Natural Resources
Natural resource companies face a high number of risks and are affected by political instability, the remoteness of the environments in which they operate and the hazardous nature of their products.
Companies have to protect their assets in a widespread geographical area and must cater for a large number of employees, contractors, sub-contractors and partners. They often operate large fleets and have expansive property portfolios, which include power stations, pylons and offices. Natural resource companies also maintain large customer bases, increasing the need for effective management of public liability and litigation.
As a result, risk managers receive a huge amount of risk related data. Making sense of this information is key to successful mitigation of risk. A risk management information system (RMIS) is often used to reduce the number of occupational hazards, to manage product transportation risk and to develop safety guidelines to reduce fatalities and accidents. It can also be used to strengthen contractor safety by managing technological risks in the processes deployed, as well as the toxic, explosive or flammable products used.
Benefits
- consolidate and strengthen feedback on internal and external accidents, such as a major oil or gas leak
- asset management
- better negotiations in the marketplace by presenting an improved history of losses
- more control over total cost of risk
- event management (eg black out, power surges)
- monitor contractors and third party liability risk
- consolidate data from many places around the world
- control incidents that could represent a threat to reputation (pollution, human rights)
- identify patterns where health and safety regulations are repeatedly violated
“We can be sure from a compliance and an audit perspective that we have absolute tie-down on documentation. A lot of inefficiencies have been eliminated.”
Alan Cambell, group manager – governance practices and insurance, Origin Energy