Risk Management
Risk management is all about identifying, assessing, and prioritizing potential risks to minimize their impact. It’s crucial because it helps you anticipate potential problems before they arise, ensuring you’re prepared to handle any challenges effectively. By implementing effective risk management strategies, you can protect your club and NAITSA Campus Clubs from unexpected disruptions, financial losses, and reputational damage, enabling success for everyone!
RISK ASSESSMENT
What is a risk?
A risk is something that might go wrong and cause problems or harm. It could be anything that can disrupt plans, like an accident, a mistake, or an unexpected event. In a risk assessment, identifying risks helps us to plan how to prevent or handle these issues if they happen.
Risks are not only limited to physical injury risks; such as slips, trips and falls. There are many operational risks that may factor into the activity. These can include anything from event logistics, weather factors, participation number, location hazards, alcohol, and transportation.
When is a risk assessment required?
All club activities & events require assessment of possible risks, and a plan to reduce risk. This risk assessment is captured in your Event Submission and the complexity of the assessment is determined by the event.. In assessing and forecasting foreseeable risks you are displaying diligence to protect your club and the NAITSA organization.
Who must complete the risk assessment?
The Primary Event Organizer (PEO) is responsible for assessing and implementing risk management for their event and must be in attendance until the activity/event is completed. As a club leader, we want to ensure you assess and plan for foreseeable risks.
To ensure the risk assessment is as thorough and detailed as possible, it is recommended that there is input from the club executives and other stakeholders in the planning of the event.
Why do I need to complete a risk assessment?
Creating a prepared plan in case of an incident demonstrates duty of care and protects you (along with the rest of your club), the NAIT Students’ Association, and NAIT when named in a lawsuit. Court proceedings are extremely slow in Canada and it takes years for proceedings to start, let alone come to a decision. Your future is as much at risk as your present, so pay attention to risks associated with your events.
No Event Submission will be approved without a completed, thorough risk assessment that is approved at the discretion of Campus Clubs.
Submitting your activity or event through the Event Submission on ookslife.ca, also means that it is evaluated for coverage under NAITSA’s insurance policy. Each year NAITSA reviews and assesses risk of activities and what activities can be covered under their insurance policy. Some activities may require additional coverage and they will be notified at the time of submission.
How To Assess Risks
When you complete the Event Submission you will be asked to identify and assess the risks associated with your event. The number of risks required will vary based on the complexity of your event.
RISK IDENTIFIED
Identify risks and hazards that are associated with an activity. Risks are not always limited to physical hazards. These can also be event logistics, weather, money matters, volunteers, event setup, etc.
Some examples of types of risks include:
- Financial risks
a. Where is money being stored?
b. How can it go wrong? - Physical risks
a. How can people get hurt during the set up / running of the event / tearing down of the event?
b. What if there is a medical emergency? - Supply/resource risks
a. What happens if the equipment is not delivered?
b. What happens if the space isn’t booked or available? - Organizational risks
a. How is NAITSA’s brand or the Clubs’ reputation affected if something goes wrong?
b. What happens if proper pre-event emails or meetings don’t occur? - Food risks
a. If you are serving food, what can go wrong?
b. If another party is responsible for food, how will it be controlled? - Alcohol risks
a. If you are serving alcohol, what can go wrong?
b. If another party is responsible for alcohol, how will it be controlled? - Performer/contractor risks
a. Does your contractor have adequate insurance coverage?
b. What if they do not deliver on the contract? - Weather risks
Will the weather affect your event in any way? - Travel risks
a. Are you transporting people? If so, what are the risks involved? - Crowd control
a. For larger groups, how will you handle rowdy people at events?
b. Do you need to consider excessive noise? - Human resources risks
a. What happens if event emails are not sent on-time?
b. What can go wrong if communication is lacking?
c. What do you do about volunteer/staff no-shows?
d. What else could go wrong for staff? - Equipment/power failure
a. Are you going to blow power breakers?
b. Could equipment be easily damaged?
SEVERITY OF RISK
If this risk occurs, how severe would it be (i.e. how badly will it impact your event) ? Low, medium, or high?
LIKELIHOOD OF RISK
What is the likelihood of this risk occurring? Low, medium, or high?
PLAN TO MANAGE RISK
Decide how to deal with the potential problems you’ve identified. This involves creating strategies to either prevent the risks from happening or minimize their impact if they do occur. You’ll outline specific actions to take, assign responsibilities, and set up resources to address each risk, ensuring you’re prepared to handle any challenges effectively.
RISK IDENTIFIED: Theft of cash box.
SEVERITY OF RISK: High severity, as all profits from the event would be lost.
LIKELIHOOD OF RISK: Medium likelihood as it depends on visibility and how observant you are in regard to the environment around you.
PLAN TO MANAGE RISK: Have one person watching the cash box at all times and do not make it visible to customers. Ensure it is locked when not in use and all cash is deposited to Campus Clubs as soon as the event is concluded.
WHAT SHOULD CLUBS DO IF SOMETHING DOES GO WRONG?
If the situation poses a risk of serious injury or death, call 9-1-1. For emergencies on NAIT Campus, call NAIT Protective Services at (780) 471-7477. Follow the directions and advice of law enforcement and first responders.
Within 48 hours of the incident, notify the Campus Clubs askclubs@nait.ca with details of the incident. The what, when, where and how the incident occurred as well as the names and contact information of the people involved. You have the obligation to ensure the safety for all involved. Do not be negligent.
Negligence is a matter of ‘at-fault’ liability, meaning the allegation is that the organization has done something wrong, or failed to do something that it should have done, and an injury or loss has occurred as a result.
HIGH RISK ACTIVITIES
For activities that are deemed to be very high risk,Campus Clubs must review the event at least two weeks prior to the activity.
Where NAITSA perceives high risk, they reserve the right to request additional risk management and the right to refuse approval of an event. If an annual event has had issues/problems, NAITSA has the right to request additional risk management or refuse approval of the event.
LIABILITY INSURANCE
