Your Volunteers Can Face Multiple Risks That May Impact Their Safety.
This guide explains and identifies 6 steps organisations can exercise in identifying and analysing risk exposures and taking steps to minimise the financial impact of the risks that arise.
Step 1
Understanding these 4 principles
Risk management is an important way to protect your volunteers and organisation. There are 4 main principles to follow for implementing effective risk management:
- Risk Identification
- Risk Analysis
- Risk Evaluation
- Risk Treatment
Step 2
Risk Identification
Identify opportunities to minimise risk by introducing proactive systems and processes which are structured specifically for your organisation.
- What can go wrong? (Hazards)
- How may this eventuate? (Causes)
- What are the outcomes? (Resulting in)
- Who is responsible for the risks? (Owner)
- What is currently being done to manage the risk? (Controls in place)
Step 3
Risk Analysis
After you have identified risks the next step is analysing the possible impact to your organisation. It’s important to understand any financial implications such as your legal liability from injury claims.
- Are you doing what is reasonably expected of you under the circumstances? (Consider existing controls in place)
- Determine consequences and rate how bad it could be if the risk eventuated with existing controls in place.
- Consider how likely it is that the risk will eventuate with existing controls in place. What is the level of risk?
Step 4
Risk Evulation
Review the existing controls in place and make a risk acceptance decision based on:
- Level of risk.
- Risk versus reward/opportunity.
- Ensure your volunteers know their roles and responsibilities. Induct and train them where necessary.
- Develop a risk register, record all potential risks and rank them based on the level of risk.
- Review existing policies and procedures annually.
Step 5
Risk Treatment
Identify opportunities to minimise risk by introducing proactive systems and processes which are structured specifically for your organisation. Determine treatment options that may improve existing controls which can reduce the consequence/likelihood to an acceptable level.
- Try benchmarking with organisations similar to yours.
- Regardless of the measures you have in place, there may be an incident. This can be a learning opportunity and it is a continual process.
- Debrief following the incident.
Step 6
Risk Transfer Through Insurance
Risk can be transferred through an insurance policy, for example a Public and Products Liability policy. It’s important to recognise this should not be viewed as a waiver of your responsibilities regarding the safety and security of your participants, suppliers and members of the public. There is still a requirement for you to manage risk because you have a duty of care including a legal liability to do so.
Tip
The better you manage your risks the less likely you are to have a claim, but mainly it is about creating a safe environment for people to participate in your group’s activities or enjoy your event.
If you have any questions about effective risk management for your Volunteers, speak with LCIS today.