 Risk management is an ongoing process. There is no 'end' to being prepared to deal with incidents that could be detrimental to your company. Once you have your risk management plan in place, the question arises about when you should review and adjust it. Here are the three incidents that, if they occur, should prompt you to review your risk management plan immediately.
When An Accident Occurs This may seem self-evident, but if you are a company where employees are performing physical work where they are more prone to injuries, you should review your plan after every incident. The two things you should be examining are if the event is common and if your company responded correctly. If the incident was isolated, but you could see it reoccurring again, consider creating a protocol to deal with it in the future. When an accident occurs it’s important to evaluate what, why, and how it happened. By looking back to before the incident happened, you’ll often find that there are factors, or risks attributing to the accident that may have been avoidable. In some instances, the result is an “isolated incident,” but in many cases, there are factors that could have helped prevent the issue. A thorough review also shows engagement among all employees of the company (as this generally requires low and high level employees to interact) and as a result the culture of the company is positively impacted. Are you growing or downsizing? You should sit down with your Risk Management Specialist regularly to review your Risk Management Program. In most cases, we’ve found that clients have neglected to have current and relevant documents, processes, and procedures in place that could protect them and also improve the overall success of the company. A growing or downsizing company has inherent risk and without evaluating the risks associated, there is a higher likelihood that an incident could occur. The goal is to be proactive, not reactive. When There Is A Change In The Law There is one other trigger you should also consider, and that is any changes to regulations or laws. You'll want to especially keep your eye on environmental law and worker's compensation laws. You will probably learn about them at the beginning of every year from your attorney or the news, and this would probably be a good time to review your plan. OK, so ask yourself, when is the last time you reviewed your risk plan? To prevent falling behind or being unprotected in the event of an incident, you should have a review of your plan on a regular basis, regardless if there are changes to the law or an accident. A good rule-of-thumb would be to review it every year to make sure it is in-step with any changes to your company. At Culture Insurance we are experts at managing risk. We work with many companies from a variety of industries. We've learned that companies must constantly be mindful of the risks they face and highlight the importance of keeping their risk management plans current. If you are considering a change to your plan, or you like an independent opinion of your risk management plan, we invite you to contact us to learn about our process and how we could partner with you. |