Guest Post by John Ayers (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

The 21st century, was an era of unprecedented global integration.  During this period, the U.S. became heavily dependent on China for providing low-cost goods to help low and medium waged Americans to make ends meet. COVID-19 unveiled a very serious weakness in the U.S. supply chain with China that was unknown to the general public and most of the legislature.

More than 85% of all imports for N-95 masks, respirators, disposable; and non-disposable face masks, surgical drapes, and surgical towels come from China.  As an example, global trade in medical masks used by doctors and nurses grew from $900 million in January to $9.2 billion in May. China was the source of 92% of the U.S. imports.

How can we mitigate China’s supply chain risk?  This paper presents a strategy to consider in achieving this goal.

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Guest Post by Peter Holtmann (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

This article is the eighth of fourteen parts to our risk management series. The series will be taking a look at the risk management guidelines under the ISO 31000 Standard to help you better understand them and how they relate to your own risk management activities. In doing so, we’ll be walking through the core aspects of the Standard and giving you practical guidance on how to implement it.

In previous articles we’ve looked at the core elements of the risk management framework, as well as the role of leadership and commitment, integration, design, implementation, evaluation and improvement more specifically. In this article, we’ll be moving away from the framework and instead introducing you to the risk management process.

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Guest Post by Malcolm Peart (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

“Too many cooks spoil the broth” goes the Elizabethan poet George Gascoigne’s proverb.  Although only written down in circa 1575 it had probably been around for many years beforehand.  It is still used today and, far from being archaic, it’s become more and more relevant despite mankind’s predilection towards efficiency and effectiveness.  But why?

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Guest Post by Dianna Deeney (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

The current state of the quality profession is affected by shifting business infrastructures and changing definitions of brand quality.

Businesses need to react and change against external pressures like increased frequency of consumer communications, the availability of big data, expanding regulations and standards, and the expectations to innovate quickly. The quality profession is at risk of losing its effectiveness in the overall business operations if it does not proactively change with the business.

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Guest Post by Patrick Ow (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

When the COVID pandemic stuck in March 2020, many organisations struggled with business continuity. Many were caught out without business continuity strategies or plans to overcome the likely business disruption that was brought about by COVID.

Having worked with organisations on their business continuity planning, the key challenge many organisations face in developing their business continuity strategies and plans is the level of business continuity planning and effort required. Many business continuity consultants have adopted the ISO 22301 Business continuity management systems — Requirements approach and have unfortunately over-engineered the approach as a one-size-fits-all.

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Guest Post by Bill Pomfret (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

The five in a 5S workplace organizational and housekeeping methodology refers to five steps – sort, set in order, shine, standardize and sustain. Safety should be the honorary sixth “S.

Many manufacturing facilities have opted to follow the path towards a “5S” workplace organizational and housekeeping methodology as part of continuous improvement or lean manufacturing processes. The term refers to five steps – sort, set in order, shine, standardize and sustain – that are also sometimes known as the five pillars of a visual workplace.

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Guest Post by Peter Holtmann (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

This article is the seventh of fourteen parts to our risk management series. The series will be taking a look at the risk management guidelines under the ISO 31000 Standard to help you better understand them and how they relate to your own risk management activities. In doing so, we’ll be walking through the core aspects of the Standard and giving you practical guidance on how to implement it. [Read more…]

Guest Post by James Kline (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

In CERM Risk Insights #354 I discussed the risk management study of local governments in New Zealand. One of the cases in the study was Environment Canterbury Regional Council. The regional council’s focus and the increasing concerns about environmental risks by both the public and private sector represents a challenge to the common approach used by most of the New Zealand local governments, ISO 31000:2018 and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) more generally. This piece discusses this challenge to ISO 31000:2018 and its implications.

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Guest Post by Malcolm Peart (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

In project management we can’t always be in control of the environment around us.  We can only forecast rather than predict risk and despite our ‘reasonable’ or even ‘best’ efforts to mitigate risk; shit happens and emergencies ensue!  It’s not just physical emergencies but also those related to time and cost; remember overbudget or late projects can create an emergency for shareholders and stakeholders alike.

Maybe it’s because we tend to look at the ‘big risks’ or the ‘top ten’ after some semiquantitative assessment but then fail to consider that risks can change with time as more information becomes available.  Or, maybe it is because only those risks that can be clearly defined and are ‘likely’ are communicated to the eyes and ears on the ground.  Those low probability, high impact risks can tend to slip under any risk radar.

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Guest Post by John Ayers (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

The majority of companies today outsource a major portion (up to 60-70%) of their work scope to subcontractors.  As a result, the subcontractors become a risk to your project because you have no direct control over them. For example, if they start to slip their schedule you cannot direct them to put more assets on the job to pull the schedule back. The other risk that is not obvious is that posed by your subcontractors major vendors or subcontractors. To illustrate this point, this article describes a story that I was personally involved in. 

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