on Risk & Safety

Guest Post by John Ayers (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

Based on over 30 years’ experience with project risk management, the best way I found to monitor risk mitigation plans is to incorporate them into the Integrated Master Schedule (IMS). The reason is each month (or week) when the IMS is reviewed the risk mitigation plan is also reviewed. Since the IMS is linked, a slip in a mitigation plan step can readily be seen as well as the potential impact it may have on the project.

The question is How is the risk mitigation plan integrated into the IMS? This paper will explain how it tis done. [Read more…]

Guest Post by John Ayers (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

Robots are developed to address a problem. For example, automating a production line. To achieve this goal, a multidiscipline engineering team is required.

The question is which engineering discipline should I study? I suggest you get a degree in System Engineering. This paper will explain why.

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Almost daily, we hear of some problem in the supply chain. A few weeks ago, a container ship got stuck in the Suez Canal and hundreds of ships were backed up with no place to go. As well, original equipment manufacturers in Europe missed critical parts because of their Just in Time delivery practices.

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Guest Post by James Kline (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

In February 2021, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published an Enterprise Risk Management Maturity Model. This model is designed for Tax Administration Agencies. It is the culmination of work that began in 2018. This work was designed to develop stand-alone maturity models for a broad range of organizational activities. One of which was Enterprise Risk Management. This piece examines this model and discusses how such models are being used by government elsewhere.

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Guest Post by Malcolm Peart (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

The Pareto Principle, or more commonly the “80/20 rule”, is based upon the observation that 80% of the consequences of something are attributable to 20% of the causes.  The quality guru Joseph Moses Juran named the Principle in 1941 after the Italian economist who, in 1896, observed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population.  The centenarian also similarly observed that 80% of quality problems result from 20% of the causes.  In the business world we also see that 80% of a company’s revenue is generated by only 20% of its customers.  As with life, things are not distributed either evenly or even fairly.

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Guest Post by Malcolm Peart (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

“That’s a Red Flag!” goes the cry from some when something amiss is recognised.  However, many project participants don’t realise that their Project sails through a sea of flags and that, on some occasion, the flags can be read as red by somebody at some time.

In a similar nautical vein the Roman writer Ovid once poetized “The man who has experienced shipwreck shudders even at a calm sea“.  While written some 2,000 years ago it is as true today as it ever was and a reminder to us all that risks lurk everywhere.  Some risks may not be identified, let alone assessed and may go unnoticed until they strike.  We need to be aware and vigilant and avoid a complacent belief that a risk register is the be all and end all.

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Guest Post by Malcolm Peart (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

Email is 50 this year…its Golden Anniversary!  It ‘happened’ in 1971 when Ray Tomlinson, the late computer engineer and first user, sent a transmission to himself utilising two independent computers…a revolutionary innovation at the time.  The content of that primordial message is long forgotten and the same may also be the fate of many of the ~300 billion emails that are sent almost every day by the estimated 4 billion users around the world.  Communication is said to bring us together or set us apart and email is no different.

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Guest Post by Geary Sikich (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

The Ever Given grounding in the Suez Canal is one of those events that will be labeled a “Black Swan” for sure.  A rouge wind hits the ship turning the stern and wedging the vessel, bow and stern grounded straddling the canal and stranding ships entering from either end.  The date Tuesday 23 March 2021.  At around 7.40 a.m. local time the Ever Given ran aground.  At nearly 200 feet wide and 1,300 feet long, it easily took up the width of the channel.

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