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There is never enough time, knowledge, or resources to contend with all the risks that a company faces. Therefore, they must choose which...

In a recent decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal they stated that the general duty clause in the Occupational Health and Safety Act,...

Every plan, business, or endeavour happens in the presence of uncertainty. That is why your value chain needs to operate between the...

Focusing on non-conformance is the first level of compliance. This involves meeting the prescriptive part of a regulation or industry...

As systems improve we expect that the certainty of meeting objectives increases. Instead, what often happens is that systems become more...

A compass helps you to stay on course as you head towards your destination provided the world is flat. However, a compass can never...

Identifying risks and reacting to problems when they occur uses our "Lizard Brain" which is fast and needed for a fight and flight...

Digital Transformation Over the last several decades companies have invested in paper-on-glass solutions as part of their digital progression. However, what only a few companies have done is change their processes to exploit the power of their digital technology. Dr. Goldratt, developer of the Theory of Constraints, speaks to this issue directly: "Technology can bring benefit if, and only if, it diminishes a limitation. Long before the availability of technology, we develope

MOC Maturity Index Change can be (and often is) a significant source of new risk. As a result, many companies have implemented the basics...

"We must make decisions, here and now, even though the best means and the best goals can never be discerned with certainty. An aim, an...

Management systems are efficient at what they do, that is, doing the same thing the same way over and over again. What they tend not to...

A critical process used in safety, quality, environment, and regulatory programs is the process that manages change. The reason for this...

Compliance is fundamentally about reducing stakeholder risk: risk to quality, risk to safety, risk to the environment, and ultimately...

There might be some who read my posts who are also Doctor Who fans and get the reference to bow ties being cool. However, even if you...

The purpose given for companies is often stated as making profit. However, companies can exist for a greater purpose. They can exist to...

The purpose of a quality program is fundamentally to improve the quality of something. However, with today's focus on quality systems and...

Cost reduction programs while sometimes necessary all too often end up removing value and expose companies to unnecessary risk. Deferring...

Harvard Business School's Michael E. Porter introduced the concept of a value chain in his book, " Competitive Advantage: Creating and...

It is common nowadays to come across articles that claim that robots and AI will take over people's jobs. Some might even argue that this...

Risk scores are commonly used to support risk-based decisions and are usually derived from a semi-quantitative analysis of the underlying...

Many companies are in the midst of adopting changes introduced by ISO 9001:2015. One of the most significant of these, is incorporating...

Recent revisions to compliance standards and regulations have introduced changes to the way we think about and manage risk. You can look...

Risk-based thinking is at the center of recent changes to compliance standards, guidelines, and regulations. One of the areas where...

All too often companies find that they are only one accident, one explosion, one fatality, or one recall away from not only losing their...