Okay, so you have a prioritised list of risks. And you know a bit about them. Now, what can you do to manage or minimise these risks?

There are two main areas you can focus on, and handily, we’ve already identified what they are.

Likelihood and impact

“In taking Rex for a walk, there is a risk that Rex will make me trip and fall which could result in an injury affecting my ability to do anything that requires walking”.

Remember, the event is that I will “trip and fall”

Reducing likelihood

What can I do in advance, or plan for, to reduce the likelihood of me tripping and falling?

The most obvious, is that I could just not go for a walk. The next is that I could go for a walk without Rex. Or I could have someone else take Rex for a walk. Maybe Rex and I can still go for a walk, but I can other actions to reduce the trip and fall risk. Maybe there is a special kind of lead that keeps him away from my feet. Maybe I can just walk much more slowly and be more careful. Maybe I can make sure he’s constantly walking way in front of me. Maybe there are shoes that make it less likely that I trip and fall.

Yes, there will be many, many options. Some of these will be acceptable, some won’t be.

You may have picked this already, but there are already some themes of likelihood management happening here.

• Avoid. We can avoid taking the action that leads to the event. However, typically we want to do things for a good reason. Maybe the benefit of is so important, that simply not going for a walk is not an option. Same goes for not taking Rex for a walk. Avoiding some actions can also introduce new risks.
• Transfer. We can get the benefit of the action without taking the risk. Insurance is a great example of this. So is hiring a dog walker to take Rex out so that I can go for a walk on my own, for my own benefit, and Rex can be taken for a walk for his own benefit. There are catches here though – if the dog walker trips and falls … am I liable?
• Minimise. This is where all of the “we are still doing the thing, but we might do the thing a little differently” fall into place.
• Defer. Is there a way to delay taking the action that could lead to the event. This could mean a cost of delay in terms of reward, or it could mean that we may be in a better position to manage the impact.

 

Reducing Impact

Assuming I will trip and fall, what can I do in advance, or plan for, to reduce the impact here? In this example, there are actually two elements to look at. The first is reducing the severity of the injury – I could wear protective clothing. I could walk only on the grass where the surface will not be so unforgiving if I do fall. The second is reducing the impact of the injury, if it is severe – I could make sure I have crutches ready, or a wheelchair, or I could ensure a back-up plan is in place for someone else to take on the walking related tasks.

 

Don’t overplan

The “in advance” is important here. The point at which the event happens is also the point where I have the most information about that event. Irrespective of what plans or controls I can put in place prior to the event, there will always be additional information available at the time of the event that can change your course of action. As such, there is a point at which there is very little point in doing more.