Independent Audit & Investigation, Critical Controls

Does this feel familiar?

You’re carrying accountability in your business for outcomes, not just delivery. And you’re living with a sense of unease that won’t go away.

Your name is attached to decisions, not just recommendations.

You have enough autonomy to act when something doesn’t feel right. And you’re expected to use it.

You know this script and where it can lead. And you know that whatever the outcome, it lands with you.

The most fragile places are usually the ones you don’t want to learn about the hard way. Where missing a signal, or acting too late, could become harm, impact, failure, exposure, interruption, or a headline for all the wrong reasons. Where confidence has to rest on more than paperwork, and the margin for error may be thinner than anyone wants to admit.

What's being relied on?

Incidents rarely feel sudden when you look back closely. They follow predictable patterns that are often starkly visible in hindsight.

The warning signs are there, and as time goes on your suspicions only get louder.

Things appear to be working for others, but you're not convinced they are. What's written down and what actually happens don't always align.

You know from experience where this road can lead.

You need a grounded view of whether things are actually under control.

Do you really understand what happened?

Attention is now firmly on your decisions, and on what they are based on.

Emotions are high, consequences are real and the pressure's on.

Explanations are starting to emerge, but certainty is missing. You don't want this repeating, and stakeholders expect it won't. You know that without a clear, rigorous understanding of what really happened it could.

What matters now is truth, disciplined focus, decisions grounded in reality and stabilisation.

You Already Know What Doesn't Work

Asking people to try harder...

Pre-packaged programmes, imposed before the situation is understood...

Token tick-box exercises or generic audits...

Advisory theatre or work designed to justify a predetermined outcome...

Open-ended engagements that continue for their own sake...

Well-intentioned specialists who arrive with answers before the situation is understood, and leave before clarity is established...

From Unhealthy Unease to Grounded Confidence

The unease you are feeling is not a personal failing. It's a signal.

When things appear to be going well, it’s usually for one of three reasons: through luck, because problems are being unreported for fear of repercussions, or because the system and the people within it are deliberately designed to produce the outcomes you want.

Only one of those is healthy.

Resolving unease means examining what success is built on, and how people behave, particularly when nobody is watching. Then making success deliberate. Predictable. Sustainable.

The way forward is not around discomfort, it is through it. You don’t have to walk that path alone. But you do have to face into it.

Progress rarely comes from doing more. It comes from changing understanding and decision-making by being clear about what needs to be done.

Where Independent Support Makes the Biggest Difference

Operational Reality and Drift

An objective view of how work is actually carried out, and how it may have slowly changed over time.

Causal Chain Integrity

Examining whether warning signs exist across the full pathway to failure, especially upstream where incidents are seeded.

Health of Organisational Controls

Assessing whether the controls relied upon are sufficient, resilient, and effective under real operating conditions.

Capability and Culture

Everyday behaviours, competence, and the human performance conditions that shape them, especially when nobody is watching.

Golden Hour Stabilisation

Preserving people, evidence, and context in the immediate aftermath, before truth is lost or distorted.

Independent Incident Investigation

Objective assessment of what happened, scaled to match seriousness and potential consequences.

Reconstructing the Causal Chain

Reconstructing how controls were weakened, bypassed, or absent across the full system.

Sense-Making Under Scrutiny

Supporting clear thinking and interpretation while under regulatory, board, or workforce pressure.

Calm first. Then Control.

What the first step looks like

We start with a short, structured orientation conversation.

This is a focused discussion, free of charge, designed to clarify what you are dealing with and whether focused support would genuinely add value.

The aim is not to diagnose problems or design solutions, but to answer a small number of important questions that often remain implicit or untested.

By the end you should have enough clarity to decide whether to proceed with some targeted work, pause, or take a different path altogether.

01 Shape sensing: We put form to the situation you are in.

Whether unease is emerging quietly beneath apparently stable performance, or whether something has already happened and confidence has been disrupted.

This matters because different shaped scenarios demand specific responses, and treating them the same is where organisations lose time and traction.
02 Outcome anchoring: We make explicit what needs to be true for this to feel resolved.

Not in terms of activity or assurance, but in terms of confidence, decisions, and what you need to be able to stand behind.

This helps separate what actually matters from what is simply noisy or urgent.
03 Fit and intervention sketching: We assess whether independent support is likely to add real value, and whether Evolution are the right partner to provide it.

Where it is helpful, we outline the kinds of interventions that typically make the biggest difference in situations like yours, without designing or committing to any of them.

The purpose is to give you enough of a map to decide what, if anything, should happen next.

What you gain

Orientation when things feel unclear.

Relief from carrying unease alone.

Decisions grounded in reality, not hope.

Confidence built on evidence, not assertion.

Typical Engagements

ORGANISATIONAL CONTROLS External

Regulator audit of flood risk arrangements

SITUATION

UK Environment Agency scheduled flood risk audit ahead of a planned site visit.

WHY IT MATTERED

Senior management wanted confidence the arrangements would stand up to scrutiny, without relying on luck.

SUPPORT PROVIDED

Independent review of arrangements. Areas of exposure identified. Senior leadership briefed on gaps and closure measures. Processes and procedures rebuilt into a clear, defensible written scheme of control. Presented to regulator.

Regulator awarded highest possible score. Senior manager unease resolved. Site team coached and left with clarity and future-proof ownership.

Flood Risk Bow-Tie Analysis Written Scheme of Control Process Document Operational Procedures Coaching

INCIDENT INVESTIGATION In-House

HV Switching Near Miss Investigation

SITUATION

A routine high-voltage switching exercise resulted in a near miss despite the presence of long-standing Safety Rules intended to prevent it.

WHY IT MATTERED

Scrutiny was immediate. Leadership needed an objective account of what happened, and whether controls were being applied with the rigour depended on.

SUPPORT PROVIDED

Objective review of the near miss and the application of Safety Rules in practice. Delivered a decision-ready briefing and a prioritised set of actions to restore discipline.

Drift from critical verification steps became visible. Written instructions were being relied on where active confirmation was designed to be the safeguard. What needed reinforcing was clear.

Incident Investigation Work Imagined vs Work Done Analysis Evidence Capture Barrier Analysis Human Factors Analysis

Competence and Culture External

Competence framework review for major hazard facility

SITUATION

A key role-holder departure exposed reliance on tacit knowledge. Role coverage and competence were not visible as a single, shared picture, and day-to-day work extended well beyond what job descriptions captured.

WHY IT MATTERED

Leadership needed confidence that critical functions were covered and sustainable through turnover, not dependent on specific individuals remaining in post.

SUPPORT PROVIDED

Role and function mapping across the organisation to reveal true scope, interfaces, and single points of dependency. Role profiles and a competence framework built around critical tasks, with practical assessment criteria and a clear route to strengthen resilience.

Dependency risk became visible. Leadership left with a decision-ready route to improve competence assurance and reduce vulnerability to staff movement.

Role & Function Mapping Critical Task Analysis Competence Framework Design Competence Assessment

ORGANISATIONAL CONTROLS External

Safety Case review of major accident scenarios

SITUATION

It was not clear whether critical hazard scenario controls were adequate and reliable, and that knowledge sat with individuals, not the organisation.

WHY IT MATTERED

Leadership needed defensible evidence that critical controls would hold in the highest consequence scenarios.

SUPPORT PROVIDED

Independent review of controls for the highest consequence scenarios. Assurance activities documented and mapped to make verification, degradation risks and evidence gaps visible. Findings briefed to middle and senior leadership.

Leadership gained a clear, defensible picture of what the plant relied on, where assurance was strong, and where assurance needed strengthening.

Bow Tie Analysis Critical Control Review Assurance Mapping Knowledge Capture Evidence Gap Analysis

If any of these matter to you, it is usually the right moment to talk.

Your Invitation

The first conversation is simply a chance to think out loud, without commitment or consequence.

Where you are now is enough to begin.

[email protected]

When accountability sits with you

Are you sure

Does this feel familiar?

You know this script and where it can lead. And you know that whatever the outcome, it lands with you.

Where do things feel most fragile?

When Unease is Greatest

What's being relied on?

You need a grounded view of whether things are actually under control.

Do you really understand what happened?

What matters now is truth, disciplined focus, decisions grounded in reality and stabilisation.

You Already Know What Doesn't Work

From Unhealthy Unease to Grounded Confidence

Where Independent Support Makes the Biggest Difference

Operational Reality and Drift

Causal Chain Integrity

Health of Organisational Controls

Capability and Culture

Golden Hour Stabilisation

Independent Incident Investigation

Reconstructing the Causal Chain

Sense-Making Under Scrutiny

Calm first. Then Control.

What you gain

Typical Engagements

Regulator audit of flood risk arrangements

HV Switching Near Miss Investigation

Competence framework review for major hazard facility

Safety Case review of major accident scenarios

If any of these matter to you, it is usually the right moment to talk.

Your Invitation

Sometimes the conversation is enough. Sometimes it clarifies the need for deeper work. Either outcome is a valid place to land.