The “what if?” approach to risk management

Preventing an incident developing into a crisis for the business, or allowing it to escalate into a disaster that may result in its downfall is often given too little attention by those responsible for crisis management, according to Paul Frankland, business manager of SembCorp Protection, a UK based company which provides around-the-clock protection and security, including an emergency response service, for the petrochemical, nuclear, pharmaceutical and heavy manufacturing industries. Indeed, Mr Frankland points out that the very terms “crisis management” and “disaster recovery” focus attention on dealing with the aftermath, rather than preventing the incident in the first place. And while it is, undeniably, sound business sense to have contingency plans and resources in place should a disaster strike, there is a great deal of wisdom in the old saying: “prevention is better than cure”. For a start, it is a whole lot less costly.