19
AUGUST 2026
PASSENGER VESSEL APPLICATIONS
Most risk assessment models focus on identifying what 
could go wrong and putting controls in place to prevent 
negative outcomes. What sets the bowtie apart is that it 
also requires you to work through what happens after an 
incident occurs and whether your mitigations are adequate 
to handle the consequences. For passenger vessel operators, 
that second half is just as critical as the first because when 
members of the public are involved, how well you’ve pre-
pared for the aftermath matters as much as prevention.
This is also a tool that works well across mixed crews. Pas-
senger vessel operations rely heavily on seasonal staff and 
crew members with varying levels of experience. A complet-
ed bowtie is visual, easy to brief, and easy to reference. When 
a crewmember can look at a diagram and see the controls in 
place and potential outcomes, the risk picture is a lot easier 
to understand than a written policy or a checklist.
A completed bowtie also supports regulatory compliance. 
With the Coast Guard continuing its focus on domestic 
passenger vessels, documented risk assessments are be-
coming an expectation rather than an option. Operators 
who can demonstrate a structured approach to risk man-
agement are in a stronger position during inspections and 
incident investigations. A bowtie satisfies that expectation 
in a format that is easy to present and walk through with an 
inspector. Following an incident, it demonstrates that risk 
management was being taken seriously and that both pre-
ventative and reactive measures had been formally assessed.
Furthermore, passenger vessel operators are responsible for 
members of the public who have no maritime training and 
minimal awareness of onboard risks, and the thoroughness 
of a risk assessment process in this context is significant. 
IMPLEMENTATION
The bowtie isn’t the right tool for every risk decision, but for 
your highest-consequence scenarios it’s worth the extra ef-
What sets the bowtie  
apart is that it also  
requires you to work 
through what happens  
after an incident occurs 
and whether your  
mitigations are adequate to 
handle the consequences.
Figure 2

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