Evidence shows that there is often a wide disparity between the formal written procedures in an organisation and the ways in which the work is actually carried out. This has major implications for the control of risks and the maintenance of quality.

The paper describes how a culture can be created in which operations staff actively participates in assessing the risks in the system and developing best practices to control these risks. The buy-in provided by this process creates a culture where best practices become the preferred practices.

A comprehensive description of this process, called CARMAN (Consensus-based Approach to Risk Management) is provided, together with a set of case studies illustrating its application.