RISK MANAGEMENT

Advancing of your community’s commitment to quality and safety are critical in today’s sporting environment. If you serve on a board or committee, risk management is one of your key responsibilities.

Risk management is the course of action you take to reduce potential legal liability. It seeks to address potential problems before they occur. Risk management aims to be proactive rather than reactive – creating a safer environment and legally safer operational procedures.

A common mistake communitys make is to view risk management as a program in isolation. It is an ongoing process that should be applied to all your community’s policies and procedures.

BENEFITS OF RISK MANAGEMENT

• Better sporting or recreational outcomes
• Improved safety for participants, officials, spectators and volunteers
• Better prepared in the unfortunate case of a claim
• Lower costs and increased budget certainty
• More effective management of assets, events, programs and activities
• Improved compliance with the law, regulations and other formal requirements
• Enhanced image and reputation

RISKS FACING CENTERS

In sport, the area of risk is inherently broad. Some general risks that could apply to your club include:

• Poor supporting software
• Poor documentation and recording
• Not having a member protection policy
• Poor communication policies and procedures
• Disconnects between the community’s board or committee, staffing and members
• Not having clear expectations or bill of rights among board or committee, staffing and members

HOW TO MANAGE RISK

All key people, including board members, management, staff and volunteers, should be involved in every step of the risk management process.

Managing risk may seem daunting. Lasso Safe’s scorecard, engagement managers and high risk assessment walk-through are all attributes of the Lasso Safe certification process to guide communitys towards high levels of risk management performance. While designing the scorecard or collaborating with your assigned engagement managers, communitys should break the risk management process into achievable steps by following this checklist.

• Appoint a Safety Manager responsible for the risk management process
• Identify ‘key’ people (i.e. sport development director, event manager, finance director) who will be involved in managing risk
• Identify, audit and manage the club’s risks (this can be done in conjunction with or independently of the Lasso Safe high risk assessment walk-through)
• Identify risks – what can happen? Why? How?
• Analyze risks
• Evaluate risks
• Design your scorecard
• Implement credits
• Develop and implement a clear communication strategy on risk management
• Communicate the strategies to all appropriate levels of the community
• Ensure the board addresses risk management periodically as a meeting agenda item
• Monitor and review strategies at least annually and report to the board through the risk manager, as well as submit all required documentation to Lasso Safe
• Ensure the board has adopted and implemented a risk management policy
• Use media and marketing strategies to get the word out there
• Maintain consistency within community policies – keep risk management programs consistent from year to year, with only well-planned steps of improvement along the way

RISK MANAGEMENT APPROACH

The Lasso Safe Playbook provides a step-by-step process of pursuing Lasso Safe and managing the risks faced by sport communities.

The application of these guidelines can be customized through the 400+ credit options listed in the scorecard, and profitability can be maximized through the Value Creation Plan.

Lasso Safe offers on-going support and a systematic approach you can use to manage risk.