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What actually counts as a control?

A physical barrier? An administrative safeguard? A verification activity? A procedure? A checklist?

And does it directly address the hazardous energy that could cause serious harm, or has it been given a critical label simply because it’s ‘all we have’ ?

As control programs have spread and matured, the definition of a control has expanded in some organisations to include almost everything – the ‘radical’ barrier view. 

This raises the question on whether that helps focus attention or dilutes it.

Part 1 of this four-part series unpacks the competing definitions and assumptions that underpin barrier and critical control management.

Key sources analysed in this episode: ICMM, CIEHF human factors in barrier management, CSRA, Petroleum Safety Authority Norway, and more.

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This ep is a little dry, but we move into some interesting stuff in the follow-ups:

Part 2 – Why controls that exist on paper fail in practice: ICMM, AC/DC, escalation/degradation factors and more

Part 3 – Human Factors & Human Performance in Barrier and Control Systems (what do we expect of people?)

Part 4 – A Critical View of Barriers, Work and Human Performance: A Safety-II/HOP perspective

#safety #ccm #criticalcontrol #risk