From time to time, every company or organization should carry out what is commonly known as a risk assessment. A risk assessment is an exercise carried out at regular intervals that identifies areas that could put assets (people or otherwise) into danger. Once that danger occurs the risk potentially turns into a crisis.

A risk assessment should be carried out on all your assets. An assest can be anything from an aircraft to a person. It is literally anything that you might have within your organization.

What is risk?

Risk is the chance of exposing a potential vulnerability that might have an impact on the company or the individual assets in a certain situation. Each risk should have a level of impact, usually Fair, Medium or High. A high-risk situation would be one that puts the assets in serious danger, such as potential loss of life or destruction of an asset.

In remote areas of areas of conflict Risk Management plays an extremely important role in keeping crisis at bay. Risk management is a preventative measure that is designed to prevent Crisis from happening. Although Risk assessments are carried out it is also highly important to ensure that Crisis Management plans are put in place. Crisis Management plans are executed in the event of a risk being breached.

As you can probably image Technology plays a role in Risk Assessment. For example, in Maritime, just by monitoring weather conditions risk can be measured and assessed on a regular basis to avoid potential crisis should a boat run into a storm. On the ground, the location of a military convoy can be monitored using GPS technology to effectively assess risk levels in terms of potential hijacking or breakdown. In remote locations even a simple breakdown could quickly turn into a crisis situation if the risk is not monitored and managed efficiently.

Risk management assessments can often pave the way for the introduction of GPS technology for people working in remote locations.

In extreme situations Risk Management procedures and technology can save lives. It’s not just about looking for potential threats, it’s ultimately about reducing the chances of something going wrong and preventing a crisis.