Lack of qualified staff is not the risk
Lack of qualified staff (or iterations thereof) would have to be one of the risks that I see most often in risk registers. I have even had robust discussions with Executives who insist that an inability to attract and retain staff is one of their biggest risks. No, it isn’t. My questions are always the […]
Another entry in the ‘how could this happen’ club
I have been very outspoken on the fact that, although it is a cause, cyber-attack is not the risk. In Brisbane recently, there was a very sobering reminder of this when a large parcel of patients’ medical documents, earmarked for destruction, were lost on a busy Brisbane road. As reported by the ABC, The documents […]
Paladin engages with local government at Australian Local Government Association National General Assembly
Local government representatives across the nation got some valuable risk ‘TLC’ when Paladin Risk Management Services examined their risk challenges and had the honour to host the Australian Local Government Association’s (ALGA’s) networking dinner as a platinum sponsor. Risk Management White Paper Managing Risks within Council Ben Farinazzo – an ambassador for the charity partner […]
The Unknown Known
There are two things I know to be true: you can’t grow as an organisation without taking risk; and you can’t innovate as an organisation without taking risk. A degree of risk is not only healthy for organisations, it is essential. What this means is that we need a robust risk management framework that allows […]
Risk management is not a compliance activity
When consulting to an organisation, it frustrated me when I heard “thanks for developing our risk management framework – now we will pass the audit” or, “we are now compliant with the legislation”. Risk management is not a “tick the box” exercise and it should never be treated as a mere compliance requirement. I have […]
Some more thoughts on Safety Management
I went out on a limb the other day and blogged about zero harm not being achievable. Boy did it trigger significant controversy and opinion with some supporting what I said and others believing zero harm is achievable. I’m glad these blogs generate such strong opinions and discussion because they shine a light on issues […]
Am I vulnerable, under threat, or at risk?
I recently received a request to write a blog to clarify the difference between risk and vulnerability. In a perfect world risk would be looked at holistically and there would be no need for an explanation, but of course, we are still managing risk in silos – not holistically and it is from these silos […]
Zero harm is not achievable
“Do I believe in the concept of Zero Harm? Let’s just say I believe that nothing is impossible” – Dave Collins “What a strange sense of logic to fixate on the absence of something (injury) as a demonstration of the presence of something else (safety). Such a proposition misunderstands the dynamic of risk and being […]
Analysing Strategic Risks
I have previously written on the difference between strategic and operational risks. In that blog I highlighted the difference between the two as shown in the diagram below: I have been thinking recently whether, based on the difference between the two types of risk, we might also need a different approach to the analysis of […]
Do we need a risk matrix? – part 2
In the December 2018 newsletter I asked a simple question – do we need a risk matrix? In that blog I detailed the example of a water corporation that had assessed the risk of: unplanned release (loss of containment) of water from a dam as being Major (Consequence) and a Rare (Likelihood), which meant that, […]
