BS31100 – Code of Practice for Risk Management: A Good First Step

The British Standard 31100 – Code of Practice for Risk Management is a good way to introduce risk management practices to your organisation.

The British Standard Institute published BS 31100 for the first time in October 2008. Its objectives are to provide guidance on risk management best practice to companies of all sizes and from all industries. BS31100 is the basis for the proposed international risk management standard, ISO 31000, due out on 30 June 09.

BS 31100 has the advantage of being general enough to be accessible and applicable to all types of business yet concise enough to be readable and manageable. It also puts forward much-needed views on the key benefits of risk management. Risk is an opportunity as much as a threat and risk management is as much about turning these opportunities into competitive advantage as it is about avoiding potential negative outcomes.

The standard has two key sections: Risk Management Framework and Risk Management Process.

The Risk Management Framework relates to Risk Management Strategy, Policy, Culture, Roles and Responsibilities, and other aspects of how a business manages risk. For each of these areas, the standard provides recommendations and guidance in a very structured way, commonly as a bullet point list.

The Risk Management Process (in Clause 4) relates to the well-known steps of risk management implementation, i.e. risk identification, assessment, response, report, and review. Guidance is provided for each of these steps. Appendix B is particularly inspiring, listing 37 risk management tools and techniques applicable to risk identification, assessment or response.

This text is without doubt a great step in the right direction towards more effective organisational risk management. However, in order to fully exploit the recommendations provided, organisations will need to tailor the guidance to their specific needs and design their own action plan to achieve compliance with the standard, in preparation for the upcoming ISO 31000.

The full text of the BS31100 can be bought on the BSI website for £100 +VAT. To purchase, click here.

Alternatively, people can attend a one-day Manigent training course: “Getting started with BS 31100 ” where the full text of the standard will be provided and explained to participants. There will also be practical workshops and interactive sessions during the day.

Training courses are currently scheduled for 5 May, 12 June and 6 July. Alternatively an on-site option is also available. Register now as places are strictly limited. For more information on the training, click here

How compliant are you to BS 31100?

For a FREE online assessment of your compliance to BS31100, click here

BS31100 Benchmarking Group

To learn more about BS31100 and share your experiences with peer organisation, why not join Manigent’s BS31100 Benchmarking group. Find out more click here.

This post was written by Guest Blogger and Manigent Associate , Ariane Chapelle, PhD, Director, ARV Consulting Ltd

Comments

[Project Management Templates]

Thanks for the information. Risk is the probability of occurrence of an event or activity that might have an adverse effect on the project, including on cost, schedule, safety, scope, or quality. It is therefore important to plan for risk management.

[Risk Management Certification]

Thanks for the revigoring article on code of practive for risk management.
Great article !

[omurxw omurxw]

To be honest. How nice! Very good, and we share information! Too amazing things. Thank you for your masterpiece, worth reading. gyyenj gyyenj - supra tk society.