Taproot

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

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 just wanted to share a quick, fun Global TapRooT® Summit slideshow.  Don’t forget to register for 2013 Global TapRooT® Summit Week, March 18 – 22, 2013 in Gatlinburg, Tennessee!

Global TapRooT® Summit week is planned for March 18-22, 2013 in foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

We are pleased to announce that Bill Rancic has confirmed as our keynote speaker, and is scheduled to speak on Friday, March 22, 2013.

Bill Rancic is an American entrepreneur who was the first candidate hired by The Trump Organization at the conclusion of the first season of Donald Trump’s reality television show, “The Apprentice.”  He continues his commitment to entrepreneurship throughout the country. Today, he is building businesses, seizing opportunities and sharing his views on how to succeed.

Bill is the author of the New York Times best-selling book, “You’re Hired: How to Succeed in Business and Life,” and is a host on “America Now.”

Mark your calendar for the Global TapRooT® Summit March 18-22, 2013.

This week’s Root Cause Analysis Tip comes straight from our 2012 Global TapRooT® Summit.

If you missed Mark Paradies’ session on “What Does Management Need to Know About Improving Process Safety?” don’t worry. We will be sharing it on the blog over the next three weeks.

Today is Part 1.

Mark began by showing this comedy clip on Deepwater Horizon:

(If you can’t see YouTube videos at work, click here.)

And continued on with his discussion on Process Safety:

(Having trouble seeing the videos? Refresh your browser page.)

Come back next Wednesday for Part 2 of his Process Safety Talk, in which he discusses Admiral Rickover’s “Big Three” nuclear navy safety regulations and more from his congressional testimony after the accident at Three Mile Island.

Update: Parts 2 and 3 have been posted!

Click here for Part 2.

Click here for Part 3.

Finding ALL causal factors is extremely important.  In our courses, we teach a number of best practices for finding those causal factors.  One of them is the 5 Safeguard questions:

What word is common to all of these questions?  Error.  And an error that fits these questions is most likely a causal factor.

Beyond using these questions to find causal factors as we teach in our 2 and 5 day courses, there is also a best practice we share in our Advanced TapRooT® Techniques course, which is to use these questions to collect evidence, here is an example:

A customer gets burned by coffee from a drive through (note:  any resemblance to a real incident is purely coincidental)

You do a safeguards table, just like we teach in the 2 and 5 day courses:

The hazard is hot coffee

The target is the customer

Safeguards include temperature, the cup, the lid, the cup holders in the car, and awareness

Now use the 5 safeguard questions, for example:

What error allowed a hazard or allowed it to grow too large?  This safeguard question might prompt you to wonder how hot the coffee was, how hot it was supposed to be, and what a safe temperature really is.  After you gathered all of your data and are ready to find causal factors, you might ask the question again:

What error allowed a hazard or allowed it to grow too large?

Coffee machine was set to brew at 190 degrees

Look there – I now have a causal factor, because that temperature actually causes 3rd degree burns within 7 seconds.  Ouch.  And the typical home coffee maker brews at 140 degrees.

So I hope this tip might help you to use safeguards more, ask better questions, save you time, and help you find all of your causal factors.  By the way, if you want to attend the Advanced TapRooT® Techniques course for more helpful best practices, there is still time.  The course will be held in Las Vegas on February 27-28.  Click HERE for more info.

By the way, here is some “coffee trivia” for you – why do restaurants brew their coffee so hot?

The most common answer?  “It tastes better.”  WRONG!!!

The real answer?  It smells better, which gets more people to buy coffee.

Thanks for visiting the blog and happy investigating.

Often people participating in the TapRooT® Summit THINK they know what will be their favorite session, but are surprised when one of the sessions they attend BLOWS THEIR SOCKS OFF.

For example, all of the Keynote Speakers (CLICK HERE to review them) have the potential to be the best talk at the Summit.

But there are some Best Practice Session presenters who also have the potential to be your favorite session. Here are just a few of the ones that I’m looking forward to …

Lori Reineke-Avant and Eric Cropp   

They will discuss their personal experience being prosecuted for an accident.

Linda Unger and Michele Lindsay           

One of the most highly praised sessions at past Summits has been the “TapRooT® Users Share Root Cause Best Practices” session facilitated by Linda and Michele.

Richard Mesker                                                         

Richard gives interesting, interactive talks. What I’ve heard about his “Risk Management and Safety: Safety Third” session leads me to believe it will surprise you.

Dave Munro, Jade Washmon, Jim Thatcher and Pat Fortune (not pictured) will discuss what it takes to develop and maintain great investigators.

William Sirois from Circadian Technologies                 

I always like Bill’s talks about fatigue and he has two at the Summit that you should consider attending. The first is about a new federal requirement for airlines – developing a fatigue risk management plan. These plans really should be implemented everywhere that fatigue could be an issue.

Second, is “Using FACT to Measure & Analyze Fatigue (Both Reactive and Proactive)”. If you’ve ever wondered how you can prove that fatigue was an issue in an accident, Bill has the answer and will share it at the Summit.

- – -

Well, I said I’d share a few … so I better stop now. And I haven’t even mentioned the talks I’ll be presenting!

Make sure you attend the Summit so that you can learn all the valuable information that will help you take performance at your facility to the next level.

See all the Summit sessions at:

http://www.taproot.com/summit.php?t=schedule

I am really excited to announce that we have made a few changes to beef up our Risk Management topics for the Safety, Process Safety, and Risk Management track for the summit.

On Thursday, March 1 from 10:50-noon, we have the following presentation:

Risk Management

Assessing Organisational Risk Maturity – Malcolm Gresham

How do you assess the your organisation’s risk management maturity?  It is no longer sufficient to implement a Risk Management Framework and hope for the best.  Organisations need to assess whether their current level of risk management is appropriate. The Risk Maturity Model provides organisations with a valuable measure of the ongoing development of their ability to manage Risk.

Using the new Risk Management Standard ANSI Z690.2 : 2011 to Assess the Maturity of your Risk Management System – Jim Whiting

How mature is your organisation’s RMS ? This session discusses how to obtain assurance of the maturity, quality,  adequacy of your RMS measured against conformity with the new ANSI Z690.2 Standard for RM Systems. This Standard provides specific audit criteria and guidelines for the  principles, framework, and process required of a ‘Best Practice’ organisation. An audit process using ANSI Z690.2 criteria can be performed on both an Internal / First Party and even a External / Third Party basis. Either way the resulting benefits center on being able to demonstrate internally and/or externally that your organisation is managing risks in an adequate way. Hence the audit results can provide confidence and assurance to your own people as well as external stakeholders. The workshop will discuss how the evidence-seeking questions/ activities in such an audit can be constructed, delivered and their results analysed and reported.

Jim Whiting

This change also allows for us to create a session, also on March 1, from 9:10-10:30 entitled Risk Management and Safety: Safety Third?

In this session, we have Richard Mesker speaking.  Rich was one of the most highly rated speakers at our last summit, so you will not want to miss this.  Here is what he will be talking about:

When anticipating risk, performing risk analysis, and allocating resources is safety first or is it actually third/fourth/fifth in the priority list? If so, why? We have all heard the mantra of “Safety First.” Let’s find out if in fact safety is first.

We look forward to seeing everyone in Las Vegas!

Karen Migliaccio has done a tremendous job setting up this first TapRooT® Summit Quality Track. From cross industry representatives to demonstrating field successes all the way up to company process changes, you will find this Summit Week Track interesting and applicable.

Wednesday

TapRooT®; Implementation Success Stories:

Successful Implementation of TapRooT® at Steris (Kevin McManus)

High Quality TapRooT® Implementation (Dennis Osmer)

Using the Baldrige Criteria to Achieve Performance Improvement (Kevin McManus)

Root Cause Analysis of Quality Problems:

Challenges in Biotech Quality Root Cause Analysis (Michael Gorman)

Root Cause Analysis of Incidents Occurring in the Pharmaceutical

Industry (Debbie Riley)

Thursday

CAPA in Quality: The Strong and the Weak (Karen Migliaccio)

Quality Issues:

Quality Initiatives That Lead To Continuous Improvement Efforts (Bryan

Ward)

Using a Quality Plan to Drive Improvement (Zena Kaufman)

The 7 Secrets of Incident Investigation & Root Cause Analysis (Mark Paradies)

Designing Your Continuous Improvement Program (Kevin McManus)

Friday

How Pfizer Achieves Operational Excellence (Gerry Migliaccio)

Planning Your Improvements

To read more about each session see:

http://www.taproot.com/summit.php?t=schedule.

Then select the Quality and Corrective Action Programs Track.

But there’s more!

Before the Summit we have a special nTapRooT® Root Cause Analysis Course focused on finding the root causes of quality issues.

When you attend both the pre-Summit course and the Summit, you save $200 off the course fee.

Just click on the link below for more information…

TapRooT® Quality/Six Sigma/Lean
Advanced Root Cause Analysis Training

What is it that produces a safe environment with safe workers? Is it people with the right attitude… is it a reduced risk environment… or is it both? Do we need reward or punishment… or both? How do different cultures interact successfully to work safely? What is the best environment for a person to work in physically? How does one know?

Listening to a radio show recently about people trying to get out of debt, the host said this, “it is not the math that got them in the situation it is the behavior; that is why changing the behavior is the first step.” It was in reference to people who wanted to know why the had to pay off small debts first and not the large credit cards with high interest.

Point being, that the more one practices a behavior, the higher the probability that the behavior becomes habit. Providing a better environment with the right tools increases the ability to perform the behavior. It is with this in mind that the sessions below were put together:

Wednesday

• Proactive Prevention of Injuries and Accidents Due to Human Error
  Ergonomic and Human Performance Improvement
  Working Across Languages and Cultures

Thursday

• Changing Behavior By Praising the 49 Character Traits
  Criminal Prosecution of Accidents
  Using Training Simulation to Improve Human Performance
  Design for Reliable Performance

Friday

• Using FACT to Measure & Analyze Fatigue (Both Reactive & Proactive)
  Planning Your Improvements

To read more about each session go here: 

http://www.taproot.com/summit.php?t=schedule

One more thing …

Before the Summit there is a pre-Summit course that you should be considering …

Stopping Human Error

Just click on the link above for more info.

The course and the Human Performance and Behavior Change Best Practice Track make a great one-two punch for improving human performance. Plus, you will save $200 off the course fee when you attend both.

Don’t miss the remarkable knowledge available in the course and the Summit. Register today!

Pre-Summit

The TapRooT® Pre-Summit is the one time a year we hold our 2-Day Software course for public registration.  Be sure not to miss out on this opportunity!

Whether you are responsible for administering the TapRooT® Enterprise Software, or are the ‘Go-To’ TapRooT® guru at your company, you will get all the information you need to know on the latest version of the software, and find out about upcoming releases.

Day 1 of the course is spent running through the entire 7-Step Process flow in the latest version of the software, giving you all the best practices for recording your investigation data.

Day 2 we delve into the configurability and administrative set up of the software, teaching you to how to maximize your potential for trending, reporting and maintaining data integrity for you and your company.

Dan Verlinde

Matthew Irving

The Pre-Summit course will be taught by Dan Verlinde, Director of Information Technology and Software Development for System Improvements, and Matt Irving, Software Development Project Manager for Improvement Interactive.  Sign up for the 2-day Pre-Summit course today!  (Learn more!)

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Summit

The TapRooT® Software Track for the summit will run Wednesday through Friday and address a variety of topics including:

Using the TapRooT® Software to Perform an Investigation (Instructor:  Dan Verlinde):  We’ll highlight the most common use of the software, performing an investigation, using the brand new 5.1.5 release with new interface functions.

A User Experience – Web Implementation of the TapRooT® Software (Instructor: Susan Lewis, Wilbros):  This session will cover one Super-Users experience implementing the TapRooT® V5 Software and how they met their business’s needs, including:

• System Configuration

o   User Groups

o   System Lists

o   Custom Fields

• Reporting
• Problems and Obstacles encountered

What’s New In The TapRooT® Software? (Instructor: Dan Verlinde, System Improvements): This session will cover new developments in the TapRooT® V5 Software since the last TapRooT® Summit.  Dan Verlinde will perform a demonstration of all the new features, and make important announcements about future releases of the software.

Bridging the Software Knowledge Gap (Instructor: Dan Verlinde, System Improvements):  This session will cover a range of topics Enterprise clients will need to address for successful TapRooT® V5 Software implementation, including:

• Software Installation
• Implementation Strategy
• System Configuration & Administrative Tools
• Data Migration

Learn how successful analysis of your business need can make implementation of the TapRooT® painless for your users.

How You Can Help Shape Future TapRooT® Software (Instructor: Matt Irving, Project Manager, Improvement Interactive):  Matt Irving tells us, “We are constantly at work behind the scenes to improve the software that so many depend on every day. The feedback that we receive from our users and instructors plays an important role into what goes into future releases.

Additionally, we are constantly staying apprised of the changes in technology that can enhance the user experience. This session will be a unique look into how all these factors come into play when deciding how and what goes into the TapRooT® Software.

Chris Vallee

Trending Using The TapRooT® Software (Instructor: Chris Vallee, System Improvements):  This session will cover how to use your data for trending purposes in the TapRooT® V5 Software, including:

• Corrective Action Status Reports
• Root Cause Reports
• Search Function
• Defining Trending going forward

Should be another great Summit this year in Las Vegas.  Look forward to seeing you there!  (Register for the Summit.)

A new 30-minute talk has been added to the Safety, Process Safety and Risk Management Track session, “Risk Management & Safety,” (Thursday, March 1 at 10:50 a.m.). Australian risk management expert and TapRooT® Instructor, Jim Whiting, will present “Using the New Risk Management Standard ANSI Z690.2 : 2011 to Assess the Maturity of your Risk Management System.”

How mature is your organization’s RMS? This 30-minute workshop session focuses on one part of the 2-day pre-Summit course, Risk Management Best Practices, i.e. how to obtain assurance of the maturity, quality, adequacy of your RMS measured against conformity with the new ANSI Z690.2 Standard for RM Systems. This Standard provides specific audit criteria and guidelines for the principles, framework, and process required of a ‘Best Practice’ organization. An audit process using ANSI Z690.2 criteria can be performed on both an Internal / First Party and even a External / Third Party basis. Either way the resulting benefits center on being able to demonstrate internally and/or externally that your organization is managing risks in an adequate way. Hence, the audit results can provide confidence and assurance to your own people as well as external stakeholders. The workshop will discuss how the evidence-seeking questions/ activities in such an audit can be constructed, delivered and their results analyzed and reported.

Learn more in our 2-Day Pre-Summit Course (February 27 and 28)

If you would like to dig deeper into this topic, register for the 2-day pre-Summit course, Risk Management Best Practices.  Jim Whiting (member of the committee that wrote AS / NZS 4360:1999, that significantly contributed to the ultimate development of the international risk management standard ISO 31000 and now the USA Standard ANSI Z690:2011to) has enhanced the course for 2012.

Dennis Osmer, former Worldwide Head of HSE, will be presenting some thoughts about quality implementation of TapRooT®, a system he has used for over 20 years at the 2012 TapRooT® Summit. Key elements covered will be: use of pilots; internal teaching; site review teams; investigator training; focused approach to broad approach; and continuous improvement.

Dennis is a TapRooT® Instructor with over 40 years of industrial experience – the last seven years of his career as the World Wide Head of Health, Safety, Environment (HSE) and Emergency Management at CIBA Vision (a business unit of Novartis). There, he was responsible for the HSE activities for all of CVs operations (14 supply chain sites, 37 sales and marketing group companies, 11,000 employees on 3 continents). He has a pragmatic approach to developing and implementing HSE strategy which balances employee safety, environmental protection and business needs. He is a recognized expert with a track record of delivering performance.

His most recent activities were with Pandemic Preparedness, energy efficiency improvements, auditing, due diligence, new site start-up and HSE strategies for world class performance. While with a different business unit, he was the deputy chief of an industrial brigade and part of a community outreach program.

Dennis has an MBA in general management and finance from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and a BA in mathematics from the same university.

This session will be part of the Quality and Corrective Action Programs track and the Leading Performance Improvement track.  If you are planning to sign up for a different track and want to attend this session, you may customize your schedule and add it!

We all benefit from safe workplaces. Employees and families have the peace of mind that a worker will return home safely each day, while employers gain greater productivity and avoid costly expenses that can come from workplace accidents.

Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics over the past several decades tracks the number and rate of work-related injuries, illnesses, and fatalities.  It can help us understand who is getting hurt and what circumstances lead to those injuries.

William Wiatrowski

William Wiatrowski, Associate Commissioner, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, will provide an overview of safety and health trends, and will provide a close-up look at certain populations and events on the Safety, Process Safety and Risk Management track at the 2012 Global TapRooT® Summit. Understanding these data – what data are available and how they can be used — can help to identify where to concentrate workplace safety and health resources in an effort to maintain a safe working environment.

Bryan Ward

Bryan Ward, President, WTMS, Inc., will be presenting how a quality plan can be used to drive continuous improvement in investigations at the 2012 Global TapRooT® Summit.

Bryan has dedicated the last 20+ years to designing and improving processes and creating cultural change at all organizational levels.  He has a passion for continuous improvement.

“Continuous improvement reveals itself in many different forms,” said Bryan.  “It can be an up front conscious effort to improve something — anything for that matter. In most cases it is a reactive decision as opposed to a pro-active decision.”

Bryan will show how in the following case, it was neither. It was nurtured through developing a Quality Management System.

Working on an Enterprise Transformation project with a client, Bryan discovered that they had “said” all of the right things to be in compliance for a specific project, but did not have anything behind the curtain, so to speak. No substance. In this case there was a Quality Manual, but no Quality Management System. If a client had asked them to produce performance metrics to prove stability in the system … it could not be done. It would simply have been stated as such, “ … we stand behind our work 100% … no questions asked.” That is a confident statement, but there was nothing available to measure and track true service performance.

After reading through this Quality Manual, Bryan developed a system that measured the company’s core competencies. But, having served as a change agent for many years, he knew that if there was no ownership at the field level this was simply going to be a system that if not pushed, would not be used.

The system began with training on the system, the measurement requirements, self verification / self audit process and forum for review.

After implementation, the Quality Management System revealed several area’s where the business could improve. Not from a quality standpoint, technically they were very sound, but in the Enterprise it revealed area’s to improve. After reviewing the data for several months the following Continuous Improvement initiatives were under taken:

Reduce consumable costs by implementing a consolidated tool kitting process
* Vendor Managed Inventory
* Standardized Consumables & Tools By Field Service Craft
* Create a pull system for tools and consumables; eliminate the PUSH system

Preventative Maintenance Program
* Tools ( Hand and Pneumatic )
* Tool / Work Trailers
* Electrical / Rigging Equipment

Review audit results weekly at the General Manager Meeting
* Gross Profit was improved by 11% through this initiative
* Self Verification audits revealed the real issues being felt at the field service level ( Voice of the Customer ) * TRIR / EMR rates were reduced with the focus of weekly review of equipment and processes. Less hand and eye injuries.
* General Manager “Top 5” List started with this review ; this is rolling list of improvement actions sponsored by the General Manager ( On Going Improvement Items )

Register for the “Quality Issues” session and learn how this quality plan was used to drive continuous improvement efforts.  You can add it to your schedule as a custom course, or register for the Quality and Corrective Actions track (this session is part of the Quality program).

Learn more about Bryan Ward and the February 29 – March 2, 2012 Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada on the Summit website.

TapRooT® software allows electronic reporting of incidents and provides categorization necessary to track them.  It helps investigators organize their thoughts and present information they collect.  The software helps facilitate the root cause analysis of reactive and proactive investigations, and provides advanced equipment troubleshooting tools to understand equipment failures.  The software provides an electronic review and approval feature for management, maintains a database of incident information, and provides tracking, validation and verification of corrective actions.  It also provides categorization and trending capabilities to allow the use of advanced trending techniques.

TapRooT® software users around the world are planning to register for the TapRooT® Software Super Users/Administrators track the 2012 Global TapRooT® Summit to learn best practices in using this software and learn all of the latest developments.  Here are a few sessions planned for 2012 to help you get the most from your TapRooT® software:

Chris Vallee

Chris Vallee will be presenting “Trending Using the TapRooT® Software.”  This session will cover how to use your data for trending purposes in the TapRooT® V5 Software, including:

• Corrective Action Status Reports
• Root Cause Reports
• Search Function
• Defining Trending Going Forward

Chris Vallee is a TapRooT® Instructor and Senior Associate at System Improvements.

Dan Verlinde

Dan Verlinda will be presenting, “Bridging the Software Knowledge Gap.”  Dan is the Director of Information Technology & Software Development at System Improvements.

Aguilar Sáez René Alejandro

Aguilar Sáez René Alejandro will be a keynote speaker at the Global TapRooT® Summit, Las Vegas Nevada, February 29 to March 2, 2012.

In early August 2010, Chile’s San José copper and gold mine collapsed, trapping 33 miners 2,300 feet underground.

At that time, René was the Safety and Health Manager at El Teniente Mine at Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer. When he arrived at the San José Mine with civil engineer, André Sougarret, he became the second in charge of the rescue operation.

René was the coordination liaison between those present at the site, including the technical rescue teams and authorities from the Ministries of Mining, Interior, Health; the Chilean Safety Association; and the Army. During the rescue operation, René and André held daily contact with the trapped miners and their families.

In the final stage of the San Lorenzo Operation, he was responsible for leading the teams in charge of the final rescue; working with Codelco and Asmar engineers in the design and fabrication of the rescue capsules; selection and training of rescuers; and hoisting equipment and communications systems.

Today, René Aguilar is Corporate Manager of Safety and Occupational Health at Codelco.

There is now a global body of scientific evidence that shiftwork in the 24/7 workplace is a high risk occupational safety exposure, and that the development of Fatigue Risk Management Systems (FRMS) has emerged as the internationally accepted standard for managing the inherent costs, risks and liabilities of shiftwork.

“Using FACT to Meaure & Analyze Fatigue” will be presented by Bill Sirois at the 2012 Global TapRooT® Summit, and will review the new ANSI standard for FRMS in refining and petrochemical industries, as well how the other industries as diverse as Aviation, Railroads, Mining and Utilities are implementing Corporate FRMS systems as a continuous improvement process. It will also provide examples of fatigue management tools that can provide the analytics needed to ensure the success of programs for optimizing shiftworker health, safety and quality of life.

Bill Sirois

Bill Sirois is Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Circadian Technologies, a leading research, information and consulting firm specializing in reducing the costs, risks and liabilities of shiftwork and extended hours operations. Bill has a chemical engineering and ergonomics background, with more than three decades of operational management and consulting experience in the areas of health, safety, and productivity.

This session is part of the “Human Performance & Behavior Change” Summit track, but no matter what track you choose you can easily add this session to your schedule (learn how).

Join us at the 2012 Summit, Las Vegas, February 29 – March 2, 2011.

TapRooT® is a powerful tool for analyzing near misses, at risk behaviors, and troublesome trends. It is not difficult to analyze these things; the challenge lies in ensuring you have the right data to analyze and working within your resources.  Come to the 2012 Global TapRooT® Summit and learn how to develop your near miss reporting and at-risk observations.  Also learn how to categorize the data, and how and when to act using trending techniques and TapRooT®.

Boris Risnic

Boris Risnic will be leading this informative session.  Boris teaches TapRooT® in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.  He has conducted multi-national TapRooT® deployment for companies in Central and South America and has conducted over 50 TapRooT® investigations worldwide.  Boris has a BS in Industrial Engineering – Electronics.

Join us at the 2012 Global TapRooT® Summit and learn how to identify and fix potential fatality risks in the best practice session, “Proactive Prevention of Injuries & Accidents Due to Human Error.”  Ron Pryor will discuss proactive approaches for identifying and eliminating or remediating potential fatality risks related to human error. Time will be alloted for questions.  This session is part of the “Human Performance & Behavior Change” track, but no matter what track you choose you can easily add this session to your schedule (learn how).

Ron Pryor

Ron is the owner of Pryor Experience LLC, a safety and performance improvement consulting business helping clients around the world achieve breakthrough improvements in safety and health, quality, productivity, reliability, and profitability. Ron previously worked as a Senior Staff Safety Engineer and Human Performance Coordinator at Alcoa’s Davenport Works aluminum rolling mill in Bettendorf, Iowa. Ron’s 30 year Alcoa career included assignments in Operating Line Management, Production Planning and Supply Chain, and 20 years in Health and Safety. In addition to working with the full spectrum of traditional industrial safety programs and initiatives, Ron led the integration of human performance concepts, including root cause analysis, across all organizational functions. Ron is a Certified Safety Professional, a Certified TapRoot Instructor, and a member of ASSE. Ron attended Wittenberg University (BA Business Adminstration) and West Virginia University (MS Safety Management). After spending a significant portion of the past 25 years coaching and officiating youth soccer, volleyball, and basketball, Ron is enjoying bicycling and boating in his spare time.

Create your custom schedule for the 2012 Global TapRooT® Summit, February 29 – March 2, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Join us in Las Vegas for Summit week February 27 – March 2, 2012.  Here are a few things to make your decision easier and to help you start planning:

A downloadable 2012 Global TapRooT® Summit Brochure.

2012 TapRooT Global Summit

VIDEOS – Personal invitation from Mark Paradies and “Things to do in Vegas” videos (View videos).

History of the TapRooT® Summit (Read article).

Early registration prize drawing information:  Win Vegas Show Tickets and Win an Apple iPod Touch.

LEARN MORE on the Summit website:  http://www.taproot.com/summit.php.

Lori Reineke-Avant is a married, suburban, working mother of two adult children and a 27 year resident of  Atlanta, Georgia.  One evening in the fall of 2009, while driving alone, Lori was involved in a traffic accident that resulted in fatal injuries to a pedestrian crossing the highway on a red light. Although witness testimonies confirmed the pedestrian had crossed the street illegally, three months later Lori was charged and arrested on a four count felony vehicular homicide charge that included texting while driving.  Her charges arose from a local statute that allowed for distracted driving charges in the absence of any law at that time that banned cell phone usage while driving.  What had been a quiet suburban life for Lori turned in to a personal and public 2 year battle to prove her innocence of texting while driving during the accident.

The story of her experience takes on many twists and turns, including false accusations of texting by a third party, a local political agenda to ban texting while driving and the lessons she has learned about the potential for criminal prosecution of accidents.  Lori will be sharing her story at the 2012 Global TapRooT® Summit — hear it by adding the best practice session, Criminal Prosecution of Accidents, Thursday, March 1, 2012, 10:50 a.m. to your Summit schedule.