Bowtie risk assessment is a risk model used to prevent and mitigate the effects of rare but potentially disastrous events. Oil and gas companies use it to reduce the risk of events like wellhead blowouts, while the aviation industry uses it to prevent loss of control events that could lead to a crash.
Today, many in the life sciences industry are adopting the bowtie model to prevent issues like contamination that could have a similarly widespread impact on consumers.
At the center of the bowtie model is the hazard in question. Fanning out to the left are preventive controls, and to the right are the recovery controls that help minimize the impact if the event does occur. Collaborating with other team members and subject matter experts is key to conducting a robust bowtie analysis and ensuring you have a complete picture of the risk.
