Description
The Bow-Tie method can be considered to be a combination of earlier developed fault tree analysis (FTA) and event tree analysis (ETA) methods. A significant milestone in the history of Bow-Tie was the catastrophic incident on the Piper Alpha platform in 1988, which shook the oil and gas industry. In the early 1990s, the Royal Dutch Shell adopted the BowTie method as part of its methodological toolbox for managing risks. Nowadays, the Bow-Tie method is also used for risk management related to different transport modes such as maritime and aviation.
Effort
High
Complexity
Medium
Method Type
Quantitative
Qualitative
ISO 31000
Risk Identification
Risk Analysis - Causes/Threats
Risk Analysis - Consequences
Prerequisites
Basic Approach
- Determining the main hazard source and the top event.
- Extracting all possible causes that could contribute to the top event.
- Extracting all possible consequences that could result from the occurrence of the top event.
- Determining the escalation and preventive controls for the corresponding causes.
- Determining the mitigation and recovery controls for the corresponding consequences.
- Recommended software: BowTieXP
Advantages
- The main strength of the Bow-Tie is its simplicity
- Overall idea of the possible causes and consequences in one picture
- The Bow-Tie method also makes it possible to explore the robustness of preventive and recovery controls, including escalation factors, which can have potential negative effects on the success of control measures implemented.
Disadvantages
- It may over-simplify complex situations, particularly where quantification is attempted
- It cannot reflects the situation where multiple simultaneous causes can result in specific consequences
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