WHO SOULD BE INVOLVED IN DISASTER PLANNING?

Effective planning and response is achieved by coordination, cooperation and the participation of many groups, individuals and the community. A highly effective planning and response

team can be formed between the facility staff and community groups.

A. The Facility Manager : acts as Facility Emergency Management Coordinator; coodinates development of the disaster plan with municipal emergency management officials to make sure that it is compatible with the municipality's Emergency Operations Plan; assigns emergency responsibilities to staff members as required and with regard

to individual capacities and normal service function; conducts drills and initiates needed plan revisions based on drill evaluations; Arranges for the procurement, storage and maintenance of emergency supplies and equipment. Supplies may include necessary medications for residents, and a power generator, of appropriate capacity and fuel to operate it for a 24-hour period; and, supervises periodic safety checks of the physical facility, equipment and vehicles.

B. Facility Professional Staff: Participates in developing the facility's disaster plan and in emergency preparedness in-service training programs; helps occupants develop confidence in their ability to care for themselves; and, Provides leadership during a period of enforced confinement during an emergency.

C. Facility Maintenance Personnel: Inspects the facility for structural safety and report defects; identifies shut off valves and switches for gas, oil, water and electricity; provides for emergency operation of the ventilating system; maintains an inventory of tools and equipment; and, advises management of hazardous and protective areas in facility, and where the available emergency equipment and alternate power sources are located.

D. Facility Food Service Personnel: Maintains adequate supplies of non-perishable food and water for emergency use. Prepares a list of needed food supplies and a reliable source for supplies that can make them available under emergency or disaster conditions; and, trains in using mass feeding practices under emergency conditions.

E. Community: The community, which involves the municipal government, emergency medical services, law enforcement agencies and fire departments, is a valuable source for warning, resources, information and other related activities.

source: http://www.tredyffrin.org/pdf/emergency/disaster-pp-guide.pdf

Three Levels of Operational Risk Management

Three Levels of ORM

In Depth

In depth risk management is used before a project is implemented, when there is plenty of time to plan and prepare. Examples of in depth methods include training, drafting instructions and requirements, and acquiring personal protective equipment.

Deliberate

Deliberate risk management is used at routine periods through the implementation of a project or process. Examples include quality assurance, on-the-job training, safety briefs, performance reviews, and safety checks.

Time Critical

Time critical risk management is used during operational exercises or execution of tasks. It is defined as the effective use of all available resources by individuals, crews, and teams to safely and effectively accomplish the mission or task using risk management concepts when time and resources are limited. Examples of tools used includes execution check-lists and change management. This requires a high degree of situational awareness. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operational_risk_management

The Biggest Geopolitical Risks of 2012

by Jared Wade on January 3, 2012 

The Eurasia Group has unveiled its Top Risks of 2012 list of greatest geopolitical threats the world will face in the next 12 months. Each year, this is an indispensable resource for anyone tasked with managing risk or just interested in global affairs.

Once again this year, their top ten list is a must read, but I personally find their “red herrings” list to be even more fascinating — and unexpectedly entertaining.

In addition to Top Risks, Bremmer and Gordon identify four Red Herrings, issues that despite the headlines, Eurasia Group believes will not be sources of geopolitical instability in 2012.

2012 political transitions – In addition to elections this year in Mexico, Venezuela, Kenya, Taiwan and (maybe) Egypt, 2012 will see political transitions in the US, China, Russia, and France, countries that together represent about nearly half of global GDP and four-fifths of the UN security council. Yet there is surprising little at stake here for geopolitics and the global economy. Whatever risks come with these outcomes will arrive in 2013 or beyond.

Eurozone breakup – probably the single most overrated risk of 2012, the political will to maintain the eurozone remains strong among all the major political parties in the core eurozone states, almost across the board in the European periphery, and among eurocrats in the ever-growing European bureaucracy. Further, there is no effective political mechanism for a eurozone breakup.

China’s hard landing – There are signs of overheated growth in China, but there’s no chance that the government will fail to pull out every stop to prevent a meltdown—or even a serious bump—especially in the middle of a major political transition.

Mayan apocalypse — Just isn’t happening. And if it does, well, sorry.

You heard it here first: the world will not end in 2012.

Source: http://www.riskmanagementmonitor.com/

REMEMBER:

If there is no uncertainty, you do not have a decision; you have an algorithm--a set of steps or a recipe that is followed to bring about a fixed result.

Risks to the Ocean-Dependent Economy

by Jared Wade on March 19, 2012 

When the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and caused the biggest oil spill in U.S. history, many on the Gulf Coast were deeply concerned that the local seafood industry would be devastate for years to come. Fortunately, the extent of the damage was not as bad as initially feared and revenues for local fisherman were able to bounce back in a much shorter timeframe.
Other areas have faced threats from less catastrophic causes. In Maine, for instance, lobstermen started to fear that the crustaceans on which generations of their families’ livelihoods had been based may become endangered. Bluefin tuna, too, started to become increasingly scarce. As I wrote about a few years ago, however, while the lobster industry took action to ensure the species would remain populous enough to keep fishing for decades to come, the prospects for the bluefin remain bleak.
For these individual areas and the fisherman who rely on these species, the impact of the ocean’s health has presented a very real threat to their careers. And increasingly, it seems that the sectors of the economy that depend on the seas remain vulnerable.
Click on the link below to see an infographic from the Global Partnership for Oceans that shows the degree to which the economy and society rely on the ocean.

Source http://www.riskmanagementmonitor.com/

FORMING A HEALTH AND SAFETY RISK ASSESSMENT

A health and safety risk assessment is a graphed equation that takes in as many variables by numbers in order to create the most accurate data and forecast of possible risks that can occur. A health and safety risk assessment provides safety assessment in a place of work. Preventative measures are customized per business as a health and safety risk assessment is completed thus giving the data needed to all the inquiries. Statistical data of accidents in the workplace are all factors, these factors can be anything such as placement of objects, machinery, and even something as inconspicuous as mopping the floor. The possibility of injury in the work environment is always evident but by taking in as much data as possible and forming a proper assessment form of all the risks can assist the business to avoided work environment related injuries and possibly save the company from workers compensation or work related injury lawsuit.

Health and safety risk assessments are usually processed by using an assessment tool that has already been setup to accept variables and this software tool template is designed to assist businesses in their assessment. Workforce safety is crucial as businesses have to be able to show their assessment to certain government and insurance agencies especially if a complaint or suit is filed against the business. Certain workplaces may have more hazards for example a factory that includes heavy machinery that poses several dangers in the workplace. These hazards will be variables in the health and safety risk assessment form of the work environment. Risk will always be present in our everyday work environment but knowing your risk assessment can help you properly prepare for any issues that may arise.

source: http://www.whatisariskassessment.net/forming-a-health-and-safety-risk-assessment/#more-145

OPERATIONAL RISK MANAGEMENT

Operational Risk Management (ORM) is a continuous, systematic process of identifying and controlling risks in all activities according to a set of pre-conceived parameters by applying appropriate management policies and procedures. This process includes detecting hazards, assessing risks, and implementing and monitoring risk controls to support effective, risk-based decision-making.  

ASSESSING  THE RISK


When assessing risk, it is extremely dangerous to use a simplified approach to decision making, because the fact is that risk must always be analyzed on an individual basis. While risk tolerance and risk mitigation are always factors in analyzing risk within the decision making process.

RISK MANAGEMENT CHART-FEMALE EXECUTIVE DRAWING

Managing Strategic Risk

Managing Strategic Risk: It All Starts With a Plan

by Jared Wade on December 1, 2011 

There are many ways a company’s long-term strategy can fail.

The problem may be execution. Or perhaps continually shifting the plan aka moving the goal posts (*cough* … Hewlett-Packard). Another common downfall is expanding too fast (*cough* … Toyota). Sometimes companies fall victim to their own success, deluding themselves into believing they can thrive in areas in which they aren’t suited to succeed (*cough* … Bank of America buying Countrywide) or emerging areas they simply don’t understand (*cough* … AIG insuring mortgage-backed securities). Or companies can fail via the inverse: resting on their laurels and failing to change as the world around the does (*cough* … Blockbuster).

In short, there are eight millions ways to die.

There may only be one, however, that predestines a company to fail: starting with a flawed plan. Or, to play on the cliché: failing to plan may be planning to fail — but planning poorly might be just as bad.

To that end, Forbes has compiled a “top ten ways strategic plans fail.” Head over there for the full list but these are the five I consider to be the most insightful lessons

Source: http://www.riskmanagementmonitor.com/

Risk Exploitation in Business

In  the process of doing  business, it is inevitable that you  will be faced  with
unexpected and often unpleasant surprises that threaten to undercut and even destroy your
business.

That is the essence of risk and how you respond to it will determine whether
you survive and succeed. There are five ways in which  you may can
make use of risk to gain an advantage over your competitors.

1. Access to better and more timely information about events as they occur and their consequences, allowing you to tailor a superior response to the situation.

2. Speed with which you respond to  the changed  circumstances in  terms of modifying  how and  where you  do business; by acting faster than your competitors, you may be able to turn a threat into an opportunity.

3. Past experience with similar crises in the past and your knowledge of how the market was affected by those crises, enabling you to respond  better than  other firms in the business.

4. Having resources – financial and  personnel – that allow you to ride out the rough periods that  follow a crisis better than the rest of the sector.

5. Financial and operating flexibility; being able to change your technological base, operations or financial structure in response to a changed environment can provide a firm with a significant advantage in an uncertain environment.

The key with all of these advantages is that you emerge from the crises stronger, from a competitive position, than you were prior to the crisis.

http://people.stern.nyu.edu/adamodar/pdfiles/papers/strategicrisk.pdf

1.      Decision making is the process of sufficiently reducing uncertainty and doubt   about alternatives to allow a reasonable choice to be made from among them.

This definition stresses the information-gathering function of decision making. It should be noted here that uncertainty is reduced rather than eliminated. Very few decisions are made with absolute certainty because complete knowledge about all the alternatives is seldom possible. Thus, every decision involves a certain amount of risk. 

5 Most Dangerous countries to work

Iraq

This country is the world’s most dangerous. Confusion, chaos, and improvised explosive devices abound in this war-torn country. Even years of U.S. military intervention couldn’t tame the restless insurgents. Kidnappings and murder are reported with troubling frequency. Since 2003, two million Iraqis have escaped to neighboring countries and nearly two million more in Iraq remain internally displaced. Depleted uranium used as armor-piercing rounds will poison Iraqi civilians and anyone else coming into contact with them for decades.

Colombia

The drug capital of the world, areas in this country are truly lawless. Kidnapping is the top worry when working in Colombia, which is home to around 2,500 kidnappings a year — with about 200 of the victims eventually being murdered. Ranked fourth in the world for murders with almost 67 murders per 100,000 people in 2006, the common targets are mayors, with dozens of them being slaughtered each year. And who can forget cocaine? Colombia supplies 75% of the world’s supply and, thanks to the drug cartels, paramilitary groups have waged war on the government in a vicious conflict with no end in sight.

Somalia

When a country uses chemical warfare on its own people, you know you want to skip working there. Not only is Somalia a failed state known for anarchy, corruption and famine, but it also has so many pirates that people are warned not to even sail near the Horn of Africa. Even the Marines don’t mess around here.

Afghanistan

Another war-torn country, Afghanistan has always been in the top five. Between the automatic-weapon armed locals to the displaced insurgency fighters, there is not an oasis of peace in the country. Security forces protect workers, but the increasing numbers of foreign workers also mean increased attacks.

Pakistan

With a shaky government barely in control and Taliban militants attacking willy-nilly, this country makes almost every list for most dangerous. Though a weak government is better than no government at all, a sudden coup could spell disaster for foreign workers.

 Source: http://www.riskmanagementmonitor.com/

Business Failure Regardless Perseverance

“Many entrepreneurs and business publications claim that perseverance is one of the main requirements for a small or medium business owner who wants to be successful in today's complex business world.
“However, try to employ perseverance in the right way - be determined to fix the profit erosion holes in your businesses first (i.e. to profit from your business risks) and then be decisive to profit from your business opportunities as well!” - Michiel Jonker
An example of this is a business owner trying to persevere while sailing a sinking boat full of holes. (i.e. threats/risks in- and outside his business eating away his profits).
His determination will NOT help him at all. He needs to fix the leakages (i.e. causes of profit loss) first, or his boat (business) will go down in any case!

• Risk Management Specialists.  Unique risk leadership is required from those in specialist risk management advisory or governance roles.  This is not only through their daily work, but also by remaining abreast of the latest management thinking and practice.  They need to show intellectual leadership, including the ability to challenge risk standards and usual practice.

How do you plan your risk management?

There are many approaches to project risk management planning, but essentially the risk management plan identifies the risks that can be defined at any stage of the project life cycle. The RM Plan evaluates identified risks and outlines mitigation actions. A risk management plan should be periodically updated and expanded throughout the life cycle of the project, as the project increases in complexity and risks become more defined. Risk management ideally takes a project thought the phases of risk identification, risk assessment and risk resolution. With the advancement in project management studies and techniques, risk management has taken a main place in the project life cycle; in most cases at the outset of the project itself.

The Risk Management Plan ideally supports the following sections:

Purpose

In this section, present a clear, concise statement of the purpose of the Risk Management (RM) plan. Include the name, and if applicable, code name of the project, the name(s) of the associated system(s), and the identity of the organization that is responsible for writing and maintaining the RM plan.

Background

This section briefly describes the history of the project and the environment in which the project will operate. (This information may be included through reference to other project documents.) Include the following information:

• Identification of other systems with which the subject system interfaces
• Contractor support for development and maintenance
• System architecture, operating system and application languages
• Development methodology and tools used for the project

Scope Statement

The scope statement is a very important part of the RM plan. It is an agreement among the project team, the project sponsor and key stakeholders. It represents a common understanding of the project for the purpose of facilitating communication among the stakeholders and for setting authorities and limits for the project manager and team. Purposes of the scope statement includes relating the project to business objectives, and defining the boundaries of the project in several dimensions including approach, deliverables, milestones, and budget.

Policy

You should include in this section policy decisions that affect how RM is conducted. This section also references documents to support the RM process. Include any project or standards documents that are referenced in the body of the plan or that have been used in the development of the document.

Approach

In this section, describe the project’s approach to risk management. Include the sections on identification, analysis, planning, tracking, control, and communications. Discuss the project’s risk mitigation strategies in general and also detail specific strategies that will have a significant impact across the project.

source: http://www.brighthub.com/office/project-management/articles/5141.aspx

Drivers of Key Risks

                                       Example of the Drivers of Key Risks


 source:

RISK COMMUNICATION

Seven cardinal rules for the practice of risk communication

(as first expressed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and several of the field's founders^[18])

• Accept and involve the public/other consumers as legitimate partners (e.g. stakeholders).
• Plan carefully and evaluate your efforts with a focus on your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT).
• Listen to the stakeholders specific concerns.
• Be honest, frank, and open.
• Coordinate and collaborate with other credible sources.
• Meet the needs of the media.
• Speak clearly and with compassion.