ISM MUSIC JOURNAL SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 | RISK MANAGEMENT
Risk management in the performance and education space of COVID-19 Professor Martin Ashley, PhD discusses factors to take into consideration if you are responsible for working out how and when it may be safe to bring individuals together to make music once more
Above: Professor Martin Ashley, PhD
Risk is an inevitable corollary of uncertainty, and one of the few certainties of the COVID-19 pandemic is that the state of scientific knowledge is far from adequate, despite unprecedented levels of research activity. The prudent response to scientific uncertainty is precaution, and a precautionary response is usually a risk averse one. Risk generally diminishes in proportion to scientific advance, but the process is slow and punctuated by setbacks, and the road of COVID-19 not yet far travelled. As music administrators, educators and performers, ISM members have rapidly had to come to terms with being managers of risk in the unaccustomed field of public health. You and your colleagues have little precedent to draw upon or guidance to follow. How should you proceed? Some approaches for musical performance have been advocated by Claudia Spahn and Bernhard Richter, heads of the Freiburg Institute for Musicians’ Medicine, who are carrying out detailed research on behalf of the Hochschule für Musik, Freiburg. In the first of several papers published over the past few months under the title Risk Assessment of a Coronavirus Infection in the Field of Music they stated that ‘effective risk management usually requires a precise risk analysis with an associated likelihood of occurrence and knowledge of the effectiveness of certain risk-reducing measures.’ R Value
14
Acceptability
In the UK, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) publishes a template (hse.gov.uk/simplehealth-safety/risk/risk-assessment-templateand-examples.htm) that has been adapted by organisations such as the Musicians Union and the Church of England. While these versions provide a column for the identification of control measures, they do not demonstrate the extent to which the risk has actually been reduced nor give any real indication of how acceptable the risk was, either before or after the control measures. Financial, reputational and other risks are taken with most musical performances. Contagion during a novel pandemic is but one more risk to add. Each risk, however, is made up of any number of hazards, defined by the HSE as ‘things that have the potential to cause actual harm’. New COVID-19-related hazards have become apparent through study of relevant scientific literature. The risk you need to consider is the product of how likely each hazard is to occur (the L number) and the seriousness of the consequences of it occurring (the C number): R=LxC. The values of L and C are commonly given as numbers between one and five, with a result of between one and 25 as a computed risk that can be interpreted through a table such as this:
ACTION TO BE TAKEN
20-25
Immediate stop
Immediate action including cessation of the activity
13-19
Not acceptable
Immediate measures required, stop activity if necessary
7-12
Not acceptable
Improve within a specified timescale
3-6
Acceptable
Look to improve at next review or if there is a significant change
1-2
Acceptable
Ensure controls are maintained and reviewed
