Human Factors in Barrier Management

Human actions or inaction can contribute to major accident hazards. Barrier management refers to the process of ensuring that controls against losses are in-place and functional (per https://www.ergonomicsblog.uk/barrier-management/).

Bowtie analysis is a useful diagrammatic method for visualizing and analyzing the risks associated with major accident and other undesirable events.

The white paper at the above link applies the famous Swiss Cheese model of accident causation, and demonstrates the barriers in place against losses. A distinction between controls (risk reduction measures in-place) and safeguards (the human actions that support the barriers). Making these definitions helps to evaluate and improve the human contributions to preventing and reducing the consequences of major accident events.