Glossary
Clear definitions for the language used across health, safety, critical risk, Human Performance, psychosocial risk, management systems and assurance.
Start a conversationAccountability
Being answerable for decisions, actions or outcomes within an agreed area of responsibility. Effective accountability considers both individual responsibilities and the organisational conditions surrounding performance.
Adaptation
An adjustment people or systems make in response to changing, unexpected or imperfect conditions. Adaptation is a normal part of work and can create both resilience and risk.
Assurance
The process of establishing confidence that risks, controls, systems and requirements are being managed as intended and are effective.
Audit
A systematic process for obtaining and evaluating evidence against defined criteria.
Barrier
Something positioned within a pathway to prevent an unwanted event, detect changing conditions, limit escalation or reduce consequences.
Barrier Analysis
A structured examination of the barriers relied upon to interrupt an unwanted event or serious-harm pathway, including their functions, dependencies, effectiveness and potential failure modes.
Barrier Function
The protective purpose performed by a barrier within an event pathway.
Bowtie Analysis
A visual risk-analysis method showing how threats can lead to an unwanted event and consequences, together with the barriers used to prevent or mitigate that pathway.
Capacity
The resources and capabilities available to help a system respond successfully to expected and unexpected conditions.
Compliance
Meeting an applicable legal, regulatory, organisational, contractual or other requirement.
Consequence
The outcome that may result from an event or exposure.
Consultation
A process of sharing relevant information with workers, giving them a reasonable opportunity to express views and taking those views into account when making decisions affecting their health and safety.
Control
Something that changes the likelihood or consequence of a defined event or exposure.
Control Demand
A condition in which a control is required to perform its protective function.
Control Dependency
Something another control relies upon in order to perform effectively.
Control Effectiveness
The extent to which a control can and does perform its intended function.
Control Failure
A condition where a required control cannot perform its intended function.
Control Failure Mode
A specific way a control can lose or fail to provide its intended function.
Control State
The current condition of a control relative to its required performance.
Control Type
A classification describing what a control physically or functionally is.
Corrective Action
Action taken to address a nonconformity, weakness or other undesirable condition and prevent or reduce recurrence.
Critical Control
A control whose effectiveness is particularly important in preventing or mitigating a defined serious-harm pathway.
Critical Control Management
The systematic identification, definition, implementation, verification, response, learning and assurance of the controls relied upon to prevent or mitigate serious harm.
Critical Control Verification
The gathering and evaluation of evidence to determine whether a critical control satisfies its required performance.
Critical Risk
An event or exposure with credible potential to result in fatal or life-changing harm.
Critical Risk Management
An operating discipline focused on understanding serious-harm pathways and ensuring the controls relied upon to prevent or mitigate them are effective.
Degradation
A reduction in the capability or reliability of a control while some protective function remains.
Design Effectiveness
Whether a control is capable of performing its intended function.
Due Diligence
The active steps taken by organisational decision-makers to understand health and safety matters, risks, resources, processes and performance relevant to their responsibilities.
Effectiveness
The extent to which something achieves its intended purpose or outcome.
Energy Source
The form of energy or harmful agent capable of causing injury or illness.
Error
An action or decision that does not achieve the intended result.
Error Tolerance
The ability of a system to prevent an ordinary human error from immediately producing a serious consequence.
Evidence
Information used to support a conclusion or decision.
Exposure
The circumstances in which a person encounters a hazard or hazardous condition.
Fail-Safe
A design principle in which failure causes, or tends toward, a condition that limits harm rather than increasing it.
Failure Mode
A specific way in which a control, component, process or system can fail to perform its required function.
Fatigue
A state of reduced physical or mental capacity that can affect health and performance.
Field Coaching
A structured leadership interaction at the place of work designed to understand conditions, strengthen decision-making and create learning rather than simply inspect compliance.
Governance
The structures and processes through which an organisation directs, oversees and holds itself accountable for managing risk and performance.
Goal Conflict
A situation in which two or more legitimate objectives compete.
Harm
Physical or psychological injury, illness or other adverse effect on health.
Hazard
A source, situation or condition with the potential to cause harm.
Healthy Work Design
The deliberate design of work to protect health while supporting sustainable and effective performance.
Hierarchy Of Controls
A framework for selecting controls according to how directly they eliminate or minimise risk.
Hindsight Bias
The tendency to see an event as more predictable or obvious after the outcome is known.
Hop
Human & Organisational Performance.
Human Act Control
A specific human action that directly performs a defined control function.
Human Error
A term describing an unintended action, decision or outcome attributed to human performance.
Human Performance
How people interact with tasks, tools, information, environments and organisational conditions to accomplish work.
Incident
An occurrence arising from work that resulted in, or had the potential to result in, injury, illness, damage or other unwanted consequences.
Incident Investigation
A structured process for understanding what happened, the conditions surrounding the event, how controls performed and what can be learned to reduce future risk.
Independence
The extent to which one control can perform its function without relying upon the same components, systems or conditions as another control.
Indicator
A measure used to provide information about the state, performance or change of a system.
ISO 45001
An international standard specifying requirements for an occupational health and safety management system.
ISO 45003
International guidance for managing psychological health and safety at work within an occupational health and safety management system.
ISO 14001
An international standard specifying requirements for an environmental management system.
ISO 9001
An international standard specifying requirements for a quality management system.
Job Control
The degree of appropriate influence a person has over relevant aspects of their work, such as methods, sequence, pace, priorities or decision-making.
Job Demands
The physical, cognitive, emotional, quantitative or operational requirements placed on people through work.
Just Culture
An approach to organisational accountability that considers behaviour, intent, context and system conditions when responding to events.
Key Performance Indicator
A measure selected to provide information about progress or performance against an important objective.
Lagging Indicator
A measure that provides information about something that has already occurred, often an outcome.
Leading Indicator
A measure intended to provide information about activities, conditions or performance before an ultimate outcome occurs.
Learning From Normal Work
The deliberate study of everyday work to understand how people adapt, how success is created, where difficulties exist and where systems can be improved before an incident occurs.
Learning Team
A structured conversation with people familiar with the work to understand how work normally happens, what makes it difficult and what can be improved.
Legal Obligation
A requirement imposed by applicable legislation, regulation or another legally enforceable instrument.
Local Rationality
The principle that people's actions should be understood in the context of the information, goals, expectations and conditions available to them at the time.
Management Of Change
A structured process for identifying and managing risks created or affected by change.
Management Review
A formal evaluation by leadership of whether a management system remains suitable, adequate and effective and what decisions or improvements are required.
Management System
The interconnected policies, processes, responsibilities, controls and practices used by an organisation to achieve defined objectives.
Mental Health
A person's psychological and emotional health.
Mitigation
Action that reduces the severity or consequence of an unwanted event after, or as, it develops.
Near Miss
An event that did not result in the potential adverse consequence but provides information about how that consequence could have occurred.
Nonconformity
Failure to satisfy a defined requirement.
Normal Work
Everyday work as it is routinely performed under real operating conditions.
Object Control
A physical or engineered thing that performs a defined control function.
Operating Effectiveness
Whether a control performs as required under actual operating conditions.
Operational Reality
The conditions, constraints, adaptations and interactions that exist where work is actually performed.
Organisational Justice
The extent to which people experience organisational decisions, processes and interpersonal treatment as fair.
Outcome Bias
The tendency to judge the quality of a decision primarily by the outcome that followed it rather than the information and conditions available when the decision was made.
Performance Requirement
A specific condition that must be satisfied for a control to meet its Performance Standard.
Performance Standard
A clear definition of what a control must achieve to perform its intended function.
Performance-Shaping Condition
A condition that influences how people perform.
Practical Drift
The gradual movement of everyday work away from its original design as people adapt to operational conditions over time.
Preventive Control
A control acting before an unwanted event to stop the pathway from developing.
Psychological Health
The psychological component of a person's overall health.
Psychological Safety
Conditions in which people can contribute, question, disagree, admit uncertainty or raise concerns without interpersonal fear dominating the decision.
Psychosocial Hazard
A work-related condition arising from the design or management of work, working environment, workplace interactions or behaviours that may cause psychological or physical harm.
Psychosocial Risk
The possibility of psychological or physical harm arising from exposure to psychosocial hazards.
Psychosocial Risk Assessment
A structured process for identifying psychosocial hazards, understanding exposure, evaluating risk and determining what controls or improvements are required.
Qualitative Risk Assessment
An assessment using descriptive information and judgement to understand risk rather than relying primarily on numerical estimates.
Quality Of Evidence
The extent to which evidence is relevant, reliable, current and sufficient to support the decision being made.
Recovery
The capacity or action that helps return a system to a safe or functional state following disruption, error or control failure.
Recovery Control
A control designed to protect people, reduce consequences or restore a safer state after an unwanted pathway has developed.
Reliability
The degree to which a control or system can be depended upon to perform its required function when needed.
Resilience
The capacity of a system to respond, monitor, learn, adapt and continue functioning under changing conditions.
Risk
The effect of uncertainty on objectives or, in WHS practice, the possibility and consequence of harm arising from exposure to a hazard or hazardous event.
Risk Assessment
A systematic process for understanding risk to support decisions about controls and priorities.
Risk-Based Assurance
An assurance approach in which depth, frequency, coverage and independence are determined according to risk, reliance and uncertainty.
Risk Owner
The person accountable for ensuring a defined risk is understood and appropriately managed.
Safe Work Method Statement
A document used in Australian construction settings to describe high-risk construction work, associated hazards and risks, and the measures used to control those risks.
Safety-I
An approach commonly associated with understanding and preventing adverse outcomes by studying failure, error and deviation.
Safety-Ii
An approach that complements learning from failure by studying how successful performance is created under variable conditions.
Sensemaking
The process through which people interpret information and conditions to form an understanding of what is happening and decide how to respond.
Serious Harm
Fatal or life-changing injury or illness.
Serious-Harm Pathway
The sequence through which a hazard, event or exposure can develop into fatal or life-changing harm.
Serious Injury Or Fatality
An event or outcome involving, or with credible potential for, fatal or life-changing harm.
System Control
An organisational or technological system that performs or directly enables a defined control function.
System Verification
Verification focused on whether the organisation has designed and enabled the systems, standards and arrangements required for a control to be effective.
Threat
A condition or initiating factor capable of contributing to an unwanted event.
Top Event
The point in a bowtie where control over the hazard has been lost or an unwanted state has been reached, before the final consequences occur.
Traumatic Exposure
Work-related exposure to traumatic events, situations or material capable of affecting psychological or physical health.
Triangulation
The use of multiple evidence sources or methods to strengthen understanding and confidence in a conclusion.
Uncontrolled Exposure
A situation in which a person is exposed to a serious-harm pathway without the required protection being effective.
Uncertainty
The extent to which relevant information, evidence or future conditions are unknown or insufficiently understood.
Variability
Differences in conditions or performance across time, people, equipment, environments or situations.
Verification
The gathering and evaluation of evidence to determine whether a defined requirement is satisfied.
Verification Opportunity
A point at which meaningful evidence can be gathered about the performance or state of a control.
Verifier
A person undertaking a verification activity and evaluating the available evidence against defined requirements.
Weak Control
A control state in which significant vulnerability or uncertainty exists about whether the required protective function can be relied upon.
Weak Signal
A small or incomplete indication that conditions may be changing or vulnerability may be developing.
Wellbeing
A broad concept describing aspects of how people experience and function in their lives and work.
Work As Done
How work is actually accomplished under real operating conditions.
Work As Imagined
How people understand or expect work to occur, particularly when they are removed from the immediate operational context.
Work As Intended
How the organisation intends work to occur through its systems, standards, plans and expectations.
Work As Prescribed
The formal requirements specifying how work should be performed.
Work Verification
Verification focused on whether planning and operating conditions have enabled a required control to be implemented for the work being undertaken.
Workaround
An adaptation used to overcome a difficulty, constraint or mismatch between the formal system and operational reality.
Worker Participation
The involvement of workers in decisions, processes and activities that affect their health, safety and work.
Workload
The demands placed on a person or team relative to the time, resources, capacity and conditions available to perform the work.
Hop
Human & Organisational Performance
Hseq
Health, Safety, Environment and Quality
Critical Risk
Critical RiskCritical ControlCritical Control ManagementCritical Control VerificationBowtie AnalysisBarrier AnalysisPerformance StandardsPerformance RequirementsControl EffectivenessControl StatesControl DemandControl DependenciesVerificationCritical Risk Assurance
Human Performance
Human PerformanceHOPHuman ErrorLocal RationalitySensemakingHindsight BiasOutcome BiasWork as DoneAdaptationVariabilityLearning TeamsSafety-IIResiliencePsychological Safety
Psychosocial Risk
Psychosocial HazardPsychosocial RiskExposureJob DemandsJob ControlWorkloadOrganisational JusticePsychological HealthPsychological SafetyHealthy Work DesignFatigueTraumatic Exposure
Systems & Assurance
Management SystemAuditAssuranceComplianceEffectivenessEvidenceRisk-Based AssuranceManagement of ChangeManagement ReviewCorrective ActionGovernanceDue DiligenceISO 45001ISO 45003ISO 14001ISO 9001
Knowledge
Practical tools for safer, healthier and better work.
Decision Tree · Critical Risk
A practical two-stage method for determining whether something is actually a control and whether that control is genuinely critical.
Practical Guide · Critical Risk
Build verification around evidence rather than generic checklist questions.
Field Tool · Human Performance
A practical set of questions for understanding how work actually happens.
Practical Guide · Psychosocial Risk
A structured approach for moving from psychosocial hazard identification to meaningful action.
Reference Guide
Define critical risks as clear events or exposures rather than broad hazard categories.
Reference Card
A practical reference covering:
Reference Guide
Classify barriers according to the function they perform.
Prevent
SeparationContainmentIntegrityControl & Isolation
Respond
Escalation ControlRecovery & Survival
Checklist
Questions for reviewing whether a bowtie clearly represents the serious-harm pathway and the controls that matter.
Template
A practical framework for defining what a critical control needs to achieve.
Template
Translate a Performance Standard into specific conditions that can be evidenced and verified.
Reference Guide
Understand the different perspectives used to establish control effectiveness.
Reference Card
A common language for control condition:
Field Tool
A simple response sequence for critical-control weakness.
Worksheet
Identify where apparently separate controls rely on:
Reference Guide
Identify credible ways a critical control could become:
Template
Determine assurance according to:
Assessment Tool
Assess Critical Risk Management maturity across the organisation.
Field Tool
Questions for understanding operational reality.
Facilitation Guide
A practical framework for preparing and facilitating Learning Teams.
Facilitation Tool
Plain-language prompts designed to keep Learning Team conversations curious rather than investigative.
Worksheet
Explore the conditions influencing performance across:
Reference Card
Replace questions that close down learning with questions that open it up.
Field Tool
A practical structure for leaders to move beyond inspection and understand the work.
Checklist
Test whether a procedure is designed around the person who needs to use it.
Template
Capture operational learning without reducing it to:
Reference Guide
Plain-language descriptions of common psychosocial hazards and how they may appear in work.
Facilitation Guide
Questions and methods for understanding work directly from the people experiencing it.
Facilitation Tool
Move beyond survey scores to understand what sits behind them.
Assessment Tool
Understand psychosocial exposure through:
Recovery
Designed to move teams from problem identification into practical work redesign.
Practical Guide
Test whether an intervention actually changed the work.
Reference Guide
Build leadership reporting around:
Assessment Tool
Test whether your management system:
Reference Guide
Understand common architecture across:
ISO 9001.
Identify opportunities to integrate common management processes while preserving technical depth.
Facilitation Guide
Move management review beyond presentation of statistics.
Reference Card
Questions for executives and boards.
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