Risk management is designating and then controlling or eliminating the potential risks in a work environment. The uses of managing risk are numerous and exponential. A safe work environment is critical to achieving an organization’s goals and objectives and protecting its people, property, reputation, and bottom line.
Risk management is essential for any company or organization that wants to remain competitive and viable. We can use it to analyze threats and opportunities to a project that helps determine the best way forward. Risk management aims to identify risks and manage them before they have a detrimental effect on a project or the organization.
Risks can be categorized into three types depending on the related cause. The three major types of threats are as follows:
Risk management has evolved since the 1990s. In the 1990s, risk management was a new field, and many companies were unaware of it. They were trying to avoid the risks or make them less severe. Nowadays, they are trying to identify and manage risks early since they understand how important it is.
In the 1990s, most companies had not yet realized that risk management is critical and benefits their company in many ways. It helps maintain a competitive advantage by keeping it from harm. It helps to maintain capital because it reduces losses that can result from disasters and damage from accidents on property. It helps prevent damage to products because there is less chance of being sued due to negligence in risk management. Because of these benefits, many companies have become more interested in risk management.
Risk management is typically applied to organizations and projects but can also apply to individual tasks and actions. As with other management practices, risk management typically appears to work best when the people involved are committed to the process and have a stake in its outcome.
The basic steps of risk management are:
Risk management is a part of governance, which refers to the general rules, practices, and standards that guide a business. Risk management is not just about disaster planning or emergency response. It relates to how risk is considered across an organization. Governance and risk management share a common element in risk assessment for proactive measures for the organization’s best interest and its members.
Benefits of having an effective Risk Management Plan:
1. Reduces the likelihood and severity of a loss.
2. Reduces the risk of loss due to an unintentional error or omission.
3. Reduces the risk of loss due to fraud and abuse by employees and contractors.
4. Reduces risk resulting in civil or criminal penalties, including fines, injunctions, and bans from participating in government programs.
5. Improves asset management and maintenance, resulting in better decision making, improved program performance, and reduced costs of operations and maintenance.
6. Protects the organization from legal liability.
7. Helps focus internal resources on higher-risk areas.
8. Helps distinguish between organizations with risk management plans and those that do not.
9. Helps identify where additional controls are needed.
10. Helps reduce the cost of managing risks
11. Helps ensure compliance with laws, regulations, and contracts
12. Helps document compliance with laws, regulations, and contracts
Risk management is a planned, systematic, and integrated process to identify, analyze, control, and monitor the potential risk exposures of an entity. The basic concepts of risk management are:
Three main areas that help companies to be successful are as follows:-