What Is Critical Risk Management?

Critical Risk Management is a proven method for preventing serious injuries and fatalities (SIFs).  

While most organisations have effective procedures in place for controlling minor hazards and injuries, they often lack a dedicated SIF prevention program. 

Critical Risk Management plugs that significant safety gap. Laser-focused on eliminating the causes of SIFs, Critical Risk Management is a robust fatality prevention method that operates within an organisation’s existing safety systems and processes. 

In the Critical Risk Management method: 

• Critical risks are identified 

• Critical controls are implemented, verified, and monitored 

• Risks are proactively managed to stop incidents before they happen. 

By installing a clear system for the implementation and verification of critical controls, Critical Risk Management adds extra layers of defence for workers at the frontline, protecting them from the potentially catastrophic events an organisation’s other safety measures might miss.  

Here, we provide an overview of Critical Risk Management including the benefits of adopting a targeted approach to fatality prevention. We also outline the five key areas that must be addressed for a best practice Critical Risk Management system, with the complete version available in our resource Five Pillars of Best Practice Critical Risk Management. 

To understand how Critical Risk Management works, it’s important to first recognise what has the potential to cause SIFs within an organisation’s operating environments and what we can do to prevent them.

What Is a Critical Risk? 

A critical risk is a risk with the potential to result in a fatality or life-changing injury. Critical risks also have a high likelihood of leading to an incident if they’re not properly controlled. 

Examples of critical risks include falling from height, moving machinery, vehicles/mobile equipment, electrical hazards, fires, and explosions. 

As many of the same critical risks can be found across industries, Critical Risk Management is applicable to all types of operations, including: 

• Mining 

• Construction 

• Utilities 

• Digital and communications 

• Energy and renewables. 

Critical Risk Management is unique among safety programs as it focuses only on eliminating or reducing critical risks.  

When first implementing Critical Risk Management, all the critical risks in an organisation’s sites, tasks, or processes are identified and assessed.  

As part of this assessment, the necessary critical controls for mitigating or preventing the unwanted outcomes of each critical risk are also identified. These critical controls are then implemented as robust defences to keep workers safe.

What are Critical Controls? 

Critical controls are controls that prevent or mitigate the impacts of a critical risk. To be critical, the absence or failure of the control significantly increases the likelihood of an accident occurring and the potential for serious injury or fatality. A critical control can be a physical barrier, a process, or PPE. 

For a robust Critical Risk Management system, critical controls should be verified as in place and effective before any high-risk work commences. This is vital to confirm they are implemented as designed and operational should an accident occur.  

Verification also enables an informed evaluation of their ongoing effectiveness and the identification of any safety gaps. 

How Does Critical Risk Management Differ From Other Safety Programs?  

Critical Risk Management differs from other safety programs by focusing only on eliminating or reducing the risk of serious injuries, fatalities, and other catastrophic events.  

In the Critical Risk Management method: 

Critical Risks Are Prioritised 

Whereas most safety approaches aim to reduce all types of incidents, including minor slips, trips, and strains, Critical Risk Management targets only the high-consequence critical risks that can kill.  

High-consequence risks typically occur less frequently than minor hazards, however their potential outcomes can be significantly more devastating.  

By prioritising incident volume over potential consequences, safety programs focused on reducing the total number of incidents can overlook the low-frequency, high-consequence risks in an organisation’s operations.  

For example, a construction site could have a low total incident rate but still expose workers to rare but potentially catastrophic hazards such as lifting equipment failure, underground utility strikes, or trench collapse. 

By installing a clear process for identifying and controlling all the critical risks in an organisation, Critical Risk Management focuses attention and resources where the stakes are highest, ensuring no one’s safety is left to chance.  

Critical Controls Are Identified, Implemented, and Verified 

Critical Risk Management uses a robust barrier-based method to analyse critical risk and identify the necessary critical controls for preventing or reducing the impacts of an incident.  

By specifying the necessary critical controls for all relevant critical risks, a Critical Risk Management approach avoids the pitfalls of safety programs that rely on generalised or last-minute risk assessments. 

In these assessments, workers are expected to not only recognise all the critical risks in a task but also select the correct critical controls on the spot. Workers who are unfamiliar with a task and its hazards – or who do not understand the difference between general and critical controls – may miss potentially fatal risks or life-saving controls. 

To ensure workers are always protected, Critical Risk Management integrates a standardised process for selecting the necessary critical controls into day-to-day operations. 

Before commencing work, the required critical controls are specified, implemented, and verified as in place and operational through a simple digital verification process.   

This not only takes the guesswork out of selecting critical controls but also confirms these vital safety defences will work as intended in the event of an incident.   

Risks Are Proactively Managed 

In the Forwood Critical Risk Management approach, the critical control verification process generates a high volume of leading indicator data.  

This data can be used to identify emerging risk hotspots and proactively put measures in place to stop SIFs before they happen. 

In contrast, traditional safety programs typically use lagging indicator data to determine how well an organisation is managing risk. Lagging indicators include Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rates, Lost Time Injury Frequency Rates, the number of reported near misses or number of days without incident. 

Lagging indicators present a retrospective view of risk such as historical trends or where safety measures have previously failed. While often relied upon to track safety performance, lagging indicators lack insight into current levels of risk and whether the necessary critical controls are in place and operational, making them insufficient for forecasting and identifying where SIFs are most likely to occur. 

Instead, Forwood’s Critical Risk Management system leverages the leading indicator data collected during verifications to actively monitor critical control effectiveness, allowing for the real-time detection of safety gaps and changes in an organisation’s critical risk profile.  

Benefits of a Critical Risk Management Approach 

The key benefits of adopting a Critical Risk Management approach include: 

Captures Low-Frequency, High-Consequence Events 

By focusing on the low-frequency, high-consequence events that can lead to SIFs and other catastrophic incidents, Critical Risk Management prevents the failures an organisation’s other safety defences can miss.  

Integrates Risk Management into Operations 

Critical Risk Management embeds into daily operations as a core part of how work gets done, transforming safety into a sustainable, routine practice and improving safety culture. 

Data-Driven Decision Making 

Leading indicator data enables a predictive rather than reactive approach to risk, empowering safety leaders to make strategic, informed decisions. 

Targeted Resource Allocation 

By directly targeting critical risks, organisations can effectively allocate resources towards mitigating the risks that pose the greatest threat to worker safety.  

Improved Efficiency 

In the long term, robust management of critical risks can improve operational efficiency and significantly reduce the disruptions and costs associated with serious incidents. 

Why Critical Risk Management Is Effective for Preventing SIFs 

As a proactive approach to SIF prevention, Critical Risk Management leaves nothing to chance. If there’s a credible risk of fatality, that risk is identified, and controls are put in place to reduce or eliminate it.  

Before starting a high-risk task, workers are told exactly: 

• What can potentially kill them on a site or job 

• What critical controls must be in place to stop them being killed 

• If those controls are in place and working.  

When fully implemented and maintained, a robust Critical Risk Management system can significantly improve safety performance and compliance with regulatory requirements. 

Adopting a best practice approach is key to successfully implementing a sustainable and compliant Critical Risk Management program.    

Below is a quick overview of best practice Critical Risk Management, developed by Forwood through years of real-world experience.  

You can read the complete guide in our resource Five Pillars of Best Practice Critical Risk Management. 

Quick Guide to the 5 Pillars of Best Practice Critical Risk Management

Forwood have developed five pillars of Critical Risk Management best practice that organisations can adopt to ensure a robust and compliant fatality prevention system.

These five pillars are built on Forwood’s 10+ years of in-field experience eliminating fatalities from over 800 worksites around the globe.

With strategies in place to address these areas, organisations are empowered to actively identify emerging safety issues and keep their people safe.

Adhering to these five pillars can also help solve common challenges organisations may face when first implementing Critical Risk Management, such as integration and standardisation of the Critical Risk Management process.

The five pillars of best practice Critical Risk Management are:

Organisations should strive for continuous improvement across all five pillars to maintain a best practice approach.  

For a detailed explanation of best practice Critical Risk Management, download our resource Five Pillars of Best Practice Critical Risk Management. 

It contains a comprehensive guide to the Critical Risk Management method as well as strategies for identifying critical risks, best practice critical control verifications, and overcoming challenges.

How Forwood’s CRM+ Can Streamline Critical Risk Management 

Rather than go it alone, organisations can turn to purpose-built solutions designed to manage and support the Critical Risk Management process from end to end. 

CRM+ is a fully integrated, comprehensive digital solution that streamlines and simplifies the application of Critical Risk Management in complex, high-risk workplaces. More than a software solution, CRM+ comes equipped with a predefined method, content, and change management guidance for fully supported implementation.

You can read the complete guide of Five Pillars of Best Practice Critical Risk Management: