The Keys to Sustainable

SIF Risk Control

The dss+ Approach to SIF Control
(Part 2 of a 3-Part Series)

Protect. Transform. Sustain.

The Keys to Sustainable
SIF Risk Control
The dss+ Approach to SIF Control
(Part 2 of a 3-Part Series)

This is the 2nd of a 3-part series on the dss+ approach to Serious Risk Analysis (MIRA®) data warehouse, the
Injury and Fatality (SIF) prevention. Our first paper focused on the evidence points us in a clear direction – SIF
importance of two critical activities: quantifying an organization’s prevention is most effective and sustainable
vulnerability to SIF risk and bringing visibility to the organization’s if it is embedded into the management of
SIF risk profile. In this paper we prepare the foundation for Operational Risks.
answering the question: “How do organizations make SIF risk
control sustainable?” The principles of ORM revolve around
building an individual’s capability to
For decades dss+ has worked with companies around the globe to recognize hazards, fostering healthy
strengthen their Operational Risk Management (ORM) processes, sensitivity and non-dismissive attitude of
with the ultimate objective to protect people and improve risks, implementing sound processes
operations. Leveraging our extensive ORM experience, studying and tools and building a strong governance
results from millions of DSS Safety Perception Surveys , and TM
system.
examining extensive information from our Management Insights for

The dss+ Risk Prevention Maturity Journey

SIF Risk Identification SIF Risk Awareness

Identification of major potential events and Increased organizational awareness of
a view of inherent, residual (and forecasted) operational risks through engagement,
risks that allows prioritization of risk resulting in a stronger operational culture
reduction efforts

SIF Risk Strategy SIF Risk Ownership

Data-based decision making, Deep understanding by site
aided by digital tools and personnel of their roles in
supporting processes, to ensuring the adequacy and
facilitate the identification or integrity of controls
more effective risk reduction
strategy

SIF Risk Response

ORM SIF Risk Tolerance
Better understanding of Alignment of risk tolerance
the concept of controls and between leadership and
risk management, and their operational teams, as well as
relevance to operations between various operational
sites

SIF Risk Controls SIF Risk Communication

Strengthening and eventual confidence Stronger collaboration and increased
in the adequacy and integrity of critical alignment between leadership teams and
controls, resulting in the overall reduction front-line personnel, and across shifts,
of risks resulting in a united effort in managing risks

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SIF is one aspect of Operational Risk that Humans have a remarkable ability to compartmentalize SIF risk
follows a similar risk prevention approach to enable daily functioning, and they must receive organizational
and journey. An effective and sustainable assistance to open those compartment doors to openly examine
SIF prevention process is one that is built the system and look for improvement opportunities. To release
around the four critical ORM pillars, each the true potential of their workers to act towards SIF prevention,
one connected to the other. organizational leaders must be interested in these subjects
1. Build an ‘on the ground’ SIF Risk and be willing to learn and invest time in these subjects.
Aware Culture
2. Focus on SIF Risks identified by facts • Increasing sensitivity to SIF risks through engagement. The
and evidence most effective way for leaders to learn about SIF risks in their
3. Develop practical SIF risk-reducing tools operations, and at the same time raise awareness, is
and processes by engaging the workforce. By being present or ‘felt’ in the field,
4. Develop healthy management insights leaders can stimulate ongoing SIF discussions and take
into SIF Risk Analysis advantage of coachable moments. This will not only heighten
risk awareness, but will also help leaders to better understand
What does this SIF risk prevention journey worker’s point of views. It will help leaders appreciate the
look like in practical terms? challenges that workers face in the field so that processes and
tools can be designed to be more effective. Leaders should also
1. Build an ‘on the ground’ SIF Risk catalyze organic peer-to-peer engagements on SIF risks,
Aware Culture allowing workers to tap into the collective experience of others
past near-misses, for example, and foster the collective attitude
Building a risk aware culture is the very of ‘I own this risk’.
human side of ORM, and is comprised of
several key initiatives. • Encouraging and supporting incident & near-hit reporting and
exercising stop-work authority. Every level of management and
SIF RISK
leadership, and all peer work groups, must agree that reporting
AWARENESS
incidents and near-misses and using stop-work-authority
are highly desirable behaviors that promote SIF prevention and
exceptional teamwork. Sometimes these behaviors are the
SIF RISK last line of defense for the prevention of an actual SIF outcome,
OWNERSHIP especially when other systems have failed. Workers on-the-
ground need to know that management encourages and
supports these behaviors and that they will always be thanked
for performing them.

• Understanding the human behavior • Modernizing definitions and approaches to zero tolerance
system. Human performance in the and variance control. Leaders must define exactly what they
workplace is greatly influenced by mean by “zero tolerance” and how it would be applied in a fair
the organizational culture that and consistent manner. A modern definition of zero tolerance
surrounds them, the work environment says ‘We have zero tolerance for allowing a SIF risk situation to
they work in, and the systems they work be uncontrolled. This means we must stop a job whenever a
with. As it relates to safety, people critical SIF control is missing or underperforming.’ Control of
can be positively influenced by effective variances is equally important. How easy is it for an individual
Behavior-Based-Safety (BBS) or a crew to “grant themselves an exception” to following
processes, awareness of SIF risk a lifesaving rule? In modern organizations, exceptions to life-
recognition and tolerance, and training saving rules can only be authorized by the senior site executives
in “Go/No Go” SIF decision-making. (not supervisors or safety pros).

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2. Focus on SIF Risks Identified by Facts and Evidence SIF RISK
IDENTIFICATION
Organizations should research and gather data from reports
issued by reputable groups such as the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics, OSHA, NIOSH and WHO. Two SIF risks stand out by
SIF RISK
looking at the available facts and evidence.
STRATEGY

• Over-the-road motor vehicle accidents account for 24% of all

work-related fatalities in the U.S.1 according

• Contractors account for nearly 20% of all work-related fatalities

in the U.S. And each year the size of the hired contractor Communicate to Affect. How leaders
workforce in the U.S. continues to increase, with exception communicate can have a huge impact
in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 2
on how the message is received. The
evidence of SIF performance problems and
• Organizational evidence shows that both of these SIF risks are exceptions in the industry may be clear,
systematically overlooked and avoided. It’s easy for but focusing on numbers and compliance
management to assume that “someone else” is responsible to requirements may drive a check-the-
for these problems. Another barrier is created by the intuitive box attitude at best and under-reporting
awareness of the high volume of organizational resources at worst. Communications need to
necessary for proper management of these significant SIF risks. be designed and delivered affectively,
In either case, this is a huge problem. Organizational executives recognizing that it is the heart and mind of
must make SIF risks of this nature a key element of their mission the workforce that we ultimately want to
to protect lives. The SIF performance problem cannot be fixed influence to ensure sustainable change.
without addressing these two critical risks.

In practical terms, it boils down to recognizing that SIF performance

problems exist in the industry sector and using the industry specific
risks to set the tone for risk tolerance in each organization. This
needs to be communicated in a way that builds collaboration –
an alignment between the leadership and operational teams,
supported by front-line personnel, that is resolute in their effort not
to tolerate SIF potential.

Plenty of SIF risk management support is available that could be

used to a greater extent. Numerous associations offer significant
expertise and resources that could be better leveraged within
organizations to address these SIF risks. For example:

Over-the-road MVI
• ANSI/ASSP Z15.1 Safe Practices for Motor Vehicle Operations
provides guidance for a comprehensive management system for
motor vehicle operations
• National Safety Council (NSC) Defensive Driving Safety Training

Contractor safety
• Associated General Contractors of America (AGC)
• American Contractors Insurance Group (ACIG)

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3. Develop Practical SIF Risk Reducing
Tools and Processes

The workforce needs the right tools to do

their work safely and these tools must be
supported by processes that encourage
workers to complete every critical step,
every time.

SIF RISK
RESPONSE

SIF RISK
CONTROLS

• Life-saving rules and processes. The

rules must be clear and concise, written
in affirmative, behaviorally-specific
language. That is, they must describe
what you expect the worker to do, Best-in-class processes will also identify job changes and work
rather than what you don’t want environment changes that would trigger use of stop-work-
them to do. Programs and processes authority and will also include mid job verification checks
that support life-saving rules must be and post-job after-action reviews.
written in a manner that truly protects
the on-the-ground worker from SIF • On-the-ground validations of SIF Protection Controls. Each
harm, and fully enables every person task containing SIF risk must have high-performing controls in
touched by the program to perform their place each time to fully protect the workers doing the work.
respective actions to comply. Periodic on-the-ground performance validations must be
conducted to confirm the presence and effectiveness of these
• Effective pre-task risk assessments. critical controls. When critical SIF protections are missing or
At the start of a shift, before a job task underperforming, the job must be stopped and the controls
begins, the crew must perform a safety put in place before allowing the work to continue. The collection
briefing to identify the SIF risks and of information regarding underperforming controls is important
controls likely to be encountered in for understanding deficiencies in the work planning and
the job ahead. The briefing should be execution system.
an interactive, collaborative conversation
involving everyone. The conversation
must accurately predict the SIF risks,
identify the critical controls needed and
assure that all critical controls are
available to be implemented before
authorizing work to begin.

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4. Develop Healthy Management Insights into SIF Risk Analysis
Supporting continuous SIF risk reduction is all about investing in SIF RISK
the collection of high-quality data, ensuring data integrity, and TOLERANCE
deriving meaningful information and accurate conclusions from a
valid analysis.

SIF RISK
When management conducts effective analyses, they will COMMUNICATION
develop a sense of vulnerability about their SIF risk, which in turn
will drive a more proactive approach to prevent SIF losses.
Improved insights will also provide excellent advice for
operational decisions across the value chain. Eventually, these
systems will provide real-time data for in-the-moment decision-
making, improving operational resilience around SIF prevention. Conclusion
SIF practitioners, HSE professionals,
Leaders are responsible for creating and sustaining a culture and ORM experts around the world are
built around event reporting and analysis. This requires the collectively involved in the mission to solve
investment of time and financial resources, as well as modeling the SIF problem. SIF control strategies are
of behaviors that support accurate interpretation of the data tightly aligned with how operational
and intelligent reactions to the data analysis. risks are managed. Applying ORM principles
to solve the SIF problem and working under
Preventing recurrences of SIF incidents will ultimately boil the sponsorship of operations executives,
down to several critical factors that leaders must regularly ask SIF colleagues can be assured of a more
and address: What have we learned about our organization and sustainable approach as they take their
our systems because of this event? To what extent do these respective organizations on a SIF risk
conditions exist or persist in other parts of our organization? prevention journey to ultimately save lives
What trends are we seeing in critical controls breakdowns, and improve operations.
diligence in pursuing higher level SIF controls (prevention through
design), and percent of SIF jobs that are fully protected? Be on the lookout for the third SIF paper in
the series that addresses the question of
The SIF risk reduction strategy and execution plan needs to why executive sponsorship, governance, and
be regularly assessed for effectiveness based on the insights involvement are essential to the successful
gathered. Organizations must feel comfortable making performance of any organizational SIF risk
a change if desired outcomes are not realized. Performance control initiative.
indicators need to be reviewed thoughtfully and used as a guide
for continuous improvement, remembering to respect failure and
challenge accomplishments to prevent living in the illusion of
high performance.

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