Tag: risk management

All industries are governed by the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act and need to maintain certain standards for Safety, Health, Environment and Quality (SHEQ). Having the right systems in place to understand risks and how to protect people against them is essential, and training forms a core component of ensuring a safe working environment.

Insurers have been warning for years that the increasing size of vessels is leading to a higher accumulation of risk when something goes wrong. These fears are now being realised, with the MS Ever Given having blocked the Suez Canal for several days.

Companies that prioritise their employees’ change journeys during digital transformation projects, such as the remote working initiatives seen in 2020, are less exposed to risk and more likely to realise the return on their investments.

One year after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, CEOs are voicing record levels of optimism in the global economic recovery, with 76% of global business leaders predicting that economic growth will improve in 2021. Coming off of a global recession (3.5% decline in world GDP) and a GDP contraction of 7% in SA, a record share of CEOs are optimistic about global economic growth this year.

The President, on 15 January 2021, assented to the Taxation Laws Amendment Act No. 23 of 2020 (TLAA), which was subsequently promulgated on 20 January 2021. Despite the blow back last year on the proposed amendment to the withdrawal of retirement funding in SA based on emigration, this amendment has now been signed into law and will become effective on 1 March 2021.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a highly volatile and uncertain environment for businesses resulting in a litany of new or heightened risks for directors and officers (D&O) as well as exacerbating the situation in an already strained D&O insurance market.

Risk management is defined by the identification of events, both internal and external, that can affect the organisation’s ability to achieve specific objectives and to remain compliant within specific regulations. Risk management is carefully outlined in King IV as being inseparable from the company’s strategy and sustainability.

If you are reading this, you are well on your way towards surviving one of the most cataclysmic events of our lifetime; one that is forever going to reshape the way we view the world and drive home the importance of prioritising sustainability and all it entails during the years ahead.

October marks International Cybersecurity Awareness Month which raises awareness around safety in cyber space as well as the need to upskill and treat cybercrime as a priority. Cyber attacks and disruptive events are on the rise, affecting 82% of organisations surveyed in the Technologies Global Data Protection Index 2020 Snapshot. These organisations included both public and private organisations.

Only by building risk intelligent organisations will leaders be able to overcome six distinct global threats that we have identified. Leaders at the highest levels of the private and public sectors must embrace an enterprise-wide culture of integrated risk management to secure their future.