RCM may reduce scheduled maintenance if (for example) the current maintenance plan is high in scheduled restoration and scheduled replacement tasks.
[Read more…]RCM Reduces Maintenance: True or False
Underwater Oil Plume Formation
The following video shows the effect of jet turbulence on underwater plume formation.
[Read more…]How to Make Your Business Writing Easy to Skim
Most people now flip through reports searching for useful information, stopping to read only if something seems interesting. Blame it on the information age or social media. But if skimming is too daunting, your document is unlikely to achieve its purpose. These are five writing tips to make it easier for readers to skim your business writing.
1. Use Subheadings That Tell Your Story
Use meaningful subheadings that tell a story rather than descriptive labels. Descriptive labels are a product of traditional writing that provides little useful information. Each subsection of your report should have a heading that summarizes its contents. Descriptive subheadings allow readers to understand your basic messages without reading every word. [Read more…]
Workplace Risk Assessments Need to be Visual
Now SFAIRP is the Criterion to Judge If You have Sufficiently Controlled Your Workplace Hazards
Risk Assessment Used to be Based on ALARP to Decide if Workplace Hazards were Sufficiently Controlled, But Today You Need to Use SFAIRP
The original OHS risk assessment process, procedures and techniques identified hazards; assessed risk; established risk controls; reduced and managed risks to ‘as low as reasonably practicable’ (ALARP), but safety laws are now changing to ‘so far as is reasonably practicable’ (SFAIRP) [Read more…]
Improving Your Risk Management Framework
Guest Post by Peter Holtmann (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)
This article is the seventh of fourteen parts to our risk management series. The series will be taking a look at the risk management guidelines under the ISO 31000 Standard to help you better understand them and how they relate to your own risk management activities. In doing so, we’ll be walking through the core aspects of the Standard and giving you practical guidance on how to implement it. [Read more…]
The Next Attack
For the month of September, I thought it would be appropriate to write a post on Terrorism Risks.
Since 2001, there have been an average of 5 attempted terror attacks annually in the U.S. that have resulted in arrests, trial, or raising of the DHS threat level. Now you know what changes the threat level at the airport.
[Read more…]Calculation of Reliability Using the Stress Strength Interference Model
The calculation of reliability consists of the comparison between stress and strength. If we consider stress and strength as deterministic quantities, failure occurs when the stress exceeds strength. In reality, stress and strength are stochastic variables (Figure 1a). If the two curves overlap (Figure 1b), failure may occur. Let us suppose that s and S are continuous random variables with probability density functions f(s) and f(S), respectively.
[Read more…]Process Flowcharts for Better Business Performance
You will find example process diagram layouts with the most effective flowchart templates to use, what to include in them so that the flow chart drives business results and personal performance (and you will be surprised at how easy they are to create). With the right layout and the inclusion of ACE 3T (Target-Tolerance-Test) quality assurance standards your process flowcharts and procedures will drive business and workplace performance. First it is necessary to layout your flowcharts so it is totally clear what must happen in a process or procedure, who is responsible to make it happen, and how their performance will be measured.
[Read more…]Enterprise Risk Management and Environmental Risk
Guest Post by James Kline (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)
In CERM Risk Insights #354 I discussed the risk management study of local governments in New Zealand. One of the cases in the study was Environment Canterbury Regional Council. The regional council’s focus and the increasing concerns about environmental risks by both the public and private sector represents a challenge to the common approach used by most of the New Zealand local governments, ISO 31000:2018 and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) more generally. This piece discusses this challenge to ISO 31000:2018 and its implications.
[Read more…]RCM is Not a Maintenance Program
RCM is a process used to identify what Preventive Maintenance or Condition Based Maintenance you need to implement so you get the Reliability you need from your equipment.
[Read more…]High Pressure Gas Cylinders…Relief Valve Failure
The following video desribes 2005 fire/explosion in Praxair’s gas cylinder filling and distribution center. The incident occurred when gas from a pressurized propylene cylinder was released through the relif valve and got ignited.
[Read more…]1896 – Keep the Mill in Repair
R. James Abernathy was a writer who specialized in flour and grain mills in the late 1800s. In 1880, he authored Practical Hints on Mill Building. Early in this 350-page technical manual, he wrote that millwright skill was declining. He thought the reason was that the millwrights were assembling mills from pre-fabricated components, instead of having to manufacture parts by hand. The manual was published in the United States and England, and remained an authority for several decades. It remains a reference for assessing mills for their historic value, such as applications for national historic registers.
[Read more…]6 Ways Social Media Writing Improves Technical Writing
The way we communicate information has undergone a significant transformation. Traditional writing has given way to a more concise and engaging writing style on social media. This brief article provides six ways that social media has improved my business writing.
Subheadings Break Down The Content
I use subheadings selectively in traditional writing. Selectively means maybe one subheading per 3 to 5 paragraphs. Social media teaches us that subheadings serve as signposts, guiding readers to the information they seek, improving readability, and enhancing the overall user experience. I know to use a subheading for every 1 to 2 paragraphs.
[Read more…]Projects Emergencies: Response or Reaction
Guest Post by Malcolm Peart (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)
In project management we can’t always be in control of the environment around us. We can only forecast rather than predict risk and despite our ‘reasonable’ or even ‘best’ efforts to mitigate risk; shit happens and emergencies ensue! It’s not just physical emergencies but also those related to time and cost; remember overbudget or late projects can create an emergency for shareholders and stakeholders alike.
Maybe it’s because we tend to look at the ‘big risks’ or the ‘top ten’ after some semiquantitative assessment but then fail to consider that risks can change with time as more information becomes available. Or, maybe it is because only those risks that can be clearly defined and are ‘likely’ are communicated to the eyes and ears on the ground. Those low probability, high impact risks can tend to slip under any risk radar.
[Read more…]Why Root Cause Analysis Never Stops Problems
To not have a problem you must prevent its creation. Once a problem exists you can never stop it repeating until all its roots are eliminated. Doing Root Cause Analysis (RCA) on a problem to try and prevent it has a miniscule chance of working because you can never find all the roots of its cause. The roots you do not eliminate will let the problem grow again.
[Read more…]