Critical Risk Management Training and Consulting

Critical risk management (CRM) puts your effort where the consequences are worst: identify the critical risks, choose the controls that prevent or limit them, set performance standards for those controls and verify they are working in the field.

What is critical risk management?

Critical risk management (CRM) is a structured approach to identifying, assessing and controlling the highest-consequence risks in a workplace: the ones that, if left uncontrolled, could result in a fatality, serious injury or catastrophic event. General risk management looks at every hazard; CRM puts the most effort into those few, and the controls that manage them.

A well-implemented CRM program goes beyond compliance. It embeds critical control verification and assurance into day-to-day work, so that leaders know, rather than hope, that the controls they depend on are in place and working.

How we help

Critical controls and performance standardsSelecting the right controls for each critical risk, and defining what "working" looks like for each one.

Bowtie analysis and risk assessmentFacilitated bowtie workshops that map how an event happens and where controls can fail.

Critical control verificationVerification and assurance programs that test controls in real conditions, not just on paper.

Audits and gap analysisAn honest look at your current CRM program, its weaknesses and what to fix first.

Training and capabilityTraining for risk owners, critical control owners and leadership teams.

Free framework reviewA complimentary review of your critical control framework to get started.

Ask for a free framework review

Training

Public and in-house courses, in person or online:

Introduction to critical control management and critical control verification workshops. See critical control management.
Risk bowtie analysis for teams that build and use bowties.
Risk owner and critical control owner training, for the people accountable for risks and controls.
Risk-Based Leadership™ Development Program for leaders who make decisions about risk.

See course dates Ask about in-house training

Ready-to-deliver Risk Management training packages

Buy a package once, deliver it to your own people and use the resources again and again. Each package teaches the same risk method at a different level, from workers to the board, and the Risk Management Implementation Toolkit adds an editable risk register, risk matrix, assessment, change and review tools.

WorkersRisk Management AwarenessHazards and risk, the hierarchy of control, and checking the job before it starts. Supervisors and managersRisk Management LeadershipFor the people who plan the work, lead the risk assessment and decide whether a job goes ahead. WHS practitionersRisk Management PractitionerBroad-brush and task risk assessment, risk registers, controls and management of change. Executives and directorsExecutive Risk GovernanceRisk appetite, reporting, assurance and the questions that test whether controls are working.

See the training packages

Free online courses

OnlineIntroduction to Risk ManagementThe foundations of identifying, assessing and controlling risk at work. OnlineRisk OwnerWhat it means to own a risk, and what good ownership looks like. OnlineCritical Control OwnerHow to keep a critical control in place and working, and how to know when it is not. OnlineManagement of ChangeManaging the new risks that change brings, before they arrive.

Critical risk management packages

Ready-made packages to start or strengthen your program, adapted to your operation. Available on request.

Critical risk packages: working at heights, confined space, mobile equipment, hazardous energy, electrical energy, dropped objects, crane and lifting operations, remote or isolated work, chemicals and hazardous materials, and contractor management.
Mining: Principal Hazard Management Plan (PHMP) and Principal Control Plan (PCP).
Training packages: risk owner, control owner, and risk and control owner training to deliver in-house.
Critical risk management comprehensive audit.

Enquire about a package

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a critical risk and other risks?

A critical risk is one whose worst credible outcome is a fatality, serious injury or catastrophic event. Critical risk management concentrates verification and assurance effort on those risks and their critical controls.

What is a critical control?

A control that is crucial to preventing a critical risk event or limiting its consequences, so that its absence or failure would significantly increase the risk despite other controls being in place.

How does a bowtie analysis fit into critical risk management?

A bowtie maps the causes that can lead to an unwanted event on one side and the consequences it can escalate to on the other, with the controls on each pathway. In CRM, bowties show how a critical risk event can happen and where controls can fail, which is how the critical controls are chosen.

What is critical control verification?

Critical control verification is a planned check that each critical control is in place and working as intended. It tests controls in real conditions rather than on paper, so leaders know whether the controls they depend on will hold.

Can you run training at our site?

Yes. Most of our critical risk courses and workshops are run in-house, using your own risks, bowties and controls as the examples.

Focus on the risks that could kill or seriously injure