Environmental risks

 
 

Introduction

 

In 2000, AMRAE (Association for Corporate Risk and Insurance Management) and Orée perceived the need to raise the awareness of small and medium-sized business and industry managers about environment-related risks, which are often underestimated if not completely ignored. Orée’s Risk working group therefore resulted in the publication, in 2001, of the Practical guide on environment-related risks, a tool designed to help implement a risk management approach, mainly targeting small and medium-sized businesses and industries.

This guide is now out of print. An update is scheduled for 2010 as part of the working group. The new support will take the form of an Internet platform. The environmental and natural risk management aspect from the perspective of local authorities will also be integrated into this platform.

Issues

Any damage to the environment or to health as well as any failure to apply the precautionary principle can now have sizeable consequences for a company, sometimes involving business closure; hence the need to identify and control these risks.
Risk is defined as a measure of the probability of an adverse event and its consequences. It is divided into two variables: its frequency and its severity.
Efficient risk management therefore involves:
  • the exhaustive listing of risks,
  • the measurement of their potential frequency, 
  • the evaluation of their severity, 
  • making the right decisions to reduce their frequency and impact.
This approach concerns small and medium-sized businesses as well as major groups, notably to raise the awareness of their suppliers and subcontractors.