School Trip Risk Assessment

by Stephen McPhie, CA

Partner, RSD Solutions Inc. 

www.rsdsolutions.com 

info@rsdsolutions.com 

 

My daughter brought home a form for me to sign to give her permission to go on a school trip.  The form included that statement that a risk assessment was available upon request.  My initial feeling of comfort that risk had been assessed gave way to wondering what this actually meant.  Was the trip going to be less risky because a standard risk assessment form had been filled out?  Do people filling out the forms truly document, assess and rank all the risks and devise and action plan to eliminate or lessen the risks?  Do they actually visualise and understand the risks?  Or do they just hurriedly slap down a few of the same token things each time to satisfy the beast? 

I can just about remember ancient times when I was a kid and went on school trips. No risk assessment forms were filled out.  Teachers would instinctively know the risks and exercise due caution.  We would be made to walk in a line two abreast with a teacher at the head of the line and another at the back.  Periodic head counts would be made.  We stopped and regrouped before crossing roads.  And so on and so on.  The teachers had instinctive and practical risk awareness – although it was not formalised or policies written or bureaucracies created. 

In fact, across the public sector, the term “risk assessment” is seen and heard everywhere these days.  It seems to be the favourite buzz phrase.  But is it accompanied by a culture of true risk awareness?  It seems that complaints about the heavy burden of bureaucracy and form filling are as common as the term “risk assessment”.  Are such complainers really embracing an effective risk culture? 

Unless there is a fundamental risk culture instilled within an organisation with commitment from the top down and bottom up, forms and bureaucratic prescriptions are useless.  In fact, they may become counterproductive by taking attention away from the real risk issues and instil a false sense of comfort, thus increasing risk. 

The lesson for businesses is that risk management must be a qualitative exercise that is going to be different for each organisation.  Off the shelf solutions can be valuable and have their uses but they must be made to fit the organisation as a tool and not the other way round.  Paying your cash and imposing a system is not a substitute for a proper commitment and culture.