TapRooT® and Management Systems (and don’t miss this talk at the 2020 Global TapRooT® Summit)!
Thanks for visiting our blog today; I would like to talk about management systems and how TapRooT® fits into these systems. Specifically, I would like to champion safety management systems.
The first, and most important question, is DO YOU HAVE A MANAGEMENT SYSTEM? If not, you should!
When we talk about management systems, what we mean is a structured way to manage the business and assess (and improve) performance. There are many kinds of management systems: quality management systems; environmental management systems; safety management systems, etc. While the components of these systems may be different, the approach is similar. And root cause analysis is an important part of making sure these systems run the way they are intended.
Maybe your organization is ISO certified. Maybe your safety department got you into VPP (OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program). You have a structured way to manage your business. As part of your auditing and corrective action processes, you can use TapRooT® to perform root cause analysis. But the even better part is that you have the TapRooT® root causes and information in the Root Cause Tree® Dictionary to use as best practices that should be part of your management systems. Use this expert guidance to make sure you have all the pieces in place, then audit them for effectiveness. The stronger your management system is, the less problems you will have.
Beyond the usual monitoring activities like auditing, you should also have continuous improvement processes. Maybe you use Six Sigma, Lean, or……Lean Six Sigma! Maybe something a little easier like PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act). These are all good approaches to continuous improvement, but the root cause analysis techniques typically used in these processes are weak at best. But the good news is that you do not have to “throw the baby out with the bath water,” you can use TapRooT® to perform RCA more effectively within the framework of these existing programs, and you have our corrective action tools to help as well.
While many organizations have had safety management systems in the past, others are just starting to realize the benefits. Many others are being forced into it by their customers. ISO Systems have been used widely for many years throughout the world for Quality and Environmental performance, but more recently, ISO 45001 has come into play for safety management. By the way, the PDCA cycle I mentioned is now an important component of ISO management system standards.
I am very excited that we will have a talk in the safety/risk track at our 2020 Global TapRooT® Summit, entitled “Using TapRooT® to conform to ISO 45001 Management System requirements,” presented by Nancy Hitchins, MPH, CSP. Nancy (pictured above) has been working with and teaching ISO standards for many years and is also a long-time TapRooT® user and instructor. This is a can’t miss session, so please plan to join us.
For more information on the summit, visit here:
https://www.taproot.com/summit/
Enjoy your summer and we hope to see you soon!
