High-Reliability Organizations
At critical points in a large project, particularly in a hazardous
environment, mistakes can cost billions of dollars. For example,
operators of marine systems and structures are writing off up to
15% of their profits to preventable quality compromises. As much
as 80% of high-consequence accidents have root causes in human and
organizational factors. Although most accidents occur in operations,
more than half have their antecedents in design and construction.
High-Reliability Organizations (HRO) address these challenges.
Moravec and Associates provide HRO consulting services that create
and execute strategies to coordinate error mitigation and preserve
the environment, human safety, capital assets, and global operations.
We begin with the assumption that effective HRO are distinguished
by:
- Preoccupation with failure. All failures provide
insights on the health of a system. We provide thorough analysis
of near-failures, help management generalize from failures, encourage
self-reporting of errors, and probe the vulnerabilities of successes.
Lessons learned prevent repetition of costly mistakes.
- Reluctance to simplify interpretations. Simplifications
are potentially dangerous because they limit precautions people
take as well as their ability to envision undesired consequences.
- Sensitivity to operations. We construct and
maintain cognitive maps that allow operations to integrate diverse
inputs into a single picture of the overall situation and status.
- Commitment to resilience. We increase the
capacity to cope with unanticipated dangers after they have become
manifest. We provide continuous management of fluctuations, as
well as preparation for inevitable surprises by expanding general
knowledge, technical facility, and command over resources.
- Under-specification of structures. We help
clients avoid higher-level errors that tend to combine with lower-level
errors and make them more intractable. We provide methods to expand
the definition of “decision maker,” allowing decision
making to migrate along with problems.
Our HRO consulting assures that large complex projects operate
competently, effectively, and safely. Long-term benefits include:
- More reliable, efficient, and cost-effective operations
- Greater stakeholder motivation
- Effort and time saved from preventing errors
- Lower risk to life, assets and the environment
- Preservation of financial investment
Related Key Findings & Insights
