Climate action perspectives on risk management
Left: As climate change events, such as flooding, increase in frequency and duration, students’ safety and quality learning environments are threathened. Centre: The challenges associated with climate change must be interweaved into operational and long-term planning. Right: Given the long lifecycle of most facilities, conducting site and building resilience assessments will identify climate change adaptation requirements that should be incorporated into facility development plans.
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ne of EFMA’s purposes is advising educational organizations on the provision of safe, wellmaintained, quality learning environments for all students. As such, we share a collective responsibility to envision the future while addressing emerging enterprise risk-management issues. A holistic approach is essential to ensure optimal emergency planning and sustainable, effective capital planning. Climate change is transitioning from a policy discussion to protect future generations, to a risk-management issue impacting organizations at the operational level. Wind storms, flooding, temperature extremes, loss of habitat, or droughts are often seen as climate change trends with little impact on school operations. As these events increase in frequency and duration, however, student safety and quality learning environments are threatened. Local emergency response plans must be increasingly robust to address scenarios that would have seemed unlikely a few years ago, but also flexible and tailored to individual school sites and capacities. Other challenges include evolving policies and practices (including school curriculum), changing safety and environmental legislation, accelerated infrastructure deterioration caused by weather extremes, and evolving societal expectations. The challenges associated with climate change must be interweaved into operational and long-term planning. Operational procedures should be reviewed to mitigate the impacts of an extreme weather event that could trigger an emergency response. Collaboration with local governments and utility
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Ops Talk • Fall 2017
companies will identify synergies, including those related to educational programs. Given the long life cycle of most facilities, conducting site and building resilience assessments will identify climate change adaptation requirements that should be incorporated into facility development plans. Budget considerations, of course, underpin planning activities. Capital project proposals should include energy consumption impacts, maintenance implications and environmental benefits, as well as quantify estimated cost and cost-avoidance outcomes. Emergency preparedness can have significant onetime and ongoing operational costs. Documented risk assessments typically address the probability and impacts of potential emergencies. In the context of climate change, additional consideration of local weather trends will assist decision-makers with resource allocations. Fortunately, many resources are available to assist with the climate change aspects of enterprise risk management. Guidelines published by WorkSafeBC and School Protection Program often have environmental implications, while other published guides have a specific environmental focus (e.g. LEED, ISO 14001, etc). Emerging centres of excellence include the Climate Action Secretariat, local governments, NGOs, commercial companies, and various school districts throughout British Columbia. Given the complexity of climate change impacts on school districts, the hierarchy of environmental risk management is a useful guide to ensure continuing safe, well-maintained learning spaces:
