You might never have heard about risk management before. Or perhaps you’ve heard it in passing when reviewing your business insurance. You might even have had experience with how it works and how it can help. This article looks at the ins, the outs and everything in between.

What is risk management?
Risk management, simply, is the process of identifying and dealing with potential issues your business could face. In the current world, businesses continue to respond to the ever changing situation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of these issues, or risks, could be very clear to you already while others could be latent or unclear, which is why you’ll likely require our services to ensure they have been identified.

What types of risks could you face?
Every business, whether in the public sector or private, whether small or large, will face risks. They could be operational risks, such as fires, floods or other physical damage. They could be more technical, concerning areas including financial, legal, technological, environmental, political or could concern the people you employ.

Why is it important?
Firstly, it’s about the safety of your staff and members of the public who step foot in or on your business premises. If you’ve overlooked something and disaster strikes, you could be held liable. It doesn’t stop there, though. These risks could jeopardise your whole business; your brand or reputation could suffer; you could experience heavy losses; you could be held personally responsible as director or officer. What’s more, high-quality risk management processes are part and parcel of governing audits and inspections.

If the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) visit your workplace to investigate an accident or in an unannounced inspection and discover a violation of health & safety regulations a “Fee for Intervention” (FFI) will be charged. The total amount charged is based on the length of time taken in the original visit, time taken to identify the breach and complete their regulatory action.

Why else might it be worthwhile?
In essence, these risks could be the difference between an effective, successful business and a closed one. Could you recover from a major financial setback in such a circumstance, for instance? Remarkably, the Health and Safety Executive suggest that for each £1 of insured risk, there is between £8 and £32 in uninsured loss in the aftermath, which includes damage to your brand or reputation, management time, admin costs and more.

What can you do?
You know your business better than anybody. Be proactive about every aspect of it and try to consider every perspective. If you implement something new, think about all the possible outcomes. If you notice several risks, use your experience to prioritise the risks based on possible loss and probability of it occurring.

What can we do?
At Lockyers, we specialise in providing thorough risk management assistance. With our experience, we know what to look for when examining businesses and through a comprehensive audit, we can quickly highlight possible holes in your business and any existing policies and will assist you in ensuring these have been plugged.

In addition to implementing a risk management scheme in your business why not consider FFI insurance to help offset the HSE fees and professional advice.

FFI insurance provides access to an H & S expert to help you through the process.

Cover includes:

1. Up to £25,000 in respect of fees for professional advice, a review of documentation and personal attendance where the HSE have notified you of a subsequent meeting or have served an enforcement notice
2. Up to £25,000 if a FFI is charged
3. If the HSE wish to conduct an “interview under caution” up to £5,000 for HSE expert fee and up to £5,000 for legal fees to represent you

Contact Lockyers now on 01924 278222 to review your business or HSE Fees for Intervention insurance – we’re here to help.