Riskology

When it comes to workplace health and safety, risk management involves identifying potential hazards, assessing the risks of those hazards and putting appropriate control measures in place to eliminate or reduce the risks. The work doesn’t stop there however. After control measures have been implemented, every workplace has an obligation to do their best to make sure they remain effective and to review them on an ongoing basis.

These days, compliance is critical for every business—and for many, this means audits and inspections must be completed on a regular basis. To be sure you capture all the relevant information, and to make this process as efficient as possible, you need a user-friendly form that doesn’t over complicate things. 

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. This has become even more important as we live through a pandemic crisis.

When the federal budget was delivered last month, like most Australians, we were eager to see what it held for key areas of concern for our industry. From a risk management perspective, we’re pleased to see an emphasis on aged care, as there are some critical risks that need addressing in that area. In addition, there was a welcome focus on some of the factors that were ranked in the top 5 biggest risks facing Australian businesses in 2021 including the threat of natural disasters and the ongoing issues of cybersecurity. But does it go far enough? And are there areas that have been overlooked that should have been a priority? Below we provide an overview of 5 key governance and risk management takeaways from the federal budget.

Many organisations think of compliance as a purely legal practice. While compliance management is the process of making sure your business and employees follow necessary laws, regulations and standards, so there is a strong legal component, it is also very much a behavioural practice. This is because ensuring compliance is often reliant on the cooperation of management and staff. Especially as where, and for some of us how, we work has changed this past year, it's crucial for your staff to understand the key role it plays in your organisation staying compliant and safe.