Free Swiss Cheese Model Maker

See it work

Swiss cheese model examples.

Same tool, four requests. Every drawing below is a real render.

What you type

A medication administration bowtie: the hazard is medications used in patient care and the top event is a wrong medication reaching the patient. Show look-alike packaging, interruptions and incorrect patient identification as threats, with scanning, storage, protected rounds, records and identity checks as barriers. Show adverse reaction, ongoing treatment harm and delayed care with observation, rapid response, pharmacist, incident, prescriber and care-plan barriers.

Then tryAdd a dose calculation error threatAdd an allergy alert barrier

Bowtie risk diagram: Medication safeguards

Bowtie risk diagram · CCPS / Energy Institute 2018 · schematex-bowtie

Rather start from a finished drawing? Browse 8 bowtie diagram templates →

The drawing

What the Swiss cheese model is.

The Swiss cheese model explains accidents as failures that pass through several imperfect layers of defence. Each layer can have weaknesses, and harm becomes possible when the relevant weaknesses align.

This page uses a bowtie diagram to make those layers actionable: threats and preventative controls sit before the top event, while consequences and recovery controls sit after it. The model is qualitative, not a probability calculation.

Standard: CCPS / Energy Institute 2018
Also follows: IEC 31010:2019 §B.4.6 · ICAO Doc 9859 · Swiss-cheese lineage (Reason 1990)
Engine: schematex-bowtie
Editable: Double-click text, drag nodes
Export: SVG · PNG · PDF

Bowtie risk diagram: What the Swiss cheese model is

Who uses it

Who uses Swiss cheese models.

Patient-safety teams

Medication and falls reviews that separate prevention from recovery after an error.

Perioperative teams

A shared view of sterile practice, timing checks and postoperative detection.

Safety managers

Layered defences in an operational incident discussed with owners for each barrier.

How it works

How to make a Swiss cheese model in three steps.

Describe it

One paragraph is enough to start.

“A medication administration bowtie: the hazard is medications used in patient care and the top event is a wrong medication reaching the patient. Show look-alike packaging, interruptions and incorrect patient identification as threats, with scanning, storage, protected rounds, records and identity checks as barriers. Show adverse reaction, ongoing treatment harm and delayed care with observation, rapid response, pharmacist, incident, prescriber and care-plan barriers.”