Guides
Bowtie guides & resources
Plain-language guides to the bowtie method, barrier management, and running risk workshops. New to bowties? Start with What is the bowtie method?.
Concepts
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Escalation Factors in Bowtie Analysis (with Examples)
What escalation factors are in the bowtie method, how they differ from threats, where they belong on the diagram, and how escalation factor barriers keep your main barriers honest.
5 min read -
Bowtie vs HAZOP vs LOPA: When to Use Each Method
A plain-language comparison of HAZOP, LOPA, and bowtie analysis — what question each method answers, when to use it, and how the three methods work together in a major hazard safety case.
11 min read -
Barrier Management Explained
What barrier management is, how barriers are classified, what makes a barrier effective, and how to keep barriers alive through ownership, assurance, and operational health tracking.
10 min read -
AI and Automated Systems in Risk Management: Opportunities, Risks, and Barrier Thinking
How AI and automation reshape operational risk — the opportunities, the failure modes (automation bias, drift, opacity, silent failure), and how to manage growing dependence with bowtie thinking.
9 min read
Practice
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How to Make a Bowtie Diagram in PowerPoint or Excel (and When It Breaks Down)
A practical walkthrough for drawing a bowtie diagram in PowerPoint or Excel — layout, shapes, and colour conventions — plus an honest look at where office tools stop working.
6 min read -
How to Run a Bowtie Workshop (Step by Step)
A facilitator's guide to running a bowtie workshop: who to invite, how to pick the top event, and how to capture threats, barriers, and consequences.
9 min read
Examples
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Bowtie Diagram Examples (Working at Height, Loss of Containment, Cyber)
Three worked bowtie examples — working at height, hydrocarbon loss of containment, and ransomware on OT — to illustrate threats, barriers, and consequences in practice.
11 min read
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