Fires, hurricanes, workplace violence, supplier failure, and terrorism—the list of potential hazards is long. Casualties, property damage, business interruption, environmental contamination, customer defection, and regulatory scrutiny—are some of the potential impacts that could challenge your organization. What’s the likelihood that one of these hazards or others will impact your organization? What are the vulnerabilities that would contribute to greater losses? What can be done to minimize risk? An "all-hazards" risk assessment should answer these questions.

Managers make frequent decisions to accept, avoid, transfer or finance risk. Safety and security professionals build loss prevention and hazard mitigation programs. Emergency managers and business continuity practitioners build preparedness programs. Understanding hazard and operational risks—their likelihood and potential impacts—is a prerequisite for effective risk management. Loss prevention, hazard mitigation, emergency management, and business continuity programs require an in-depth understanding of potential risk. Completing a thorough risk assessment that answers the following questions is the only way to gain that understanding.

• What threats and hazards are foreseeable?
• What assets are at risk? Which assets are critical?
• How vulnerable are people on-site, buildings and equipment, operations, and the organization's image and reputation?
• What are the opportunities to reduce risk?
• Is existing protection adequate and compliant with regulations, codes, and standards?
• What are the potential impacts on critical business operations and essential functions?
• Are emergency response, business continuity, and crisis management capabilities adequate to protect life and property, continue critical business operations, and protect the organization's image and reputation?
• Are insurance limits and risk financing programs adequate to mitigate the financial impact of any loss?

Preparedness, LLC can conduct a risk assessment to identify potential threats and hazards and their impacts; assess the adequacy of loss prevention, security, and hazard mitigation programs; provide detailed recommendations and specifications to minimize risk; and compile information to provide an integrated, multi-site and multi-department view of risk within the organization.