| Wednesday, 14 October 2009 08:04 |
| Jeff Jackson unveils The Systems Complexity Index for Risk Assessment (SCIRA) at the Wilderness Risk Management Conference in Durham, North Carolina. The emerging systems based approach to risk management planning has altered the way we conceive, organize and implement risk systems. The System Complexity Index Risk Analysis (SCIRA) is a tool to objectively measure the stability of an organization’s risk management systems, and provides a completely different means of interpreting and managing risk events. By measuring the parameters of coupling and complexity, risk potential can be approached from a ‘macro’ level, as opposed to the existing hazard based approach, and is of use to administrators down to field level staff. The System Complexity Index Risk Analysis (SCIRA) evolved from risk management systems research conducted by the author and through Direct Bearing Inc., a risk management consulting firm serving the adventure, education and volunteer sectors. The index model addresses some standing issues as adventure and education based risk management moves from discrete trigger/event based prevention, control and mitigation procedures to comprehensive systems based management. SCIRA provides an objective means of quantifying the complexity of an operation or a system. As a risk management tool, SCIRA allows: 1. a means of assessing system complexity and system failure potential; 2. comparing internal systems and prioritizing system improvements; 3. a means of targeting system improvements and modeling system change; 4. benchmarking system complexity against other programs or operations. SCIRA is an indicator of system failure potential. It is critical to note it is not a measure of system efficacy. The more tightly coupled and complex a system is, the more vulnerable it is to system accidents or catastrophic failure. Included in the article are the System Complexity Indexes, and a sample of values from the adventure sector for illustration and comparison purposes. Readers can skip directly to the indexes to assess their own operation, and return to the background information as needed. Download the entire paper in our Network Resources section. |