IOSH’s 2012-2017 strategy is shifting the focus away from ‘safety management’ to ‘risk management’. But Nick Bell explains, perception of ‘risk’ can vary dramatically.
What we consider to be a risk varies considerably from person to person. Ask a new or expectant parent what they worry about and they will give a very different answer to a final year university student.
A health and safety practitioner principally worries about threats to the health, safety and wellbeing of staff and third parties who might be affected by work activities. Senior executives, in contrast, are juggling a plethora of incredibly diverse risks.
Some of those risks can be so significant that, if they are poorly managed, the viability of the whole organisation could be jeopardised. Health and safety is just one piece of the overall risk portfolio. Winning over hearts and minds has to involve understanding another person’s perspective.
In that spirit, it might be useful to start from the premise that senior executives have a slightly different (and perhaps broader) perspective of risk. Another key difference is that senior executives want to take certain risks. Expanding into new markets, taking over another company, tendering for a high profile but demanding contract or developing a new service or product line are examples of risks that some senior executives might actively pursue.
The greater the perceived benefits are, the more likely it is that an organisation will accept the risk. Obviously, some organisations have smaller appetites and the business benefits would have to be compelling, and the risks fairly small, to convince them to step out of their comfort zone.
Senior managers therefore routinely put the organisation’s (and their own) resources and reputation on the line to help their company create and take opportunities to survive and thrive. The limits of how much they are prepared to stake will depend on their ‘risk tolerance’.
The significance of the risks associated to poor health and safety performance can be lost amidst these other risks. We inevitably have to accept and manage some degree of health and safety risk when an organisation pursues business risks and opportunities.
A business wants to manufacture a new product and will purchase a significant amount of new and unfamiliar equipment: we cannot and would not want to prohibit this on the basis that it is introducing or increasing health and safety risks.
Senior executives need help and guidance in ensuring that if their decisions are creating health and safety risks, those risks really are justified and appropriately managed. Risk management is a professional discipline in its own right, but the core principles are the same as health and safety.
These disciplines rely on identifying and evaluating risks and finding proportionate ways of managing them. They also rely on the same soft skills and leadership qualities to get people on board.
Health and safety practitioners are therefore very well equipped to participate in and actively support the wider business risk management processes. Getting involved in those discussions also gives practitioners an unparalleled opportunity to make sure that health and safety is firmly on the agenda when key business decisions are being made.
Nick Bell runs his own risk consultancy. His article, ‘The wider view’, will feature in the October issue of SHP, available at the end of this month.
