Over the past 10 years Australian industry has had to come to terms with the concept of risk management as a tool to replace prescriptive legislation in areas such as Occupational Health & Safety, Environmental Protection and Corporate Governance.

This movement reflects a broad approach towards self-assessment of risks driven by the United Kingdom and Western Europe. Australia was one of the first countries to define the risk management model in a national standard (AS/NZ 4360-1999) shown diagrammatically below.

Whilst the model elements are simple in concept the area contained in the dotted box is open to considerable differences in interpretation as to the scope of the activities required.

RiskChase consultants have been active in the area of risk management for over 20 years and can assist organisations meet their corporate and legislative requirements in a practical manner. Our services cover the following areas -

1. Organisational Risk Assessments

   Organisations have a responsibility to ensure that their operations are carried out in a manner that reduces ongoing losses and minimises the risk of catastrophic loss. Management is also tasked with the responsibility to comply with a maze of legislation. including Trades Practice Act, Occupational Health & Safety and Environmental legislation.

   RiskChase consultants will also determine the most cost effective method of managing such risks and have been responsible for the implementation of risk management programs in a variety of organisations.

   Examples of organisational risk management reviews include:

   • State Government Department
     This review involved the identification of all non-financial risks including property protection, environmental, OHS and legal liability issues. It also covered recommendations to improve the management of risk including statistical information and internal organisational changes.
     
     
   • Power Utility A detailed review of risk across this major electrical distribution utility. The final report recommended changes to structures and enhancements to the existing program. Further work has involved the provision of risk audits.
     
     
   • General cargo port
     A review of OHS, environmental and legal liability issues relating to one of the major ports in Asia. The ongoing project involves the implementation of a complete Risk Management program including training of personnel, preparation of KPI`s and Benchmarking to similar activities in Australia.
   
   

   In all these projects the consultants have worked closely with the existing Risk Manager to ensure that the final report involves the organisation's personnel to achieve the best possible environment for the successful implementation of the recommendations.

   
   
   
2. Safety Risk Assessment
   
   Various state Occupational Health & Safety legislation requires risk assessments to be completed in consultation with employees. RiskChase consultants can facilitate this activity using a variety of methodologies from simple checklists to more complex assessments and identification methodologies such as Hazard & Operability reviews.

   Advantages of external facilitation are -
   · Independent expertise
   · Video or pictorial records of assessments
   · Professional risk assessment formats
   · Records of risk assessments kept offsite as a backup.

   Examples of successful risk identification and assessment contracts include :-
   Manual Handling risk assessment for retail operator
   This project reviewed all significant manual-handling tasks for a major retailer and developed recommendations to improve processes to meet Occupational Health & Safety legislation.
   
   Hazardous Plant risk assessment
   RiskChase have undertaken various designed to assess plant and equipment risks and meet the requirements of the Occupational Health & Safety legislation.
   

   
   
   

3. Job Safety Analysis
   
   How do you prove you have met the broad scope of Occupational Health & Safety legislation to identify and assess risks? In most cases this can be achieved by carrying out process safety reviews commonly called Job Safety Analysis. RiskChase can train and assist your staff in this area.
   
   
   
4. Risk Management Training We can provide a variety of risk management training courses to provide your employees with the skills to meet the current Occupational Health & Safety, environmental and corporate governance legislation. For details of current training courses and multimedia materials go to the training and multimedia page of our website.