x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Risk! Engineers Talk Governance

Richard Robinson & Gaye Francis

Due Diligence and Risk Engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss governance in an engineering context.Richard & Gaye are co-directors at R2A and have seen the risk business industry become very complex. The OHS/WHS "business", in particular, has turned into an industry, that appears to be costing an awful lot of organisations an awful lot of money for very little result.Richard & Gaye"s point of difference is that they come from the Common Law viewpoint of what would be expected to

technology management

All Episodes

11:38

Being Relevant, Reasoned & Concise - for your Due...

Risk! Engineers Talk Governance ·

2025/05/11

In this episode of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss why effective due diligence arguments need to be relevant, reasoned, and concise. They share their frustrations with overly complex safety documentation that fails to deliver clear, defensible arguments, and explain why safety cases should be brief yet comprehensive enough to stand up to legal scrutiny. Drawing from their extensive experience as expert witnesses an...

en-au

13:31

Target Levels of Risk & Safety - SFAIRP vs ALARP...

Risk! Engineers Talk Governance ·

2025/05/04

In this episode, of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis revisit the distinction between SFAIRP (So Far As Is Reasonably Practicable) and Target Levels of Risk and Safety. They explain how target levels of risk continue to be problematic in engineering despite being legally unsupportable under WHS/OHS legislation and share examples of regulators and engineers still using outdated approaches and discuss why this confusion persists, p...

en-au

16:14

Why Standards are not the Solution

Risk! Engineers Talk Governance ·

2025/04/13

In this episode of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineering experts Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss why Standards are not the solution. They explore why following Standards can be problematic, outlining key issues: 1. Using Standards out of context; 2. There’s no explanation for rationales; 3. They don’t cover all things; and 4. They are often lagging indicators. They share a n...

en-au

15:42

Insurance Criteria: Its history, relevance, and the...

Risk! Engineers Talk Governance ·

2025/04/06

In this episode of "Risk! Engineers Talk Governance," due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss Insurance Criteria and its history and modern relevance, particularly focusing on the Highly Protected Risk (HPR) engineering process. Richard shares his experience training with Factory Mutual in the US and explains how the HPR approach originated in the 1840s with Zacharia Allen, a cotton mill owner who re-engineered his facility to minimise fire risks. When his insurance ...

en-au

14:03

How to Prevent Catastrophic Project Blowouts

Risk! Engineers Talk Governance ·

2025/03/30

In this episode of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss: How to prevent catastrophic project blowouts. They discuss the three key considerations when undertaking project due diligence and preventing catastrophic project blowouts as: Ensure your scope is right, have identified your critical success outcomes are and all key stakeholders understand what the prize is and agree. Undertake a completeness check of threats. ...

en-au

9:27

Difficult Conversations Engineers need to have about...

Risk! Engineers Talk Governance ·

2025/03/23

In this episode of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis this season’s theme of "Difficult Conversations Engineers Need to Have About Risk". Key discussion points include: Risk is multidimensional. Risk covers a big domain that has lead to confusion.There are three different types of risk, but R2A’s focus is typically on safety risk and project risk – downside risk.Commercial industry like to focus on upside, downside risk (risk ...

en-au

15:26

Risk Management & Negligence - Due Diligence...

Risk! Engineers Talk Governance ·

2025/03/16

In this first episode of Season 5 of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis provide an overview of their new booklet "Risk Management and Negligence - Due Diligence Essentials for Engineers". They discuss the importance of engineers to understand their responsibilities around risk management and due diligence, and the need to communicate this effectively to senior decision-makers. The booklet covers: You can’t always be right but...

en-au

10:50

Season 4 Wrap: Due Diligence as a Governance Process,...

Risk! Engineers Talk Governance ·

2024/12/01

In the final episode of Season 4 of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis wrap up the key theme of the season of due diligence as a governance process. They also provide another industry example in Dam Safety, and discuss the relevance of WHS/OHS legislation and the state of prosecutions.Key take-aways include: The due diligence process is a governance process that focuses on high consequence, low likelihood events rather than risk man...

en-au

10:39

Bush Fire Risk, Due Diligence & Mitigation Controls

Risk! Engineers Talk Governance ·

2024/11/24

In this episode of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss due diligence for bushfires.Richard has been involved in advising on bushfire risk and controls since Ash Wednesday in 1984, while both Richard and Gaye as R2A were involved with bushfire assessments post Black Saturday in 2009. Their discussion highlights:Bushfire season is getting longer, and the ability to prepare for it is getting shorter. Volunteer firefighters are ...

en-au

13:15

Due Diligence in the Electrical & Power Industry

Risk! Engineers Talk Governance ·

2024/11/17

In this episode of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss due diligence in the electrical and power industry.They discuss due diligence and risk management considerations in the sector, with examples that focus on renewable energy sources like wind turbines and the potential role of nuclear power in Australia's energy mix. Key points include:The need to carefully assess and document the safety and emergency protocols even for foresee...

en-au

14:14

Obligations for Engineers under WHS/OHS legislation

Risk! Engineers Talk Governance ·

2024/11/10

In this episode of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss the obligations for engineers under the WHS legislation (OHS Act in Victoria) and understanding the importance of their role if things go wrong.They discuss the fact that Work Health and Safety (WHS) legislation is the overarching legislation in Australia that must guide engineering design and decision-making, and their surprise at this lack of awareness and how many still (wr...

en-au

12:01

Due Diligence in Marine Pilotage

Risk! Engineers Talk Governance ·

2024/10/20

In this episode of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss the application of due diligence in the Marine Pilotage industry. They discuss various consulting work they’ve done with Marine Pilots across Australia and New Zealand ports, and summarise the key take-away that the process is no different for pilotage due diligence reviews than any other (industry’s) due diligence review. That is, There needs to be an argument ...

en-au

13:35

Due Diligence Essentials for Engineers - R2A's New...

Risk! Engineers Talk Governance ·

2024/10/13

In this episode of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss the new booklet titled "Due Diligence Essentials for Engineers" being authored by Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis. They talk about the need for the booklet being that Engineers are becoming more involved in the governance process in providing information to boards, directors and senior people. Engineers are ones aware of the critical things that can go wrong and what bo...

en-au

12:05

Laws of Man vs Laws of Nature in the Due Diligence...

Risk! Engineers Talk Governance ·

2024/10/06

In this episode of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss the differences between the "laws of man" and the "laws of nature" in the context of due diligence engineering. Drawing on their experiences as Expert Witnesses in the Australian and NZ judicial systems, the conversation covers the following key points:A brief history of Common Law.The adversarial system in common law, where lawyers argue different sides of a case before ...

en-au

14:48

Aviation Industry & the Application of the Due...

Risk! Engineers Talk Governance ·

2024/09/29

In this episode of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss the application of the due diligence process to the aviation industry. Richard discusses his recent presentation to the Australian Aviation Wildlife Hazard Group where he used the expert witness view: What is it that could have been done and if it had been done, would it have stopped it going wrong? Key take-aways:- Hazards and vulnerabilities in aviation, - Why...

en-au

12:35

AI (Artificial Intelligence), Robots, Controls &...

Risk! Engineers Talk Governance ·

2024/09/22

In this episode, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss controls and liability when it comes to AI and robots. OHS/WHS legislation require achieving the highest level of hazard control that is reasonably practicable. AI/Robots present potential controls to address many safety issues and can be implemented to improve safety. They discuss a number of examples where AI and robots are already enhancing safety and removing people from dangerous tasks, and...

en-au

12:51

The Judicial Need for Reliable Knowledge and to...

Risk! Engineers Talk Governance ·

2024/09/15

In the first episode of Season 4 of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss the judicial need for reliable knowledge and the need to demonstrate causation. They highlight some of their Expert Witness examples to demonstrate how for the courts to come to a decision, they have to not only have an understanding of what went wrong, but if there was something that could have been done that would've prevented the incident. And if this ...

en-au

9:50

Major IT Outage - Criticality & Resilience

Risk! Engineers Talk Governance ·

2024/07/23

In this special Risk! Engineers Talk Governance episode, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss the recent IT outage that affected systems worldwide and the importance of criticality and resilience. Main take-aways include:The outage was predictable and foreseeable. It was a critical incident.You can't gold plate a single system so that it won't fail. The importance of redundancy – ensuring you've got another independent system that doesn't rely on the pri...

en-au

13:03

Wrap of Season 3 - Criticality & Design and Climate...

Risk! Engineers Talk Governance ·

2024/06/09

In the final episode of season three of the Risk! Engineers Talk Governance podcast, due diligence engineers Richard Roberson and Gaye Francis discuss the theme of criticality and design in the context of climate change and sustainability due diligence. They discuss:The consequences of redirecting rivers for irrigation, Why the Victorian Government built the, to now, unused desalination plant, and argue if they should be considering the potential impacts of global warming,Thre...

en-au

12:27

Town Planning Disasters - The need for consquence...

Risk! Engineers Talk Governance ·

2024/06/02

In this episode of the Risk! Engineers Talk Governance podcast, due diligence engineers and Co-Directors at R2A Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis, discuss town planning disasters and the need for consequence planning. This follows Gaye’s recent conference paper at the International Public Works Conference where she detailed the VCAT decision around the major hazard facility and the planning law associated with it. But in this podcast, they reflect on other natural hazards like floo...

en-au

69 results

Similar Podcasts

Lead With AI

Tamara Nall

Linux in the Ham Shack

Black Sparrow Media

Data Engineering Podcast

Tobias Macey

Eye On A.I.

Craig S. Smith

Reflections

Livewire Labs