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Risk Compensation

3 January, 2023 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

Using "shared space" to avoid risk compensation.

Understanding Risk Compensation — Because Error Proofing Isn’t Enough Road safety is an excellent example of a system where many have tried to change the public’s behaviour and stop things from going wrong. Error proofing is a common approach, making things easy to get right and difficult to get wrong, but it isn’t without its […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: accident prevention, continuous improvement, error proofing, human nature, perceived risk, process control, risk assessment, risk compensation

The “Can’t Fail” Way to Success

6 July, 2014 by James Lawther 5 Comments

Broken Promises

Under-promise and over-deliver Adrian Swinscoe writes an interesting post… His bank found fraud on his card and sent him a new one.  They told him it would take a working week to get it to him, but then delivered it in 2 days.  Banks are not known for their customer service.  They usually promise little […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: culture, customer satisfaction, process control, waste

The Stop Button

6 April, 2014 by James Lawther 8 Comments

How does your stop button work? If you walk around a manufacturing plant you will see that every machine has a stop button. They are easy to spot.  They are big, round, red, attached to a bright yellow box and bear the legend STOP. Hit the stop button and the machine will come to an […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement, Tools & Techniques Tagged With: andon, best practice, customer focus, process control, rework

Are You in Control?

23 February, 2014 by James Lawther 4 Comments

Bird Brain

Simple Birds It was half term last week. I took my children to North Norfolk. We explored sandy beaches, rolling countryside and panoramic skies.  It was as beautiful. The highlight was a walk across the salt marshes and the sight of a flock of startled geese scurrying across the sky.   How do the birds […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: complexity, incentives, process control, service design, tampering, targets

Process Controls or Commandments?

4 September, 2012 by James Lawther 3 Comments

Though Shalt Not Park

The other day I phoned my IT “help” desk.  They were polite, calm and pleasant but totally useless. They wouldn’t do the one thing I asked them to do.  My request wasn’t unreasonable.  In fact the man on the other end of the line agreed with me, it was the obvious way forward.  But.. The […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: beliefs, bureaucracy, process control, work instructions

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