Friday, March 22, 2013

Why risk management is important to your company

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By Ashley Mitchell


Environmental risk is becoming more influential in many companies' decision making every day. Every company has some level of environmental risk, and it is important to identify those risks early on in the development stage of any company. If you are just starting your business, an environmental risk management plan should be one of the first plans you develop. If you are just taking over a business that is already established, make sure you find out what plan they have in place and make any necessary upgrades to guard against environmental risk factors.

The costs associated with ignoring a company's environmental risk can be such that a company may not recover after just one accident. Because of this, it is paramount that you take the time to develop a risk management plan. You can include a section in your company's overall risk management plan that focuses on environmental risks, or you can create a separate plan to address these specific potential risks.

Top 3 ways to decrease you environmental risks

Before you can develop a plan to prevent any kind of risk, you must know what the major risks are. One of the easiest ways to identify your environmental responsibilities is to go directly to the source of the regulations you will be expected to comply with. There are several different government agencies at local, state, and federal levels who all have established regulations that apply to most businesses. By approaching these groups directly, to educate yourself about current and future regulations, you can begin to develop a plan that will help you comply will them.

One resource business owners often overlook when they are developing risk management plans, are their employees. Workers are often the richest source of information when it comes to solutions. As they work day in and day out in the environments where there is potential for environmental risk, their familiarity with the situation gives them valuable insight that is difficult to obtain any other way. Listen to what they have to say and solicit their solutions to your environmental risks. Others who may provide insight are those professionals who work in the field of risk management and have extensive experience creating risk management plans for companies in your industry.

Even business owners with the best of intentions cannot guard their company against every possible risk scenario. For this there is a solution. Just like you carry car insurance to protect you should an accident occur, business owners are strongly advised to investigate an environmental insurance policy. These policies protect your businesses assets should an accident occur. An insurance policy should be part of any environmental risk management plan.




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