Hi All Has anyone had experience in using the Bow Tie Approach to Health & Safety Management? I work for an AV Company and the client is using an external Project Manager who used to work in the Offshore Industry and is wanting all companies involved including the venue to complete various forms to allow this person to manage the Health & Safety. From what I can determine it seems to be duplicating alot of work as our Risk Assessments and System of Work detailing our working activities. We aren't 'flying' (nothing attached to truss etc) any equipment in that it is all Ground Supported. I cant speak for what the venue risk assessments are like etc. My reading of 'Optimising Hazard Management by Workforce Engagement & Supervision' HSE RR637 seems to be a different model in which to Manage Health & Safety by the outcome will be the same if applied correctly?

The bow tie is just a visual summary of the hazards and controls. It's usually for major hazards, where the range of controls, including those to prevent/limit the escalation process, can be complex, and a visual presentation helps non-specialists to understand how they all fit together. Recently I've seen it used to show health hazards and the range of controls in place, and thought it worked well for that application too - another area where typical 'safety people' and certainly line personnel often feel they need external expertise. In that example the bow-tie approach was used in-house to help persuade them there's nothing different in way health risk assessment is applied.

I cant comment about the other companies existing systems but I know ours are far from bad, not perfect either mind. There is no new Health & Safety Manager, the person is being employed by the end client to manage the conference and all the companies involved. We have an extensive Safe System of Work to carry out the task that we are contracted for which details the specfic hazards and the control measures as well as our work scedule etc. The Project Manager hasn't reviewed any of our documentation except our generic information (how to set projector, screen, layout etc) as our client hasn't confirmed all the details such as numbers and set design yet. If he wish to start with a clean sheet of paper despite what exists from all the other companies involved then thats up to them.