“An incident is just the tip of the iceberg, a sign of a much larger problem below the surface.” – Don Brown
Information – and its myriad forms, shapes, and representations – pervades the many landscapes through which the human species negotiates momentum, development, and progress. The latest avatar of information is rendered in digital, wherein information can travel through electronic circuits, inform and enlighten the human race – and arrive at multiple devices/locations simultaneously. The essential nature of structured information, for instance, helps creators to design and fashion new ideas, build banks of specialized knowledge, and facilitate the effective/efficient functioning of processes, procedures, systems, methods, and networks.
In this wide-ranging context, the idea of hazard reporting hinges on the sharing of information that flows from certain classes of events and types of circumstance that could trigger negative incidents. Such reporting is necessary in the modern world because of its primary role in building databases of contemporary and emerging hazards; this form of reporting also enables stakeholders to ideate on safety systems/measures that could address specific hazards in the future.
The contemporary organization could deploy structured illustrations – such as flowcharts – to explore the contours of hazard reporting. This version of diagram enables organizations to envision the details of an actual/perceived hazard, expand the scope of organizational mechanisms/processes to cope with hazards (and similar events), and examine the impact of hazards on performance at different levels of the organization. Flowcharts also empower analysts/strategists to etch the outlines of hazard reporting procedures, thereby reinforcing the concept of safety to higher levels in tactical/operational/strategic contexts. Further, core segments of flowchart could depict the base sequences that could trigger hazards in downstream conditions; this stance allows designers to enhance their guard and re-engineer sections of process in a bid to eliminate the scope of emerging dangers.
A delineation of the primary and secondary causes – that could trigger an adverse situation – remains central to the concept and idea of hazard reporting. Hence, designers could utilize flowcharts to develop such delineation with a view to enhance the awareness of stakeholders. Such a flowchart could emerge in vertical dimensions – as a series of stages arranged in linear fashion. Each stage could include the elements of causation – viewed from the analysts’ perspective. This structure offers diverse flows of information that allow designers and process owners to dig deep – or analyze – the entire range of causation behind hazards. In addition, analysts could establish connections between causes through flowcharts. Such a stance promotes incisive analysis that enriches the quality of hazard reporting in purely functional contexts.
Stakeholders could ideate collectively – through the agency of flowcharts – as a method to qualitatively improve hazard reporting methods/systems. This stance implies such activity represents ongoing sets of ideation/action designed to refine practices that underlie effective reporting mechanisms. For instance, individuals such as process owners, operators, consultants, and observers could input their views onto flowcharts; subsequently the illustration emerges as a tool that encases collective wisdom – and aids efforts to reduce the footprint of hazards and other variety of untoward incidents. The completed document takes shape as an intelligent artefact, one that can reinforce the institutional mechanisms designed to arrest the impact of the unintended and the un-notified. Additionally, editions of flowchart can serve as silos of knowledge that equip organizations with ability to cope with emerging/future hazards.
A focused use of technology elements – and platforms – could operate as a cornerstone of hazard reporting in certain contexts. This stance gains additional validation when we consider the fact that hazard reporting must inform and enrich the public domain, sensitize the average person to the need for such activity, and explore the tech-based aspects that can promote reporting practices. For example, operators of public transportation services could apply modern technology to enable members of the public to report hazards on roadways and railroads. A flowchart can enable designers to create the back-end and front-end of the reporting system, thereby developing an information-driven hazard reporting method or network. Flowcharts remain amenable to alterations, and therefore, the system could undergo tweaks and re-calibration in tune with the emerging demands of the headline topic. Additionally, the use of structured illustrations empowers designers to re-examine the rationale of reporting structures in line with the requirements of reporting projects.
The possible impact of a potentially adverse development – on the performance of processes – could represent a key aspect of successful hazard reporting mechanisms. In this context, designers of reporting formats must include spaces that allow authors to input specific versions of impact that could act to the detriment of process performance. Such a stance implies wide expanse of flowcharts that could contain reporting information. Alternatively, users of flowcharts could utilize abbreviated language to indicate impact of hazards; such flowcharts could comprise part of system that relies on analysts to interpret abbreviations. A compilation of silos of information could help stakeholders build repositories of knowledge that instruct process creators/owners on the means to disconnect adverse events from the performance of a technique/system/process.
Employee training and certification may comprise a significant aspect of hazard reporting methods implemented in the modern workplace. Pursuant to this, contemporary organizations may encourage trainers to utilize the visual medium to delineate different elements of reporting methods, systems, and procedures. The use of visual spaces – such as flowcharts – drives higher levels of information transmission into the minds of employees, and promotes the effective retention of information. Additionally, designers of diagrams could append instances of reporting from real world conditions – to boost efficacy of training and the validation underlying certification programs initiated for the headline objective. Outcomes could include higher levels of employee responsiveness – thus elevating the practice of hazard reporting practiced across organizations.
Identifying hazards – into categories based on impact and severity – is a necessary stage in effective hazard reporting systems and mechanisms. Therefore, architects of reporting mechanisms may use flowcharts to educate readers – and other stakeholders – on the steps undertaken to identify/locate the grade of potential/actual hazards. Content positioned inside visual spaces can transmit information very effectively, hence flowcharts and their native mechanisms allow architects to further this mission of stakeholder education. The creators could undertake to append additional variety of information as a means to enrich the scope/depth of reporting structures and techniques. Subsequently, various grades of response could emerge inside diagrams – thus completing each instance of hazard reporting process/procedure. The entire visual can lead to higher levels of safety in modern work spaces.
Readers can engage with these texts, in part, to develop a better appreciation of applying flowcharts in hazard reporting procedures. These modern versions of connected illustration enable strategists to ideate on different manifestations and implications of modern hazards – and outline their impact on the flow of events and narratives. In addition, flowcharts enable creators to develop concurrent lines of ideation that converge to produce sophisticated paradigms that service the headline objective. Such diagrams also promote the development of intelligent modes of intervention that can reduce the scope of disruption wrought by the unforeseen, the unmediated, and the unintended.
Further to the above, new design thinking could empower analysts to interrogate current conceptions that inhabit the idea of hazard reporting; future versions of flowchart could help designers generate new arenas of dialogue that expand said conceptions, thereby contributing new elements into the realm of reporting, and negotiating with, the random and the unintended.
