Four Steps To Master Safety Risk Management

Among my many tools is a 12-pound splitting maul (half sledgehammer/half axe). Many of my larger tools hang on the garage wall next to my car. Except for the splitting maul. Why is that?

I occasionally bump into one of the tools and it falls down. Usually, the worst thing that happens is it lands on floor or hits the car doing very little damage. If the splitting maul falls on the car, it's going to do serious damage. If, worse yet, it lands on something harder than the car (like my head), it might get broken!

The maul sits, with 99% of its potential energy already resting peacefully on the concrete floor. It has yet to do any damage to me or my car.

This is automatic thinking for anyone who's ever been hit by a falling hammer, the habitual process of identifying risk and mitigating the hazards with them. This type of thinking and the actions it evokes is called "Safety Risk Management."

We hear the buzzword and understand it's "a thing" but secretly wonder if it's not just another gimmick that got some inspector at the FAA promoted to GS-14. It's not. The four steps are one of the best safety tools in the toolbox:

1) Identify Hazards – like my falling maul;

2) Analyze the risks for "likelihood and severity" if we fail to mitigate the risk. (like if the maul falls on me or my car);

3) Develop and implement a "Mitigation Strategy" (lower risk into a more acceptable range). Put the maul where it can't fall any further;

4) Monitor, to ensure the strategy is working, adapt as necessary. The maul on the floor has a perfect record of not falling on anyone!

You may be thinking, "Yet another 'system' or acronym I have to memorize?" Not really. This is something you already do every time you fly.

For example, you know there's a hazard known as "not enough engine oil for the engine to keep running."

You've considered the "likelihood and severity" and determined you'd rather not have that happen so you have a strict mitigation strategy:

YOU CHECK THE OIL! (The likelihood of running out is fairly low, but the severity is high enough that you're conscientious about this).

You monitor to ensure your mitigation strategy is working... You KEEP CHECKING THE OIL because you really don't want to find yourself in the sky in a state of "not enough oil."

Safety Risk Management – You do it all the time. Now it has a name and four easy steps you can add to the mental repertoire you use to keep yourself and your passengers safe. Be careful out there.