Threat and Error Management

At today's Engage group, one of our brothers had some disturbing news:  One of his employees was arrested for soliciting child prostitution in a sting operation.  Apparently, the alleged offender is a church-going family man and Boy Scout leader. 

Our discussion today revolved around the battles we face every day and how our choices determine which road we go down; the road to our demise or the road to the life God intended for us.

In my aviation safety and human factors life, we talk about threat and error management and something called the "Swiss Cheese Model Of Accident Causation" (James Reason).

First off, I loathe the use of the term "accident" because it is used far too often in cases where a bad result did not come upon those involved through pure chance.  "Incident" is a better word with the point being that the result of our actions do not happen purely by accident. 

Anyway, the Swiss Cheese Model Reason came up with looks like this:  The only thing standing between danger and a bad outcome is 4 slices of swiss cheese. 

The first slice of cheese could be thought of as organizational influences or culture.  The second slice could be management/supervision.  The third slice, precursor to unsafe actions, and the fourth slice, an unsafe action.

If holes in each of these areas line up (i.e. each slice does not stop a chain of events), the incident occurs.  Our best prevention is in ensuring one of the slices can "trap" the chain of events and prevent the bad outcome.

In our own lives, the first slice (culture) could be thought of as the rules that apply to our lives; standards we live by. 

The second slice could be how we actually manage our culture; how we conduct ourselves to ensure that our culture/standards are adhered to (i.e. discipline, leading by example, etc.)

The third slice is a precondition to an unsafe behavior.  In other words, what set up the conditions further up the cheese line to lead to an unsafe behavior.

The fourth slice is the unsafe act itself, such as acting on our impulse to lie, cheat, or steal.

Fortunately, there is hope!  Each slice can block the chain of events to eliminate or mitigate a threat.  For example, if a threat makes it through the culture, management, and precondition, but the threat is recognized before an unsafe act is chosen, the bad outcome does not occur.  The idea is, manage the threat as early as possible by having the right culture and management to stop the threat further up the chain of events.

Also, the slices could include countermeasures.  Countermeasures are those actions taken to eliminate or mitigate (reduce) a threat or hazard.
- What types of countermeasures do you use to keep yourself on the right path?
- What stands in the way of applying these countermeasures?  What will you do to ensure that countermeasures are applied to prevent a bad (or disastrous) outcome?
- What Biblical references can be applied to this concept?

SDG