaring and the decorations are twinkling, it's easy to forget about the destructive power of fire and electricity.
When the fireplace is roaring and the decorations are twinkling, it’s easy to forget about the destructive power of fire and electricity.

A roaring fire to keep warm is one of the best elements of a memorable holiday, but only if it’s in the fireplace and not spreading quickly from room to room. Here are some flashpoints for potential fire hazards. 

  • Christmas trees need care to keep them from becoming fire hazards. Place them at least three feet away from heat sources like fireplaces or heaters, keep them well-watered to prevent them from drying out and make sure your lights have no frayed wires or loose connections.  
  • Candles are part of many holiday traditions, but open flames must always be monitored and kept away from anything flammable. Keep candles in locations where they can’t be knocked over, keep them away from children and never leave open flames unattended. Keep decorations like tinsel
… Read more...

Once Bitten, Twice Shy: Why Disaster Isn’t Inevitable

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Disasters aren’t inevitable. From tragedies involving crowds to cataclysmic organizational failures, disasters often begin with minor failures that aggregate over time in complex systems.

Preventable deaths in the workplace happen around the world every day. They rarely make front-page news, even when they have important lessons we could learn to avoid them in the future. However, the deaths of eight people at a Houston music festival on November 5, 2021 have cast the spotlight on how multiple, seemingly minor factors can aggregate within a system and culminate in a tragedy that could have been avoided with better planning and more insightful risk management. 

Tragedies involving large crowds and poor planning have a long history. Despite the fact that event organizers often seem not to have learned from these disasters, there are several factors we might recognize in common with other similar events. Here’s a brief review of some of the most … Read more...

Putting Together the Big Picture for the World Trade Center Disaster Investigation

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Imagine conducting root cause analysis for an incident that required review of 14,000 photographs. Organizing those photos to create a picture of what happened on 9/11 was the daunting task assigned to a team from the NIST Fire Research Division. Kathryn Butler offers a first-hand account of their efforts. Photo Credit: N. Hanacek/NIST

Imagine assembling a jigsaw puzzle of more than 14,000 pieces without an image on the box showing what the final picture will look like. Imagine that important pieces were missing and needed to be searched for. And imagine that this puzzle was four-dimensional, involving time as well as space.

This was the task for our small dedicated team in the wake of the World Trade Center (WTC) disaster on Sept. 11, 2001. In the weeks following the disaster, my colleagues in the Fire Research Division and I started to think about how we might assemble the story … Read more...

Meet Ethan Cushing, Who Is Introducing the APAC Region to Intelex’s Powerful Platform

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Our new series of blog posts invite you to “Meet the Intelexian.” In this case, it’s Ethan Cushing, who’s focusing on building our global footprint in the APAC region.

Ethan Cushing is Strategic Account Director, Intelex Technologies. He started with Intelex in 2011; his 10-year work anniversary will be in December. He currently manages the APAC sales team, which he started in July 2021. In addition to being responsible for our revenue targets in the APAC region, he supports our new team members in a pre-sales capacity, ensuring they have product knowledge and support as they work through the sales cycle with prospects and existing customers.

I (virtually) sat down with Ethan recently to find out more about him and his role at Intelex.

Intelex: Can you tell us a little about your professional background and what attracted you to Intelex/technology?

Ethan Cushing (EC): I have been in technology since 2006 after … Read more...

ILO Director-General Urges G20 to Focus on a Human-Centered Pandemic Recovery

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In 2020, the equivalent of 161 million full-time jobs were lost in the G20, and 255 million in the world as a whole.

Speaking at the G20 Labour and Employment Ministers meeting in Catania, Italy, ILO Director-General Guy Ryder emphasised the need to prevent long-term scarring of economies and societies and to shape an inclusive, sustainable and resilient response that leaves no one behind.

“We are all aware of the devastating impact of the pandemic on our health, our lives, our societies, our economies,” said Ryder, adding, “It has had a cataclysmic impact on the world of work.”

He went on to highlight three aspects of the pandemic and how the impact was felt in the workplace.

In 2020, he noted, the equivalent of 161 million full time jobs were lost in the G20, and 255 million in the world as a whole. As a result:

  • The number of people
… Read more...

Expert Advice about Using Control of Work to Leverage Your Safety Performance

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Don’t miss our next Expert Connect session on July 14: Leveraging Safety Performance through Control of Work.

For most safety and health professionals, regardless of career maturity, their role most likely is involved with building management systems and implementing programs based on the risks residing in the work system.

For the July session of Expert Connect, we will explore an essential, but often overlooked, part of the safety management system called Control Of Work (COW). COW is used to request, review, authorize, document and control risks before tasks are performed by the worker. In addition, we will look at more granular elements like permit to work, hazards identification, isolation management and risk assessment.

COW has quickly become an identified best practice across the globe to gain and maintain better control of worker safety. This is a session you don’t want to miss, according to one of our panelists, Eric Fishman, … Read more...