Standards help build ‘risk defence’ building blocks

In his opening address to the ‘Good Practices in Risk-Based Management Standards’, second vice-president of the Risk and Insurance Management Association of Singapore and convenor of the National Working Group on Risk Management & Compliance (NWGRMC) Daniel Tan Kuan Wei said risk-based management standards were important as they provided a model to follow when setting up and operating a management system, “be it a risk management, compliance management, business continuity or quality management programme”.

“I am certain most of us here would have referred to relevant international risk-based standards as a basis or reference to build ‘risk defence’ building blocks,” Tan told attendees.

“I also believe that a vast majority of organisations here have some form of structured frameworks and approaches to defend against and recover from risk events.”

Tan referred to prominent global risk events such as the Ebola outbreak, ISIS terror attacks and cyber attacks.

“Meanwhile, we are also not spared in Singapore with some noteworthy risk events such as the haze, data security breaches and corporate frauds,” he said.

“All these have the immense potential to significantly affect staff safety and disrupt core operations for all our organisations.”

Tan said that risk-based management standards were the result of international, expert consensus and therefore offered the benefit of global management experience and good practice.

“Some potential benefits of adopting such standards include more efficient use of resources, improved risk management, and increased customer satisfaction as services and products consistently deliver what they promise despite business disruptions,” he said.

Today’s seminar saw the following risk-based management standards being discussed: SS ISO 31000 (Risk Management: Principles & Guidelines); SS ISO 22301 (Societal Security: Business Continuity Management Systems – Requirements); FDIS ISO 19600 (Compliance Management Systems – Guidelines); and DIS ISO 9001 (Quality Management Systems – Requirements).

As the national standards body, SPRING Singapore administers the Singapore Standardisation Programme under the guidance of the industry-led Singapore Standards Council, which comprises standards partners and experts from the private and public sectors.

As part of the programme, various standards committees, technical committees and working groups (such as the NWGRMC) are established to undertake the preparation and promotion of standards. Members come from industry associations, institutions of higher learning, government agencies, professional bodies and the private sector.