A professional NZ risk management body, says many organisations are years behind the current thinking in the field.
It also says the current VW scandal shows the organisation did not consider the risks when installing software in its vehicles to defeat environmental tests.
RiskNZ will hold a Forum in Wellington on October 13. The event, which is open to the public, will be concentrating on the thinking on the management of risk across a range of central government agencies.
RiskNZ members include Government, local government, industries, utilities, insurance, finance, aviation as well as the traditional high-risk sectors such as oil and gas, and mining.
Chairperson Geraint Bermingham says risk managers identified a lack of workforce skills, cyber threats, a commercial failure, a Wellington earthquake and customer-client privacy as key risks for organisations.
Bermingham was the safety officer for the Dutch salvors, Svitzer BV, during the Rena recovery.
“A proper and disciplined approach to managing risk gives organisations a solid foundation on which to make decisions,” says Bermingham.
“We had seen the situation where an organisation (VW) clearly did not consider the risks when they decided to develop and install software in their diesel cars to defeat the United States environmental tests.
“It is easy to point out an organisation that clearly was not managing risk well. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but it is difficult to go past this large corporate deciding to do such a thing,” he says.
“Risk managers must ensure their organisations take a step back and think first,” says Bermingham
“Some New Zealand organisations are very advanced in their understanding of risk and risk management. However, others have a long way to go while some professions are many years behind the current thinking in the field,” he says.
“There are many lessons from the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes,” says Bermingham.
“Some are simple, such as the need for engineers to have integrity and follow the spirit as well as the letter of the rules, and that cheap mitigations can be valuable – ensuring building masonry is secure.
Other lessons are complex, such as what is an appropriate time to bring old buildings up to new standards,” says Bermingham.
