Industrial Risk Assessment

Beyond risk matrices: barrier-based assessment

A 5×5 risk matrix tells you a hazard scored 'high'. A BowTie diagram tells you exactly which preventive barriers stand between threat and Top Event, which recovery barriers stand between Top Event and consequence, and which of those barriers are degraded, missing or never installed. Regulators, insurers and boards increasingly demand the second — the matrix is not enough.

When to use BowTie vs Tripod Beta

Use BowTie for proactive risk assessment — mapping the barrier landscape around a hazard before any incident occurs. Use Tripod Beta after an incident to analyse which barriers failed and why. They share vocabulary (threats, barriers, Top Event) so a BowTie built during assessment becomes the scaffold for a Tripod Beta investigation if an incident happens — and recommendations from Tripod Beta feed back into BowTie updates.

Coverage across high-hazard industries

RISKOPILOT supports industrial risk assessment for: upstream and downstream oil & gas, LNG, mining, hard-rock and surface mining, chemicals and petrochemicals, power generation (thermal, nuclear, renewables), construction, manufacturing and heavy logistics. The methodology library covers ISO 45001, ISO 31000, IOGP Report 456, CCPS process safety, EI Tripod Beta guidance and Seveso III major-accident requirements.

How RISKOPILOT delivers

1. 1

   Define the hazard and Top Event

   Name the hazard, the asset it threatens and the loss-of-control event you want to prevent.

2. 2

   Map threats and consequences

   List every credible initiating threat on the left of the BowTie and every credible consequence on the right.

3. 3

   Identify barriers

   For each threat, list preventive barriers. For each consequence, list recovery and mitigation barriers. Classify each by type, ownership and effectiveness.

4. 4

   Stress-test with escalation factors

   For each barrier, identify what could degrade it (training gap, maintenance backlog, design change) and the controls on that escalation factor.

5. 5

   Issue the assessment and review

   Publish the BowTie with barrier register and review cadence. Update on any change of process, equipment, ownership or following any related incident.