It is widely accepted that managing risk is an essential part of good business practice. It is also generally understood that a structured and disciplined approach to risk management needs to be adopted to ensure that optimum outcomes are achieved. Read more ..Generative Risk Assessment
Generative Risk Assessment and Vulnerability Analysis
14 MarBusiness Continuity Management
14 Mar
As defined by Standards Australia, Business Continuity Management, HB221:2004, Business Continuity is “the uninterrupted availability of all key resources supporting essential business functions.”
The Standard goes on to say that Business Continuity Management (BCM) provides for the availability of processes and resources in order to ensure the continued achievement of critical objectives.
Business Continuity Institute (BCI) & BS 25999 defines BCM as a process that identifies potential impacts that can threaten an organisation. It provides a framework for building resilience and the capability for an effective response which safeguards the interests of its key stake holders, reputation, brand and value creating activities.
So what does this mean, simply put BCM is “Plan B”.
A by-product of BCM is that it provides a comprehensive understanding of what the business actually does, how it does it and what it needs to do it to continue doing it.
BCM has mainly seen as being in the domain of financial institutions, insurance companies, Telco’s and utilities. But it’s not only these businesses that are impacted by outages or natural disasters.
How would you or your business react during an incident would you be able to maintain your critical business services or would business just stop?
We only need to see what the impacts of the recent natural disasters, i.e. Floods, cyclones and bush fires are having on business and the communities they service.
This is where BCM gives business an advantage as it prepares the business and its management team to quickly respond to unanticipated incidents.
BCM should be conducted as one of the required outcomes of the risk management program (ISO31000, 5.5 Treat Risks).
It must be pointed out that BCM differs from Disaster Recover (DR), as DR’s focus is on IT. IT systems are resources of the business just like staff and equipment and play an important role in the BCM process, but should not be mistaken as the BCM process.
Poor business continuity management practices destroy credibility and leave the organisation exposed.
It is important that a robust BCM Framework within an organisation and covers:
- Business Continuity, ( what will we do and how do we do it)
- Disaster Recovery, (getting IT back up and running)
- Crisis Management (Roles & Responsibilities in managing the incident) &
- Communications Policy, (what do we say to stakeholders, customers and the media)
BCM’s main output is the Business Continuity Plan (BCP), which will bring together:
- All Contingency Plans (what we do);
- Disaster Recovery Plan (IT recovery) and
- Business Resumption Plan (getting back to business as usual)
All Businesses plan and part of the planning process should include a robust BCM process, as we insure against fire and theft, we should also insure in the continuity of customer service. After all, that’s what we are in business for.
Safety Celebration Lunch at the MCC
13 Feb
We often need reminding of our successes as we work our way along the journey to a positive safety culture. One way that the MCC ensure they do this is to hold a celebration lunch at Christmas time in order to thank all the people who have been involved in their safety program over the year. This includes OHS representatives, committee members, managers and contractors who have contributed. Senior managers are also invited as is the CEO to address the group on the day.
This December we had the privilege to present at the lunch as they aim to invite a speaker each year to present on the topic of safety. During the presentation we explored the fact that every organisation needs to pause for a moment and reflect on their successes. The OHS Manager at the MCC, Stephen Allen, was able to clearly delineate the key wins they had achieved during the year. This included:
- The recertification of our Safety Management System against the SafetyMAP Advanced criteria (this was a full system audit against all 125 criteria).
- No reportable incidents for the past 12 months (MCC staff or patrons)
- A very successful internal audit and site inspection program. The audits resulted in just under 80 valuable actions to improve our systems, and the inspections have increased active participation in safety related activities
Participation in this event reminded me how important it is to measure successes using positive lead indicators and then sharing them at a significant event. Perhaps in our annual strategic plans we need to ensure that we build in time to celebrate and thank those that have contributed to our successes.
What processes does your company have in place to support Directors’ Duties?
13 Feb
The Centro Ruling was a landmark case last year in which the Federal Court found that executives and directors of troubled property group Centro breached the Corporations Act by signing off on financial reports that failed to disclose billions of dollars of short-term debt.
In making declarations of contravention, Justice Middleton identified a number of key facts which supported his findings.
A few of these comments included that directors:
- knew or ought to have known that the current liabilities were larger than disclosed, and that the guarantees had been granted;
- failed to properly read, understand and give sufficient attention to the content of the financial reports as they related to current liabilities and the guarantees;
- failed to make enquiry or adequate enquiry of management, the Audit Committee and other members of the Board concerning the apparent deficiencies in the reports;
The case is seen as having major implications for the way company directors do their job.
The head of ASIC, Mr Medcraft, says the ruling clarifies the duties of company directors.
“They can’t just simply delegate to management or rubber-stamp management, they are held to a high standard,” he said.
“I think today’s decision empowers directors, because what it says is, ‘I’m responsible, therefore I want to know what is going on’.”
This points to the importance of 2 things:
- Directors need to ensure that the organisation’s risk management framework and governance framework are very transparent and support them in their oversight roles
- Directors need to have in place processes to personally ensure that the reports they are being provided are accurate
Read here for further details of the case.
Hydration in the workplace
13 Feb
At a recent Downer Rail project presentation, Chris Hooper presented an interesting project regarding hydration in the workplace. Read more from the research article.
The Importance of Situational Awareness
13 Feb
A most recent study published in the Journal of Injury Prevention has shown that the number of people either injured or killed while wearing headphones has tripled in the past six years. The US researchers found that during the six-year period there were 116 cases. Sixteen cases occurred in 2004-05 whilst by 2010-11 that figure had risen to 47.
Most of the incidents involved young people – with an average age of 21 – and 70 per cent of the time the collision was fatal.
“Sixty-eight per cent were male and 67 per cent were under 30 years of age. Sixty-four of the 116 victims (55 per cent) were hit by a train. Eighty-one of the 116 collisions (70 per cent) resulted in death,”
Most of the incidents also occurred in urban areas. The researchers say the reason that most of those injured or killed were young people is because that age group has less traffic experience, is less likely to drive cars and use headphones more frequently. They say distraction and sensory deprivation are the two likely factors.
“The actual sensory deprivation that results from using headphones with electronic devices may be a unique problem in pedestrian incidents, where auditory cues can be more important than visual ones,”
The study however did not take into account near misses or possible suicidal intentions and it covered iPods, MP3 players and other musical devices but did not include mobile phones.
This study has now prompted calls for a government advertising campaign in Australia and the Pedestrian Council of Australia chair Harold Scruby says headphone-related injuries and deaths in Australia is a growing problem.
“We estimate one in 10 people are using some sort of distracting device when they cross the road – be that headphones, using an iPhone, using a mobile phone, texting or looking at a screen of some kind – but certainly the headphones are a very major factor in all this because you can’t hear traffic approaching,”
Though the study focuses on a growing social issue, Safety practitioners nevertheless need to reflect on current practises within their business around pedestrian movements to understand current risk exposure and to formulate or endorse effective controls.
Solutions in the safety space
18 JanAs you may already know, we pride ourselves on the enduring relationships we build with our clients. The habit of our clientele is to turn to us again and again, with the invitation to partner their journey in developing solutions that are targeted to address specific business needs as their businesses grow and change.
More recently, we were asked by one such client to formulate and deliver what we coined, technical safety workshops, for their front line leaders and the managers who support them. The aim was to increase the general understanding of the legislative components of Safety and to explore how they in turn address these requirements in the way they conduct their day to day business.
Ultimately, it was about developing a line of sight for the front line leaders so that they could clearly and unambiguously understand the impact of their role. The program was also designed to demonstrate the helpful processes that the business has to enable the front line leaders to address these obligations through clear and directional leadership.
As is our way, the workshops were undertaken using the adult learning principles that we are renowned for. Practical exercises were well received as indeed was the homework component between each workshop that people were asked to report on, upon their return. And their newly discovered insights were fascinating learning for everyone.
The enduring relationships we enjoy with our clients enable us to explore these contextual solutions. We savour our role in the design and enablement and we welcome such conversations…. perhaps with you too!
Leading Safety at Toll Domestic Forwarding
18 JanTo understand what they needed to do to achieve their safety objective of “No Injuries”, Toll Domestic Forwarding undertook a Safety Culture Survey across a representative sample of locations throughout their businesses earlier this year.
In partnership with Toll Domestic Forwarding the team at Enhance Solutions spoke to around 160 people across 18 sites, including OH&S representatives, drivers, forklift operators and managers.
The questions we asked included “What does safety mean to you?”, “What currently works?”, “What currently doesn’t work” and “What does good safety culture look like, feel like and sound like?”
That information was then used to develop a safety vision and a three year plan for how to achieve the vision. The next extraordinary step that TDF took clearly illustrated their commitment to the goal of ‘No Injuries’ and the development of a strong, positive safety culture. The Divisional Human Resources Manager and the Divisional Director then visited their branches across Australia and New Zealand to give everyone in the business feedback on:
• What we heard you say
• What we have done
• What we are going to do
In total they visited 29 sites in Australia and 23 sites in New Zealand. They ran a total of 90 one hour sessions which touched the lives of 2,200 employees. What an incredible effort.
As a part of the program they have had a series of powerful posters made up which most sites now have on display.
One of the key messages gained as a result of the survey was the need to skill up the leaders in the business. In order to address this Toll DF have committed to a safety leadership program for all front line staff and above. During the latter half of 2011 they had already worked with us to put 164 of their people through leadership programs. What an incredible effort!