At a time when companies have to overcome many difficulties linked to the health crisis and anticipate those to come, it might be time to rethink the way risk is approached in general in the company and to review the way processes are managed.
Risks related to production quality, employee health and safety and the company's brand image are everywhere. All of the company's business departments are concerned to ensure the company's performance and competitiveness. If the General Management's mission is to instil the company's strategic vision, it has every interest in closely monitoring the risks inherent in each of the company's activities.
Taking it a step further, isn't COVID19 an opportunity to review certain risky processes (customer complaints, supplier evaluation, etc...) that may have been neglected and to initiate their digital transformation? Finally, it is in the interest of companies to be a role model in environmental terms and achieve net zero carbon, for example. Large groups have set themselves such objectives in the near future. In all these aspects, the QHSE department can provide support.
Risk management at the service of strategy.
The health crisis marked a turning point in the internal management of companies. They had to rethink the organisation of activities to ensure continuity, even remotely. However, companies and decision-makers can go even further in their approach to continuous improvement and post-crisis management. The QHSE department's regulatory and global process expertise can be an asset. Indeed, the QHSE manager has a global vision of all the company's processes through audits, field supervision, process reviews, etc... They can play a role in raising the company's awareness of "risk management", creating a powerful dynamic and making savings.
This is also what ISO 45001 develops, which requires companies to take account of OHS in their internal policy so that all managers, starting with the CEO, are involved and drive the process to involve all employees. The ISO 31000 standard on risk management also looks at the integration of risk management for value creation and preservation. It mentions in particular that :
Managing risk is part of governance and leadership, and is fundamental to how the organization is managed at all levels. It contributes to the improvement of management systems.
One might then ask how risk management impacts all business departments? And how is it a subject for senior management?
Risk management, the pillar of internal dynamics
All of the company's activities can be framed by five key departments, which, as we shall see, have their own decisive role in the management of risks, quality and quality of life at work.
The General Management
It is the person who steers all activities and engages its criminal responsibility. In order to fulfil its role, it requires an overall view of all the company's processes, reporting and statistical data, ideally in real time, in order to respond as quickly as possible to any questions and make the necessary decisions. The key words are control and anticipation. It is also responsible for the company's brand image thanks to a strong CSR culture.
The Human Resources Department
The Human Resources department is responsible for the health and safety of employees. Hiring, monitoring of training and accreditation, monitoring of occupational accidents and illnesses, administrative management and employer branding, it is the department that ensures a calm climate in the company, an optimal quality of working life in order to build loyalty and commitment among the teams, and provides legal security by matching profiles with the activities carried out.
The Financial Affairs Division
The CFO steers the company's economic resources, guiding activities to ensure financial stability and economic development. He analyses projects in order to project the profitability of the investment and limit the financial risk.
The Production Department
The production manager ensures product quality and customer satisfaction. A permanent risk analysis is essential in order to anticipate possible unforeseen events on the production line, to maintain it and to ensure consumer satisfaction.
The QHSE Department
The QHSE department is an expert service that supports the management team. It is there to present the regulations, to advise and to be the privileged interlocutor between the field teams. It is therefore the QHSE director that the whole company will rely on to find out about OHS requirements, but each of the directors has a role to play and the responsibility to maintain the company's brand image.
Common challenges
When we dig deep into the internal services of the company, we realise that the main difficulties encountered and the sources of risk revolve around internal communication, transparency of activities and decision-making. The following difficulties can be identified:
- Internal communication and low visibility of field data
- Multiple sources of information and unreliable quality indicators
- Little follow-up of corrective actions and overlapping actions
- Multiplication of office files and heavy recopying work
- Global vision and blurred sources of savings
The difficulties in making progress in a company, whether in terms of quality, operational control or management, often result from the lack of a tool that centralises all this information. Administrative tasks are time-consuming, the diversity of information sources leads to risks of data loss and communication is not optimised. This can lead to a lack of productivity and unnecessary costs for the company. Having a single risk management tool is therefore obvious and solutions such as BlueKanGo exist to help companies face this challenge. Centralization, data control, real-time notification, the possibilities for risk and performance management are huge in terms of reporting and steering for the general management.
Risk management combined with digital transformation ensures that non-compliance is controlled, productivity is improved and margins are increased. It is by nature at the centre of all internal dynamics and now concerns all employees, at all levels.
Thibaut GILLES
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