Abstract
Organizations create procedures as a way of reducing risks by influencing worker behavior but an ineffective procedure may fail to reduce risks and may create new risks. This paper presents a method of pseudo-quantifying those risks as an alternative to the labor intensive conventional computation of risk. The model considers scores for the value and failure likelihood of procedural controls as a surrogate for the consequence and likelihood measures normally associated with risk. Scores were provided by experts in space shuttle processing regarding a selected set of procedures in place for shuttle ground processing in place prior to the Columbia disaster. It was concluded that the effectiveness of some portions of the model were dependent on the professional background of the evaluator. A recommendation is enclosed for further study of the model using a cross-disciplinary team and for using correlations from observed failure rates of procedures during the Columbia investigation as a basis for creating procedure improvement guidelines.