Strategic Risk Management

Our strategic risk management services help public and private sector organisations to:

• minimise the risks associated with buildings technology and business processes
• maximize the productivity, efficiency, health and comfort of staff.

We use a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to provide our clients with insights into the behaviour of actual and potential users of equipment, workplaces and business processes, and work with them to improve their services, systems and products.

Benefits

• A co-ordinated, integrated approach - we are experienced in all areas of risk management and have specialists in ergonomics, accessibility, systems and interface design as well as the classic areas of health and safety.
• Practical, cost-effective advice - based on scientifically collected evidence, expert analysis and years of experience.
• Best practice - we keep up with the latest standards and guidelines, so you get the most up-to-date advice to improve your business performance.

Our approach

Strategic and Policy Advice

We provide strategic and policy advice on health, safety, ergonomics, disability, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business continuity issues to a wide range of public and private sector organisations.  These assignments generally include:

• auditing compliance with health, safety, ergonomics, disability legislation and good practice and CSR and business continuity good practice
• reviewing the applicability of different regulations to the organisation’s operations
• reviewing and preparing policies and procedures
• examining and testing how well the policies and procedures are understood by staff
• investigating how policies and procedures are implemented by staff at different sites
• interpreting legislation to fit operational and business goals where required
• applying good practice guidelines, and benchmarking against other organisations
• preparing reports containing pragmatic, cost effective recommendations
• inspecting premises and goods at manufacturer’s premises to ensure compliance with health and safety, including requirements for people with disabilities.

Detailed Operational and Technical Advice

We provide detailed operational and technical advice by liaising closely with the staff who will be affected by a proposed change, or who are experiencing health, safety, ergonomics or disability/accessibility issues with their current environment/equipment.  Conducting detailed job and task analyses helps to ensure that any new equipment and working environments meet both business goals and staff requirements.  We use a variety of methods including:

• risk assessments and audits
• questionnaire surveys and benchmarking
• expert reviews of equipment etc
• independent ergonomics evaluations
• consultation exercises and interviews
• video-taping and analysis of any tasks which are likely to cause a health and safety risk, e.g. repetitive keying tasks, manual handling, document processing, etc
• link analysis and task analysis
• evaluating plans, prototype equipment, procurement documentation etc.
• accident, injury and ill-health investigation
• dealing with supplier/contractor health and safety pre-qualifications.

We use the data collected using these methods, combined with our knowledge of British and International Standards and our extensive health and safety experience, to prepare reports containing pragmatic, cost-effective recommendations.

Our experience

We hold framework agreements with a number of public and private sector organisations, including the BBC, the Department for Transport, the Ministry of Defence, the Department for Work and Pensions, Alexandra Palace, the Office of Fair Trading, Barclays Bank and the TUC.  System Concepts has also conducted over 30 consultancy projects for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) over the last twenty years on topics including the Health Effects of Portable Computers; Noise in Manufacturing Industry; Manual Handling in office, retail and manufacturing environments, and Evaluating the Impact of the Work at Height Regulations.  We have also written six books of good practice ergonomics, health and safety case studies for HSE – many of these case studies are available on their website.

Typical projects

These links take you to case studies of work we have done in this area:

• Health and Safety Executive - research into common workplace injuries
• Department for International Development - international health and safety audit and customised training
• Museum of London - health and safety strategy, and implementation
• TUC - moving to open plan working
• Ernst & Young - health and safety outsourcing
• Land Securities - fire risk managment strategy and implementation
• LiDCO - task analysis and design of user interface
• Barclays Bank - ergonomic and procurement strategies
• Department for Business, Innovation and Skills - disability management
• Alexandra Palace health and safety outsourcing, including accessibility strategy
• BBC Ouch - focus groups with people with disabilities to gather requirements for a website redesign
• General Electric - supporting the implementation of a world wide ergonomics programme
• Johnston Sweepers - customised manual handling training programme

For more information on any of our services, please contact us