3rd March 2003
Are SMEs really aware of all the risks in their business? Zurich Risk Services launches Risk Review in response to demand from SMEs.
Identifying and understanding the risks that pose the greatest threat to a business is a major challenge, not knowing what they are means that businesses are exposed and can be unprepared to deal with the consequences.
Zurich Risk Services is launching Risk Review, a management review tool, which is designed to identify areas of a business where risk management is required and also evaluate existing practices.
The product’s flexibility means that customers are able to create a tool to identify risks pertinent to their business by selecting relevant modules. The review is carried out on-site by a Zurich risk analyst, who interviews people closest to the issues and carries out a site survey. Following the review the company receives a report for each module, containing a text report covering and assessing present risk management controls and procedures. The review will also provide a graph depicting the key areas of risk faced by the business, and how effectively they are managed and lastly advice on how these risks can be more effectively managed in the future.
Ian Darrah, MD Chapman & Sons, a medium-sized textiles company believed that all the risks to his business had been identified. However the Risk Review carried out on his premises highlighted shortfalls in the safe management of the site; "It highlighted areas we were not necessarily aware of. Safety checks are normally carried out on the works, but the Risk Review illustrated that the business was falling down on some safety and risk management aspects."
Ian McNeil, National Risk Manager at Zurich Risk Services concluded; "The Risk Review is really a starting point for SMEs to manage risk and make sure that they are achieving statutory compliance to legislation such as the Health and Safety at Work Act. It was developed as a result of our customers' increasing awareness of risk and their need to do 'something'."
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