Resilience & Operations
Continuity, operational reliability, readiness, fatigue risk, turnarounds, dependencies and recovery.
My Machine, My Masterpiece: Customizing Compliance in a Standardized World
In the world of ISO 9001 and ISO 55001, “Standardization” is God. We write procedures to ensure that Pump A looks exactly like Pump B, and that Shift X operates exactly like Shift Y. This uniformity…
4 min read · estimated
Rewarding the Delete Key: Why Removing Steps Increases Resilience
In the corporate world, we are addicted to Addition. When a problem occurs, our instinct is to add something. Over time, our Business Continuity Plans (BCP) and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) become bloated monsters. They grow…
4 min read · estimated
The “Sweat Equity” of Safety: Why Outsourcing Maintenance Kills Reliability
In the boardroom, outsourcing maintenance looks like a brilliant math problem. Why pay expensive, full-time staff to turn wrenches when you can hire a contractor on an “as-needed” basis? It shifts fixed costs to variable costs.…
4 min read · estimated
Confessions of an Auditor: I Know You Didn’t Read That 200-Page Plan
I am sitting across the polished boardroom table from you. The air conditioning is humming. The coffee is mediocre. You slide it across the table. The Binder. It is 200 pages thick. Perfectly formatted. Professionally bound.…
4 min read · estimated
Guardians of the Galaxy (Valves): Assigning Avatars to Asset Zones
If you ask a room full of people, “Who is responsible for safety?” everyone raises their hand. If you ask, “Who is responsible for Valve 301-A?” everyone lowers their hand. This is the Diffusion of Responsibility.…
4 min read · estimated
Hacking ISO 22301: Turning a Compliance Burden into a Competitive Advantage
Let’s be honest. When your boss tells you it’s time to get ISO 22301 (Business Continuity) certified, you don’t pump your fist in the air. You groan. You picture endless meetings, binders full of documents nobody…
4 min read · estimated
Broken Windows in the Control Room: How Aesthetic Decay Signals Risk
In 1982, social scientists James Q. Wilson and George Kelling proposed the “Broken Windows Theory.” The premise was simple: If a window in a building is broken and left unrepaired, people walking by will conclude that…
4 min read · estimated
When the Water Rises, the Binder Sinks: Digitizing Resilience for Speed
There is a grim irony in storing your “Disaster Recovery Plan” on paper. Paper is made of wood. It burns. Paper dissolves in water. It rots. Paper is heavy. If your facility is hit by a…
4 min read · estimated
The Psychology of the Label Maker: Low-Tech Tools for High-Performance Ownership
In the age of Digital Twins and AI-driven predictive maintenance, we tend to fetishize high-tech solutions. We spend millions on software to track our assets, yet we often lock the most powerful tool for culture change…
4 min read · estimated
The 5-Year Itch: Keeping Ownership Alive in Long-Term Asset Cycles
In heavy industry, we live our lives in 5-year blocks. The Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) cycle is 5 years. The major turnaround schedule is often 4 or 5 years. The inspection interval for major structural assets…
4 min read · estimated