SPECIAL FEATURE: RISK MANAGEMENT
Coronavirus: The geophysical risk that few saw coming Following the release of its 2020 Top Ten Risks Survey, Risk.net made the point that categories such as geopolitical risk were always in danger of being rapidly overtaken by events.
“W
hen the survey was conducted in early January, the coronavirus drew scarcely a mention from respondents, a handful of whom, based in the Asia-Pacific region, flagged it as a blip on the radar,” says the global risk management entity, adding: “Nationalism, trade wars and epidemics make for a heady cocktail.” Fast track a couple of months since the release of the survey and the “blip” has changed the entire world, its deadly tentacles reaching into homes and businesses everywhere and challenging traditional risk management models in the face of widening operational risks such as fraud and regulatory uncertainty, according to Risk.net.
Creaking health systems Another survey, the “Global Risks Report 2020 by the World Economic Forum” with support from Marsh and McLennan and Zurich Insurance Group, predicted a “sharper focus on environmental threats over the next 10 years” and voiced concern that health systems around the world were under increasing pressure. “Health systems … are at risk of becoming unfit for purpose,” said the report. “New vulnerabilities resulting from changing societal, environmental, demographic and technological patterns threaten to undo the dramatic gains in wellness and prosperity that health systems have supported over the last century. Non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and mental illness have replaced infectious diseases as the leading cause of death, while increases in longevity and the economic and societal costs of managing chronic diseases have put healthcare systems in many countries under stress. Progress against pandemics is 10
SECURITY FOCUS AFRICA MAY 2020
also being undermined by vaccine hesitancy and drug resistance, making it increasingly difficult to land the final blow against some of humanity’s biggest killers. As existing health risks resurge and new ones emerge, humanity’s past successes in overcoming health challenges are no guarantee of future results,” it cautioned.
New risk, new game Deloitte also saw geophysical risk as a growing risk category in its report titled: “The future of risk: New game, new rules”, warning that “prevention methods can never be fool-proof ” and that “increasing investment in preventative approaches often yields only marginal benefit along with unwelcome side effects such as slowing innovation”.
Planning for the unimaginable – it is doable The lessons learned from Covid-19 can help people plan for the next crisis, believes
Steven Greenstein, senior advisor with Fusion Risk Management. In his article titled “Planning for the unimaginable: “it’s doable” he says, that as life as we know it is being re-written, there’s a critical need for people to ground themselves, to act pragmatically, compassionately and to make sound personal and professional business decisions. The pandemic, he says, began as a workforce disruption (mass absenteeism) that quickly “morphed” into a workplace disruption (mandatory quarantines of workspace), and then a supply chain, logistics and distribution channel disruption. Companies that invested money and time on implementing continuity plans with response, recovery and resumption strategies for staff, premises, technology and their supply chain, are likely to lead the way forward as the world starts recovering, he continues. The challenge for most companies, he believes, has not
securityfocusafrica.com
