Riskology

Business Continuity Management is essential for every organisation in order to ensure that your business can survive even in the face of crises or disasters, and a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) is the foundation for any solid business continuity framework. A BIA is the step where you identify the processes that are most critical to your organisation. Often companies won't allocate an adequate amount of time or resources to properly identify these factors and instead jump straight into creating recovery strategies and plans. Start with a BIA, so you're covered. 

Employers are required by law to report certain incidents at work. These specific circumstances are deemed 'notifiable incidents'. While ideally the proper controls have been put in place to prevent incidents from happening in the first place, they do occur. Reporting them to work health and safety regulators can help identify the causes of the incidents and prevent similar incidents from occurring again.

Are you involved in risk management at your organisation? If so, there’s sure to be a great deal of responsibility placed on your shoulders to ensure that not only threats to your organisation are managed, but that your company is positioned to meet its objectives and make informed decisions. Given the breadth of potential risks that might affect your workplace, we have compiled a list of some of the factors you should consider when building and executing your risk management plan.

In the workplace, organisations are required to manage hazards and risks by putting the appropriate control measures in place. Legally, under WHS Regulations, "risks must be controlled by eliminating them so far as reasonably practicable, or if this is not possible, reducing the risks that remain so far as reasonably practicable" (Source: WorkSafe Australia). This means that health and safety managers, or anyone who is responsible for making sure a business is in compliance with these regulations, must determine what is reasonably practicable to protect people from harm.

A critical step to creating a safe and healthy workplace is understanding the nature of risks, the harm that hazards could inflict on your employees and the likelihood of those hazards actually occurring.  When managing workplace health and safety (WHS), this is considered the risk assessment phase and takes place after potential hazards have been identified.