One Crucial Mistake Organisations make with Enterprise Risk Management

One Crucial Mistake Organisations make when Managing Enterprise Risk

The dichotomy of risk management in Aviation is the fact that “when [aircraft] maintenance personnel leave work at the end of their shift, they know that the work they performed will be relied on by crew and passengers for months or years into the future” (Hobbs, 2008, p. 2). So, when we start to think of enterprise risk, who owns what risks in this scenario?

Lets break it down:

(1) We have the risk of aviation maintenance, held by the maintenance crew, and accountable owner the licensed Aircraft Mechanic.

(2) There are the inherent Workplace, Health & Safety Risks, associated with performing aircraft maintenance.

(3) Human Factors risks associated with the maintainer, the trade supervisor, and authorised / licensed mechanic.

Is that all, though? No not at all. When we start to look outside of the core risks, the core activity being performed here. There are transfers of risk now.

What are they?

(4) Pilots take on a level of risk now, by making the final review of maintenance and performing captains acceptance, and choosing to fly the aircraft.

(5) Air Traffic Control, maintain a level of risk management, when coordinating flight paths for aircraft to taxi and fly.

We also have different organisations, matriced with parent organisations, such as prime contractors, sub-contractors, and separate forums which review relevant risks from each.

What is said for the Enterprise then?

The enterprise here, makes up the fundamentals of the maintainer, the WHS, human factors, pilots, air traffics, which culminates into what we would call ‘the enterprise’ in this scenario. So how well, if at all, is the risk managed from an enterprise level then? How are the airworthiness risks managed from end-to-end? The question is a very good one to ask, in any aviation organisation, or any high-risk organisation for that matter. Why? Because, ultimately the enterprise owner, the chief executives and the board, ultimately these people own the enterprise and its risks. Without sufficient visibility of these risks, how well are they being managed?

The crucial thing:

The CEO, and the Board, MUST have visibility of the enterprise risks within their organisations, to understand, eliminate, mitigate, manage, and implement risk management strategies in order to ensure an end-to-end enterprise risk strategy is realised. Without the VISIBILITY, there is no OWNERSHIP, and without ownership, there is no ACCOUNTABILITY. Without accountability, are the risks being managed? It would be a clear assumption, that without VISIBILITY from the start, the rest would not be happening. If it is happening, its not being done very well. So the crucial thing in Enterprise Risk, and doing it well is having a tool in which the risks and their visibility are simplified, with controls implemented, and simplified methods of ensuring visibility are put into place.

Our solution:

Before we throw a sales pitch out there, we have seen this issue countless times, in varying capacities, and complexities, where it is not only done poorly, it really isn’t done at all in some cases.

The major roadblocks include:

· Time spent on reporting

· Stove-piped information between departments

· Separate risk registers, matrices, and spreadsheets which aren’t standardised

· Elevation and communication of risks is done very poorly

· Lack of knowledge around enterprise risk, making it more complex than it needs to be.

The problem statement, in a nutshell is really important to understand before considering implementing a new tool for your organisation, but one in which will undoubtedly lead to reduced time spent reporting, and improved productivity in other areas of efficiency for the enterprise.

Enter now the Critical Alpha Enterprise Risk software, with features to integrate, centralise, and manage enterprise risks for your organisation. We have developed a solution, which provides a holistic, tailorable and adaptable to any organisation. It is a modular solution, ready to implement now, and adaptable according to your needs.

Express interest to find out more about this amazing application and how it can be seamlessly integrated into your organisation.

References:

Hobbs, A. (2008). An overview of human factors in aviation maintenance. Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). ATSB Transport Safety Report. Aviation Research and Analysis, AR-2008-005, Final, Dec. 2008, p. 2.