Now, more than ever, prevailing economic conditions dictate that taxpayer-funded organizations rigorously evaluate the efficacy of their products and personnel. Educational institutions, in particular, are being challenged to justify expenditures and, at the same time, guarantee results in terms of academic achievement. Given this climate of high accountability, the value of risk management to an organization is difficult to overstate.

Definitions of risk management vary widely; possibly the clearest way to define it would be to examine three basic questions that guide the decision-making process involved in risk management:

1. What potentially can go wrong?
2. How likely is it to happen?
3. If it does happen, what will be the consequences?

In the context of the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District, the questions to be answered are:

What potentially can go wrong in a community college district with 16,000+ students; 2,000 employees; 301 acres of land, and 54 buildings?

What could go wrong in an environment that includes toxic chemicals, hazardous wastes, biological wastes…?

What is the likelihood of someone tripping on uneven pavement, missing a step on a dimly-lit stairway, suffering an injury operating heavy equipment, experiencing adverse reactions to poor air quality in windowless classrooms, or being injured by falling books and equipment during an earthquake?

What are the consequences: Injuries or death to students or personnel? Escalating workers’ compensation claims? Skyrocketing insurance premiums? Legal fees and judgements costing in the millions of dollars?

Failure to implement good risk management policies and procedures may, in fact, seriously compromise an institutions ability to achieve its ultimate mission-educating students. Every dollar spent on worker injuries, liability claims, property damage, and insurance premiums is a dollar diverted from education.

What can an organization do to protect itself, short of going out of business? Granted, accidents and injuries will happen regardless of the most extraordinary safety systems available; however, there are some accidents and injuries that are just waiting to happen. Here is where the risk manager focuses attention.

A risk manager is concerned with the protection and preservation of assets, be they human or physical. These assets are often put at risk because of hazards or sources of danger that exist. The risk involved in placing an asset in proximity to a hazard is a loss or injury. The probability that a loss or injury will occur can be evaluated and minimized/eliminated by following risk management techniques such as:

RISK IDENTIFICATION-involves identification and measurement of all risks of accidental loss through inspections, review of contracts, and review of losses.

RISK ASSUMPTION-involves pooling resources with other educational institutions in the county to pay losses that result from claims.

RISK REDUCTION-involves reducing the frequency and severity of losses through loss control (safety) techniques.

RISK RETENTION-is "self-insurance" which involves establishing pools of money from which claims will be paid.

RISK TRANSFER-involves whole harmless agreements, obtaining certificates of insurance from groups that use district facilities, and the purchase of insurance.

Why has risk management exploded on the educational scene in just the last decade? What has changed the picture in the workplace so forcefully that necessitates all these preventative measures: The answers are not clear-cut, but surely they would include the public’s insistence of a clean, healthy environment; the government’s response to the public’s concern; an overall legal environment that promotes litigation and economic conditions that mandate maximizing resources.

So, then, is a risk manager only out there looking for trouble? In a sense, yes! But far better to uncover and mitigate, than to have it overtake and consume. The terms sound dramatic, but in today’s highly volatile world being unprepared to cope with the unexpected can be virtually catastrophic in both human and fiscal terms. How commonplace has it become already to see headlines announcing huge judgments awarded in cases involving injury or loss?

Government regulation will escalate to keep pace with even more aggressive citizen demand for protection. What concerns are gathering force and already breaking out in new regulations? Blood-borne pathogens, waste stream management, car-pool and vehicle ridership, rising medical costs and its impact on workers’ compensation and student accident insurance-the list seems endless.

The Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District needs a risk management program. The figures speak for themselves.