Taproot

The 2014 Global TapRooT® Summit will be held at the Horseshoe Bay Marriott resort, Horseshoe Bay Texas. Horseshoe Bay is approximately one hour from Austin.

Located in Texas Hill Country, the 7,000-acre, AAA Four Diamond Horseshoe Bay Resort sits along the shore of constant-level Lake LBJ.

The 347-room resort is home to three Robert Trent Jones Sr. designed golf courses, an 18-hole, Par 73 Dwarf Bermuda grass putting course, The Waters 50-room condo tower and a full-service marina.

The resort has 16 tennis courts, 4 pools, bike rentals, hiking trails, spa and fitness center, but if that is not enough, there are many other local attractions including Highland Lakes Air Museum, Longhorn Cavern State Park, Fredericksburg Shopping on Main Street, and Marble Falls.

Click image to view more photos.

SAVE THE DATE! April 7 – 11, 2014

This monthly column covers some of the frequently asked questions we get about the TapRooT® Global Summit. Today’s question is:

Who should attend the TapRooT® Global Summit?

Answer:  Safety Professionals, Reliability Specialists, Risk Managers, Supervisors, Engineers, Mechanics, Quality Improvement Specialists, Managers, Operators, Doctors and Nurses, Safety Committee Members, Certified TapRooT® Instructors and Performance Improvement Specialists or anyone interested in:

Accident/Incident Investigations: Learn from global experts how to identify real, correctable causes of the accident so that improvements can be recommended to prevent the accident’s recurrence.

Improving Quality: Quality issues are similar to safety accidents but quality mistakes cause quality-related issues instead of injuries. Learn how to develop effective measures to ensure that the root cause of quality issues are addressed from our quality experts.

Stopping Equipment Failures: When human error or equipment failure leads to equipment downtime, root cause analysis techniques can be applied. Find out how to troubleshoot equipment problems to get better information about the equipment failure.

Operational Excellence: Any operational excellence failure can be analyzed using root cause analysis to understand the failure’s root causes and develop effective fixes to prevent recurrence.

There you have it in a nutshell! So save the date, April 7 – 11, 2014 in Horseshoe Bay, Texas! For more information about the 2014 Global TapRooT® Summit, visit the Summit website:

http://www.taproot.com/products-services/summit

At the 2013 Global TapRooT® Summit, Mark Paradies gave a General Session talk about Process Safety.

Watch the third installment here:

Learn more about our 2014 Global TapRooT® Summit at http://www.taproot.com/summit.

Did you miss the first installment? View it here: : http://www.taproot.com/archives/38433

The second? View that here: http://www.taproot.com/archives/38566

At the 2013 Global TapRooT® Summit, Mark Paradies gave a General Session talk about Process Safety.

Watch the second installment here:

Learn more about our 2014 Global TapRooT® Summit at http://www.taproot.com/summit.

Did you miss the first installment? View it here: : http://www.taproot.com/archives/38433

Welcome to our weekly series of Root Cause Analysis Tips from our 2013 Global TapRooT® Summit. This week and the next few weeks following, we’ll be talking about Serious Injuries & Fatalities. At the Summit this year, Mark Paradies gave a great talk about Serious Injuries & Fatalities and how you can prevent them.

This is the second part of the Q & A portion at the end of the session, in which participants discuss SIF situations in their workplace with Mark.

Watch it here:

Interested in attending our 2014 Global TapRooT® Summit?

Visit our Summit page here: http://taproot.com/summit

Watch Part 1 here: http://www.taproot.com/archives/37877
Part 2: http://www.taproot.com/archives/37972
Part 3: http://www.taproot.com/archives/38015
Part 4: http://www.taproot.com/archives/38276

At the 2013 Global TapRooT® Summit, Mark Paradies gave a General Session talk about Process Safety. We’ll have it here for you on the blog for the next few weeks.

Watch the first installment here:

Learn more about our 2014 Global TapRooT® Summit at http://www.taproot.com/summit.

Welcome to our weekly series of Root Cause Analysis Tips from our 2013 Global TapRooT® Summit. This week and the next few weeks following, we’ll be talking about Serious Injuries & Fatalities. At the Summit this year, Mark Paradies gave a great talk about Serious Injuries & Fatalities and how you can prevent them.

This is the first part of the Q & A portion at the end of the session, in which participants discuss SIF situations in their workplace with Mark.

Watch it here:

Interested in attending our 2014 Global TapRooT® Summit?

Visit our Summit page here: http://taproot.com/summit

Watch Part 1 here: http://www.taproot.com/archives/37877
Part 2: http://www.taproot.com/archives/37972
Part 3: http://www.taproot.com/archives/38015

We are pleased to announce that Carl Dixon has confirmed to speak at the 2014 Global TapRooT® Summit, April 7 – 11 in Horseshoe Bay, Texas.

Carl Dixon is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter. More than that, he is an entertainer who has performed for audiences around the world for many years. A presence on stage, screen, radio and print (and now the internet), which he’s maintained for over three decades has created a following of people who care about the man and his music.

The career of the good-natured native of Northern Ontario includes his beginnings as lead singer/songwriter of Coney Hatch, lead singer of the Guess Who for eight years, and member of April Wine for four years. A run of album releases with all the above-named bands and his solo work, along with concert appearances around the globe, has made Carl internationally known.

Musically these days Carl either performs a solo acoustic show or tours with his Carl Dixon Band. Speaking appearances are his latest passion, a chance to share his thoughts and experiences in a direct connection to an audience.

In April 2008 Carl’s career path was disrupted by a catastrophic car accident in Australia. This left him in coma with terrible injuries and a poor prognosis from the trauma doctors. To general amazement Carl pushed himself toward recovery with a “No weakness, no fear” motto. He overcame the adversity and eventually made a full return to performance and life. This experience and the lessons gained through it form a large component of Carl’s speaking presentation.

His book Strange Way to Live is being published, an account of Carl’s experiences and impressions of his life and musical adventures to date.  The book details the path which led Carl to here and the factors which helped him overcome the accidents’ effects.

Residing in the forests and hills of Haliburton, Ontario, “Lucky Dog” Carl has a charmed life with his wife and two daughters.

And to those who enjoyed his performance at the Summit reception in Gatlinburg in 2013 — he has agreed to play an acoustic set for us again in 2014!

Learn more about the Summit: http://www.taproot.com/products-services/summit

We are pleased to announce that Rocky Bleier has confirmed to speak at the 2014 Global TapRooT® Summit, April 7 – 11 in Horseshoe Bay, Texas.

Rocky Bleier’s life story–a gripping tale of courage on both the football fields of America and the battlefields of Vietnam–has held audiences in rapt attention for years. Yet, the motivational message behind it, detailing how ordinary people can become extraordinary achievers, defines success in the new American century.

With the same optimism, sense of humor and steadfast determination that were his trademarks as a Pittsburgh Steelers running back, Rocky Bleier takes audiences from his early years through his professional career and talks about the lessons he learned along the way…lessons that we all can benefit from.

Not falling within the ideal of what a running back should look like, Bleier had to run harder and play smarter to be able to stand out. Despite his drive and ability to make the big play, the Pittsburgh Steelers only considered him a late round pick. But before the season ended that first year, he was drafted again–this time by the United States Army. At the height of the Vietnam War, Bleier was thrust into combat early and was seriously wounded when his platoon ran into an ambush. Receiving wounds from both rifle fire and grenade fragments in his legs, he was barely able to walk and his professional football career seemed to have ended before it began.

For more than two years, he drove himself. Little by little he overcame obstacles and fought his way back. He not only made the Pittsburgh Steelers, but also eventually became a starting running back on a team that won four Super Bowls and became the greatest football team of the 20th century.

The hard lessons Rocky Bleier learned early in his life that helped him overcome adversity and reach his goals, have paid off after football. Some of those lessons are seen between the lines in the popular book on his life, Fighting Back , and an ABC-TV movie of the week by the same name.

Rocky is active in the Veteran’s Administration–Abraxas, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the United Way, the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children; he serves as honorary chairman of the Special Olympics and supports the Civic Light Opera. As a board member of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Rocky helped make possible the erection of a monument in Washington, D.C. to the servicemen and women who died in Vietnam.

Rocky’s special qualities have been recognized by colleagues as well as others who have honored him with awards too numerous to list in detail. Among them are the Whizzer White Humanitarian Award, the Vince Lombardi Award and the Most Courageous Athlete of the Decade Award. He has also received awards from the USO and been named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men in America by the U.S. Jaycees.

Today, Rocky Bleier shares his expertise and insight as the sports anchorman at the NBC affiliate in Pittsburgh, WPXI-TV. He is in demand as a speaker, motivating audiences in a wide variety of organizations, corporations and universities. And several companies, such as Uniroyal Tires, Sports Illustrated, Soloflex, Bradford-White, Swanson Dinners and First Federal Savings of Pittsburgh have benefited from his televised endorsements of their services and products.

Learn more about the Summit: http://www.taproot.com/products-services/summit

We are pleased to announce that Christine Holton Cashen has confirmed to speak at the 2014 Global TapRooT® Summit, April 7 – 11 in Horseshoe Bay, Texas.

Christine Cashen delivers a fast–paced, hilarious program with useful content that makes her a sought after speaker worldwide.  For more than 10 years, she has jazzed an amazing variety of audiences throughout the United States, Canada, South Africa and Australia. Christine is an authority on sparking innovative ideas to handle conflict, reduce stress and energize employees.

Before hitting the speaking scene, CC was a university admissions officer, corporate trainer and broadcaster. Hey—she even votes.   Christine holds a Bachelors Degree in Communication and a Masters Degree in Adult Education. She is a member of the National Speakers Association and is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP).  CSP is an earned designation awarded by the National Speakers Association and the International Federation for Professional Speakers to recognize demonstrated commitment to the speaking profession through proven speaking experience.  Fewer than 10% of the speakers on the planet hold this designation.

Christine has been featured as a creativity expert in HOW Designs at Work magazine and is a co-author of the book Mission Possible, Volume Eight. She has also developed the A Dynamic Speaker series of learning resources:  Get What You Want With What You’ve Got DVD, Why Can’t Everybody Just Get Along CD and Got Humor Video. Christine resides in Dallas with her husband and their two children.

She will present

Why Brainstorm When You Can Brain El Niño?

Have you run out of ideas? Is your team having a brain drizzle rather than a brainstorm? Discover the tools to weather creative blocks, solve problems and get great ideas in half the time!  Learn specific strategies to put the “storm” back into brainstorming.  Increase effectiveness and productivity, boost group morale and relieve workplace tension with this program. Get ready to have a brain El Niño!

Learn more about the Summit: http://www.taproot.com/products-services/summit

Welcome to our weekly series of Root Cause Analysis Tips from our 2013 Global TapRooT® Summit. This week and the next few weeks following, we’ll be talking about Serious Injuries & Fatalities. At the Summit this year, Mark Paradies gave a great talk about Serious Injuries & Fatalities and how you can prevent them.

This week, Mark shares his lessons learned, including making sure your investigators really dig in when it comes to root cause analysis. He recommends exploring human factors, fatigue, and using the Corrective Action Helper® to go beyond additional training.

Watch the full 4-minute video now:

If you’d like to look at the process safety talk he mentions at 1:46 in this video, click here for his series from last year’s Summit.

Click here for Admiral Rickover’s testimony to congress about Process Safety.

Interested in attending our 2014 Global TapRooT® Summit?

Visit our Summit page here: http://taproot.com/summit

Watch Part 1 here: http://www.taproot.com/archives/37877
Part 2: http://www.taproot.com/archives/37972

Welcome to our weekly series of Root Cause Analysis Tips from our 2013 Global TapRooT® Summit. This week and the next few weeks following, we’ll be talking about Serious Injuries & Fatalities. At the Summit this year, Mark Paradies gave a great talk about Serious Injuries & Fatalities and how you can prevent them.

This week, Mark discusses using safeguards analysis proactively. He says, “If you’ve got a single safeguard that’s [based on] human performance, that should be a danger bell going off in your mind.”

Watch the full 7-minute video now:

Interested in attending our 2014 Global TapRooT® Summit?

Visit our Summit page here: http://taproot.com/summit

Watch Part 1 here: http://www.taproot.com/archives/37877

Welcome to our weekly series of Root Cause Analysis Tips from our 2013 Global TapRooT® Summit. This week and the next few weeks following, we’ll be talking about Serious Injuries & Fatalities. At the Summit this year, Mark Paradies gave a great talk about Serious Injuries & Fatalities and how you can prevent them.

The first installment is about 6 minutes long and Mark outlines the implications of Behavior Safety Training’s SIF Model and its strengths and weaknesses.

Watch it here:

Interested in attending our 2014 Global TapRooT® Summit?

Visit our Summit page here: http://taproot.com/summit

We ran this article last August, in preparation for the 2013 Global TapRooT® Summit. Dr. Beverly Chiodo speaks on rewarding and valuing the 49 character traits of your employees, and she spoke about it at the Summit.

As we reflect on our best practices and lessons learned from the Summit, it’s a great time to re-evaluate our values as well. Take 10 minutes, print this blog post, and complete this exercise to refocus your goals for 2013.

(Photo courtesy of USF.)

Original Post:

Our core values are the true representation of our authentic selves.  Unfortunately, our authenticity is not always what we present to the world.  The bright beacon of core values may dim under clouds other people and circumstances cast over them.  That is why it is important to know and stand firm on what your core values are.  If you put a small value on your core values, I can assure you that the world will not raise your price.

It doesn’t take years of soul searching and self-reflection to find your core values.  The following exercise can help you start living your best life according to your core values in 30 minutes or less.

Grab a pen and piece of paper and let’s go!

1.  Determine your core values. From the list below, choose and write down every core value that resonates with you.  Do not overthink your selection.  As you read through the list, simply write down the words that feel like a core value to you personally.  If you think of a value you possess that is not on the list, write it down.

2.  Group all similar values together from the list of values you just created. Group them in a way that makes sense to you, personally.  Create a maximum of five groupings.  If you have more than five groupings, drop the least important grouping(s).  See the example below.

3. Choose one word within each grouping that represents the label for the entire group.Again, do not overthink your labels – there are no right or wrong answers.  You are defining the answer that is right for you. See the example below – the label chosen for the grouping is bolded.

4. Add a verb to each value so you can see what it looks like as a actionable core value, for example:

Live in freedom.

Seek opportunities for making a difference.

Act with mindfulness.

Promote well-being.

Multiply happiness.

This will guide you in the actions you need to take to feel like you are truly living on purpose.

5.  Finally, write your core values in order of priority in your planner, so they are available as an easy reference when you are faced with decisions.  For example:

1. Live in freedom.

2. Act with mindfulness.

3. Promote well-being.

4. Multiply happiness.

5. Seek opportunities for making a difference.

If we can get to the place where we show up as our genuine selves, and let each other see who we really are, the awe-inspiring ripple effect will change the world. ~ Terrie M. Williams

The most important thing you can do for your personal success today is to know your core values, and use them to guide and lead you.  Knowing core values is important because when we need to choose or decide something, we can do so easily by simply determining if the choice lines up with our true values.  A life lined-up with personal values is a well-lived, purpose-filled life.

The TapRooT® Advisory Board met for dinner after discussing the development of the Version 6 TapRooT® Software. Here are a few photos from the evening:

Our TapRooT® Users Share Best Practices session at the Summit was great. Each person talked about a best practice, program, good idea, way of thinking, etc. that involves TapRooT® in some way that they or someone in they company is doing. We asked them to think about how that makes a contribution in some way to their industries, companies, employees, individuals, families, local communities or a segment of the world. Each table chose their two top best practices, and the best at each table shared with everyone. The following are the winners who shared exciting and innovative best practices with us. Stay tuned in the following weeks for videos of their best practices!

Cynthia Southers

Mbacke Dieng

Jack Pope

Steve McCrillis

Michael Carr

Glen Deveaux

Jose Leon

Larry Ting

Shelly Hassen

Francy Martinez

Heinz Bloch explained how Best-of-Class companies use MQA on critically important compressors, drivers, and essential process pumps at the 2013 Global TapRooT® Summit. The MQA effort consists of structured and well-defined reviews of vendor experience, drawings, calculations, and other documentation. For highest possible value, MQA is often carried out before purchase orders are issued. Mr. Bloch described three distinct phases of successful MQA tasks.

Heinz Bloch is a graduate of New Jersey Institute of Technology (BSME, MSME, Cum Laude). After his retirement from Exxon Chemical Central Engineering (in Baytown, Texas), he worked as a consulting engineer and author of 17 books. He is the equipment/reliability editor of Houston-based Hydrocarbon Processing and has published over 460 papers and articles on reliability improvement subjects. For several decades, he has advised industry on maintenance cost reduction and reliability improvement issues and has taught over 500 equipment uptime improvement courses on all six continents.

Click on the icon below to view the presentation and learn the three phases of successful MQA tasks:

I promised people at the 2013 Global TapRooT® Summit that I would post links to last year’s talk about Admiral Rickover and process safety and a link to his testimony to Congress about nuclear safety and the Nuclear Navy. Here they are…

Nuclear Navy & Process Safety

Rickover’s Testimony to Congress about Nuclear Safety

And here are the slides from the Nuclear Navy and Process Safety talk mentioned above…

http://www.taproot.com/archives/16963

We had a great time at our annual golf tournament last Friday afternoon after the 2013 Global TapRooT® Summit. Just take a look at these photos!

Malcolm getting his ball out of the street:

Relaxing and warming up after our chilly golf day:

Our winning golf teams and individuals…

Winners of the 2013 TapRooT® Charity Golf Tournament – Ken Scott, Paul Larson, Jarrod Woolven, Buck Griffith.

Pat Hallett won closest to the pin on the 8th hole.

Phil English won closest to the pin on the 5th and 14th holes.

Glen Deveaux won the closest to the pin on the 17th hole.

Graeme Fairclough won the longest drive on the 4th hole and closest to the pin on the 12th hole.

And our photographers/videographers that drove around taking so many photos they completely ran down their golf cart batteries:

Join us next year!

Here’s a message that I received this weekend (the Summit was last week) from Gard Clark …

Mark,

I mentioned to Ken and Ed, that over the last 6 years as a Major Program Manager in the navy I have been a “professional conference attendee” (and presenter).

Out of the 25 conferences I have attended in that period, the TapRooT Summit was the best organized.  I commend you and your staff on the excellent thought and effort that went into the Summit preparation.

The choice of keynote speakers, breakout sessions, and pre-summit courses complemented each other to pass on significant and targeted knowledge over the week to meet attendees’ specific needs.

And it was fun!

Please feel free to pass on my thoughts as you see fit.

Sincerely,

Gard

I’ve been to every Summit (I organize them) and for me, it was the best Summit ever.

The Keynote Speakers were very motivational.

I met new TapRooT® Users with great stories to tell.

I had some really interesting discussions about using TapRooT® to solve problems.

I had many Summit participants stop me to tell me how many practical ideas they were taking home.

And I had great fun at the Wednesday night reception with Carl Dixon (great Canadian rocker) and at the Friday afternoon Charity Golf Tournament (where we came in last but had great fun with my team).

I’ve been exhausted this weekend but I’m headed back to work to start planning the 2014 Global TapRooT® Summit that will be held the week of April 7-11 near Austin, Texas. Put the dates on your calendar and plan to be there!

Alright … What about the rest of the Summit participants? What did you think? Click on the comments link below and tell me what you thought of your Summit experience?

Day 3 of the Global TapRooT® Summit was fantastic.

We started bright and early with a breakout session. One memorable quote from Chris Vallee was “Human Factors is the most abused root cause category.”

We also held a Planning Your Improvements session where participants were able to brainstorm best practices to take back to improve their workplaces.

Bill Rancic closed out the day by sharing his secrets of success that he’s learned from his experience on The Apprentice and being an entrepreneur.

Now, off to our annual golf tournament! Many more photos to follow. What a fantastic Summit!

Pictures from one of the many useful Best Practice Breakout Sessions at the 2013 Global TapRooT® Summit.

They are using SnapCharT®, Safeguard Analysis, the Root Cause Tree®, and CHAP to proactively improve a JSA or develop a process improvement.

Do you want to learn creative ways to improve performance? Attend the 2014 TapRooT® Global Summit. Watch for more information on this blog.

The general session this morning featured Mark Paradies sharing his insights on process safety, how it’s often mis-defined and misunderstood. Ed Skompski also spoke about some lessons learned from the Joplin tornado disaster.

Mark Paradies’ session, Serious Injuries & Fatalities, included lessons learned. Participants broke into groups and discussed real life examples of SIFs it near misses in their workplace, and shared the implications with the class.

Mitch Miller discussed his TapRooT® implementation at Weatherford. He noted the successes and challenges of the process, including senior management buy-in, proving ROI, and choosing TapRooT® over scores of root cause analysis options. Stay tuned in the next few weeks for a video series on his session, especially if you’re interested in your own TapRooT® implementation.

At the end of the day, Chris Jerry shared the reasons blame is not the answer when it comes to medical errors. When medical errors are made, emotions tend to run high and people like to place blame. Chris Jerry shared that there are many reasons for medical errors and that simply punishing the one who makes the mistake does not solve the underlying root cause of the problem. His story is all the more powerful because his daughter was the victim of such an error. We’re all very inspired by this story of forgiveness, and reminded why we work to solve problems and save lives.

Last night, we had a fabulous Summit Reception. We ate pizza & appetizers at the fun & funky Mellow Mushroom in Gatlinburg. Carl Dixon spent hours singing his heart out and letting us join in the fun too. Everyone enjoyed the event!

How did the first day of the 2013 Global TapRooT® Summit go? It was AMAZING!

That was my opinion but it was confirmed by everyone I talked to.

It started out with an inspiring talk about the lessons of life from accident survivor Carl Dixon. He spoke from the heart and played several songs from his rock star career.

Next, I attended some interesting breakout sessions where people learned and shared best practices.

I also presented a session on four lessons learned from the BP Texas City and Deepwater Horizon accidents. These were lessons that went mainly overlooked but were, none-the-less, important for accident investigators and process safety.

Then there was the closing session by Ken Futch who told his story of shooting himself in the head. What a hoot! It was learning and humor in one package! People loved it.

To top things off, we went to a reception at the Mellow Mushroom. Carl Dixon played three sets for three hours with the audience participating. Believe me, those that were there had the night of their lives. It was the best reception ever (and that’s saying a lot).

Then it started snowing…

I’m getting ready for the second day and will report on it tomorrow.

Those who missed this years Summit really missed something special. The learning, inspiration, and networking have been epic. Plan to be attend in 2014 and see for yourself.

Quotes from Day 1:

Buddy Lee: “There is 1 refinery fire for every 1000 maintenance events.”

Buddy Lee: “Standard maintenance is rarely best practice maintenance.”

Mike Rodriguez: “Incident Investigation is good business.”

Dave Janney: “Nobody has time to fix everything that is wrong with their company.”

Mark Paradies: “You can’t have good process safety with bad procedures.”

Ken Futch: “I’m a lot more tolerant of people who do stupid things. Doing something stupid doesn’t mean you are stupid.”

Carl Dixon: “This has been a blast!“