The quarter has just ended and the numbers look good. New clients are signing up and business is brisk. Everyone seems pleased: owners, managers, and employees. What could possibly go wrong? If you, as a manager or owner, can’t answer that question, perhaps it is time for a thorough threat and risk assessment.
Identifying potential risks to business growth, as well as the safety and security of employees and assets, is a key component of a plan to bolster security and long-term viability. The absence of one could derail strategy, throwing up unnecessary hurdles that then need to be cleared.
Isn’t it better to be prepared for whatever risks might arise?
Those risks vary from business to business, sector to sector, and a successful threat and risk assessment will identify areas of concern specific to an employer.
“Conducting a company risk assessment can allow an organization to obtain a holistic view of the risks it faces, allowing management to identify these risks and capitalize on opportunities,” writes Molly Corbett for Gen Re.
The Process Starts by Identifying Threats and Risks
The process starts by identifying risk, moving through a series of steps including assessing risk potential and impact. It’s a dialogue that should be ongoing, continually updated.
“Risk assessment allows management to assess the company’s risks and controls and devote resources where needed. Evaluating the financial impact and likelihood of each risk can be helpful when prioritizing the company’s risks,” she writes, adding the “outcome of the process gives management and its employees a better understanding of the company risk profile and the importance of the control environment in mitigating risk.”
Getting an understanding of a company’s risk profile is essential to protecting a company’s future and assets, but also its employees. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety identifies risk assessment as a way of identifying hazards and risk factors that have the potential to cause harm (hazard identification), analyzing and evaluating the risk associated with that hazard (risk analysis, and risk evaluation), and determining appropriate ways to eliminate the hazard, or control the risk when the hazard cannot be eliminated (risk control).
“A risk assessment is a thorough look at your workplace to identify those things, situations, processes … that may cause harm, particularly to people. After identification is made, you analyze and evaluate how likely and severe the risk is. When this determination is made, you can next decide what measures should be in place to effectively eliminate or control the harm from happening,” the centre says.
Threat and Risk Assessment is the Basis of a Robust Security Management Plan
The threat and risk assessment (TRA) experts at Investigative Solutions Network (ISN)advise that a review provides the foundation for a robust security management program.
“Our TRAs focus on risks and vulnerabilities that can impact an organization in terms of business outcomes, as well as the safety and security of employees and assets. ISN’s risk management experts assist our clients in forecasting and mitigating threats and risks through reviews, incident management and security due diligence.”
The ISN assessment is designed to identify threats to the facility and its assets, assess the risks associated with threats in terms of likelihood (probability), impact, vulnerability and consequences and to make recommendations to avoid, reduce, spread, transfer or accept the impact(s) should the threat(s) be carried out.
Threats to the wellbeing of a workplace can also come from incidents of potential workplace violence and domestic situations, and a risk assessment can help management handle such situations.
For more information about ISN’s threat and risk assessments, contact us now.