Built for HSE and WHS professionals on Mac, iPad and iPhone. Map workplace hazards, causes, controls and consequences in one clear risk view.
A risk score tells you how serious a workplace risk may be. A visual risk assessment shows what can cause it, which controls are in place, what could happen next and where protection is weak.
Bowtie diagrams assist you to evidence compliance with regulatory requirements such as managing risk "so far as is reasonably practicable" under WHS legislation, conducting a "suitable and sufficient" assessment under UK law, or documenting the process hazard analysis OSHA requires under its process safety management standard.
They support implementation of ISO 45001, which requires you to define and document the methodology you use to assess OH&S risks.
Bowtie analysis has been used for decades across safety-critical sectors because it shows the relationship between hazards, causes, controls and consequences in a form that is easy to review and explain. Here's how the UK Civil Aviation Authority use it.
The event arising from the hazard sits in the centre. Causes feed into it from the left, with preventive controls shown on each pathway. Consequences flow to the right, with mitigating controls shown against each outcome.
For deeper analysis of critical controls, escalation factors, control independence and effectiveness, see Barrier & Hazard Risk Management Software.
The diagrams can satisfy two very different readers: the site worker who needs a clear toolbox talk, and the regulator or auditor who needs evidence of a systematic, defensible process. ISO/IEC 31010 names it explicitly as a risk assessment technique, and UK HSE guidance cites it as an appropriate method for the safety reports required from major hazard sites.
Multiple failure points — edge protection, fall arrest equipment, training — each with its own control role. A bowtie maps all of them on one page, showing exactly which control gap led to which outcome.
Atmospheric testing, isolation, rescue planning — confined space work has layered, interdependent controls that a single risk score can't represent. A bowtie makes the control chain explicit.
Maintenance schedules, isolation procedures, guarding — mechanical hazards need documented, auditable controls. A bowtie shows inspectors exactly what's in place and what isn't.
Chemical, biological and airborne exposure risks require both engineering and procedural controls. A bowtie distinguishes preventive controls from the mitigation and medical response that follows exposure.
Loss of containment and major hazard events are exactly what the bowtie method was built for — often used alongside HAZOP studies, with UK HSE guidance explicitly citing bow-tie as an appropriate method for upper-tier COMAH safety reports.
Pedestrian-vehicle interaction on site involves exclusion zones, spotters, and traffic management working together. A bowtie shows how each control backs up the others.
BowTie Risk is designed for safety professionals who need to move quickly on-site without sacrificing rigour. The workflow is direct.
Define the specific moment you're analysing — "Fall from height during roof access", "Loss of containment at storage tank", "Vehicle strikes pedestrian in loading bay". Specificity matters here — a precise hazard event produces a useful bowtie; a vague one produces a vague one.
Map the threats feeding into your hazard event, the prevention controls between them, the consequences that follow, and the mitigation controls that address each one. Edit and refine as you go — the full structure is visible and adjustable at every step.
Each risk takes a severity and likelihood rating, and the risk rating is calculated from your own matrix. Record effectiveness, escalation factors and supporting notes against any control. The dashboard and risk register then show every risk event and its detail in one view.
Export your bowtie diagram as a PDF for a full visual record, or export a Detailed Report — all controls and ratings — or a Summary Report for toolbox talks and audits as CSV. The visual format communicates the full risk picture to any audience without translation.
Site work often happens where there's no signal, and incident data is sensitive. Four things follow from that.
Diagrams, risk registers and reports are stored locally on your device. Nothing is transmitted anywhere unless you choose to save or sync it elsewhere, such as iCloud or SharePoint. Relevant if you handle incident data, worker information, or work under strict data handling requirements.
No internet connection is needed at any point. Complete a hazard assessment on a mine site, offshore platform or remote facility, and your data stays on the device whether you're connected or not.
Export the bowtie diagram as a PDF, and Detailed and Summary Reports as CSV. The diagram format can be read by auditors, regulators and executives without a walkthrough.
Run an assessment on iPad on site, review a diagram on iPhone, and build reports on Mac. iCloud sync is available if you want the same data on each device.
Bowtie diagrams support assessment, audit and governance work under the frameworks below.
ISO 45001 requires hazards to be identified and controls applied through the hierarchy of controls. IEC 61882, the standard guiding HAZOP studies, is complementary rather than equivalent: HAZOP identifies deviations and causes, while a bowtie maps the resulting controls and consequences on one page. The same hazard / cause / control / consequence structure reflects the risk-control thinking in NEBOSH and IOSH qualifications, and is consistent with the safety-critical control reporting recommended in IOGP Report 456 for oil and gas operations.
Yes. The app structures hazards, causes, controls and consequences using the bowtie methodology, which ISO/IEC 31010 — the international standard for risk assessment techniques — lists by name as a method supporting ISO 31000. It's widely used in WHS and HSE practice across construction, mining, manufacturing and public sector safety programs, and UK HSE guidance separately cites bow-tie diagrams as an appropriate method for the safety reports required from upper-tier COMAH sites.
Yes. BowTie Risk is a native app for Mac, iPad and iPhone that stores data locally on your device, so you can complete site inspections, hazard assessments and audits in areas with no signal or Wi-Fi, then export once you're back online.
Yes. The bowtie format maps onto the hazard identification and risk-control thinking reflected in NEBOSH and IOSH qualifications, and onto the documented hazard analysis OSHA guidance expects — making it suitable for training, audits and safety cases.
A spreadsheet can record risks, but it can't visually represent the relationship between a hazard, its causes, the controls in place and possible consequences. BowTie Risk renders that relationship as a diagram, which is faster to read, easier to present in safety reviews, and makes it visually obvious where a pathway is defended by only one control.
Risk registers and bowtie diagrams can be exported as CSV and shared across a team, so safety officers, supervisors and consultants can work from the same hazard data even if they're not editing the same device simultaneously.
Yes. The risk matrix editor supports configurable likelihood and consequence dimensions, so you can match your organisation's existing WHS, ISO 31000 or internal risk scoring framework rather than being locked into a fixed scale.
Yes. BowTie Risk lets you record the controls already used by your organisation and add supporting notes, effectiveness information and escalation detail. The visual structure makes it easier to see where a pathway relies mainly on administrative controls or PPE rather than stronger controls.
Built for Mac and iPad, with iPhone as a companion.