Supercharging Your EHS/S MS Management Review – Developing a Strategic Risk Management MS

Supercharging Your EHS/S MS Management Review – Developing a Strategic Risk Management MS

Many EHS/S management system experts believe that one of the most important components of an integrated MS is management review. Management review is the time during which the overall strategy of an integrated EHS/S MS is assessed. Said differently, it is a time to see if the MS’s purpose and desired outcomes are being fulfilled. Management review is commonly framed as a performance evaluation activity. While this is correct, there is much more available through management reviews—that is, these are strategic opportunities to impact an organization’s Strategic Risk Management (SRM) process, and possibly start developing an SRM MS.
Enterprise Risk Management and the evolution of Strategic Risk Management are relatively new in the domain of organizational and management science. While strong frameworks for financial risk management have evolved, this is not the case for overall non-financial risks and their management. In particular, there is an absence of a universally accepted management system approach in this arena. Yes, the ISO 31000 standard on risk management goes a long way toward helping, but it is not a management system, per say. Rather, it is intended to augment an existing MS framework.
Consider how you can use your existing EHS/S MS management review process to help your organization’s wider Strategic Risk Management activities, particularly the non-financial activities. For instance, the recently announced Strategic Risk Management model, at the 2011 RIMS conference, can be interjected in an EHS/S management review to impact not only the existing EHS/S MS, but also to use it as a foundation for your organization’s overall Strategic Risk Management activities. The suggested SRM MS would then also provide a platform to evolve your SRM, EHS, and integrated auditing.