The Sherpa Cognitive Verification Method was not designed in a conference room. It was forged by three formative events that forced a confrontation with the limits of compliance-based safety. Each event revealed the same pattern: all paperwork was complete, all procedures were followed, all certifications were current, and the outcome was catastrophic because nobody verified what the worker was actually thinking.
The Electrocution (Early 1990s)
The first event occurred early in Roy Farmer's career. A worker was electrocuted in an incident where all administrative controls were in place. The permits were signed. The procedures were documented. The training was current. The investigation revealed a familiar pattern: the system verified that paperwork existed but could not verify that the worker had cognitively engaged with the specific hazards of the task in the conditions present that day.
At the time, the response followed the standard playbook: retrain, revise the procedure, add a step to the checklist. The same corrective actions that appear in 85% of incident investigations. The event planted a question that would take two more decades to fully answer: what are we actually verifying?
The Crash (1996)
In 1996, a crash killed Roy's father and brother. The event was personal rather than occupational, but it deepened the same question. Systems designed to prevent harm had failed not because the systems were absent but because the gap between documentation and cognition had not been addressed. People who were supposed to be protected were not, and the paperwork that was supposed to protect them was irrelevant at the point where it mattered.
This event shifted the question from professional curiosity to personal mission. The limits of compliance-based systems were no longer abstract. They were measured in people Roy loved.
The Man-Lift Fall (2011)
The third event occurred during the Eagle Ford Shale boom, one of the most dangerous periods in Texas oilfield history. A worker fell from a man-lift. The investigation revealed that every piece of paperwork was complete. The JSA was signed. The pre-task briefing was documented. The worker's certifications were current. The equipment was inspected.
And nobody had asked the worker to walk through how he was going to execute the task.
The form was in the break room. The risk was on the man-lift. The distance between those two locations was the Verification Gap, and no amount of additional paperwork would close it.
The Method
These three events, spanning two decades, established the foundation for the Sherpa Cognitive Verification Method. The method does not ask organizations to care more. It asks them to verify what matters. The forms are signed. The permits are approved. The training is documented.
Now ask: "Walk me through it."