Frequently Asked Questions

These are questions our visitors ask most often. If your question is not answered on this page, please E-mail us at joy@cunnart.com or call us at 519-451-7603.

1. What is "Risk Management"?
2. My Insurance Company offers Training; Why Should we Hire a Trainer?
3. Can Risk Management Training Benefit Our Business?
4. Why Shouldn’t we just Purchase an On-line Training Program?
5. Can you Guarantee We will Save Money if we Hire a Trainer?
6. What Should I look for When Choosing a Risk Management Trainer?
7. What is Enterprise Risk Management (ERM)?
8. Isn't it Expensive to Implement Risk Management?
9. How is Cunnart compensated for its services?
10. Does Cunnart offer an Independent Insurance Review?
11. What is a Risk Management Policy Statement and do we Need One?
12. How Would I Conduct a Risk Management Assessment?
13. Where does Insurance Fit with Risk Management?
14. Should we have a risk management committee?

1. What is "Risk Management"?
Risk management is the process of identifying threats to life and property then taking steps to prevent the threat from becoming reality and to minimize the negative impact of events that do occur.

For example, on a personal level you know that there is a possibility that riding in a car can result in injury or death. To minimize the chance of a car accident, you could take a driver training course, purchase a car whose design includes various safety features and wear a seat belt while in the vehicle. In taking these steps, you have effectively a) improved your skill at driving and avoiding accidents and b) reduced the severity of any injury that may occur if you are involved in an accident.

It is important to also plan how to pay for losses. Many people have ‘savings accounts’ in their bank to pay for unexpected costs – minor damage to their car, for example. In addition, they carry automobile insurance for more serious damage than they can afford on their own. Businesses can also set aside funds, to pay for unexpected costs, then purchase insurance for more expensive losses. Organizations can also access funding options that include risk transfer and the use of captive insurers, reciprocals or pooling arrangements to handle high-cost losses.

2. My Insurance Company offers Training; Why Should we Hire a Trainer?
Many competent agents, brokers and insurance companies offer seminars for their clients; some even offer seminars for prospective clients at no cost. Keep in mind, though, that their primary business is selling insurance products. These trainers will provide useful information, while encouraging you to buy more or different types of insurance products. Those individuals are not always able to suggest practical, low-cost solutions to solve your complex insurance and risk management needs.

You and your colleagues may view recommendations with some skepticism if they think the suggestions are made by someone with something to gain, or who does not have a clear understanding of your need to balance risk and reward while working in a complex organization.

3. Can Risk Management Training Benefit Our Business?
Often the day-to-day demands of running a business means that risk management practices get passed over as something managers don’t have time for.

Think of your risk management program like a health and safety culture. Don’t think of it as another chore; it’s the way to do your work. Just as workplace safety reduces your employment-related injuries/costs, so too can risk management tools reduce errors that lead to unexpected costs.

4. Why Shouldn’t we just Purchase an On-line Training Program?
There are many on-line training programs available. The advantage of systems these is that they are usually available to employee 14 hours a day, 7 days a week whenever and wherever one has access to the internet. Disadvantages are that users lose the ability to learn from the trainer and others attending the seminar, to ask questions specific to their interests and to debate pros/cons of various perspectives.

‘Webinars’ are a new option available to students. The ‘webinar’ functions much like a classroom session, but through the internet. All students are connected through the internet at a specific time, print off the seminar material at their own location, and use their own PC and audio link to the trainer. They can ask questions (in ‘real’ time) and receive responses, hear the questions and answers of other attendees. These sessions are typically 1 to 2 hours in length.

They avoid costs involved when attendees need to travel long distances. Savings are related to lack of travel expense, accommodation and meals costs and loss of productive time in the workplace due to travel.

5. Can you Guarantee We will Save Money if we Hire a Trainer?
No one can guarantee that training of any kind will reduce costs. It is difficult to measure costs that do not happen. BUT – eventually effective risk management efforts do pay off with fewer losses – leading to lower risk-related costs and more competitive insurance premiums

6. What Should I look for When Choosing a Risk Management Trainer?
Depending on whether you are situated in Canada or the United States, the diploma your risk management trainer or consultant has varies.

In both Canada and the United States, there are specialty diplomas in risk management. In Canada these are called the CRM courses while in the United States they are known as ARM. In both countries, advanced education results in the Risk Fellow (RF) diploma. This diploma signifies specialty risk management training that includes several university-level business management courses.

Always select your trainer or consultant based on their professional qualifications, overall knowledge and practical experience in risk management and training.

7. What is Enterprise Risk Management (ERM)?
ERM is organization-wide efforts to identify and manage risks - from perceptions of board members and senior executives to front line supervisors and employees. Once risks are identified, they must be prioritized by their overall potential to negatively impact corporate goals, managed in such a way to minimize their negative impact on the organization’s finances, physical assets and reputation. This is similar to constant ‘quality control’ but with the emphasis on risk.

A key to implementing and sustaining an ERM culture is communication through all levels of the organization. Effective communication ensures that a) no risk is overlooked and b) that no prevention or mitigation technique inadvertently negatively affects another part of the organization.

All employees/volunteers at every level of the organization, from board member to mail room worker can identify and manage risks within their realm of their work.

8. Isn't it Expensive to Implement Risk Management?
Creating a risk management culture in your organization can be costly or inexpensive. It can be surprising low-cost if you convince employees and volunteers of its importance. For example, you may find that some activities that produce little return can be stopped while other activities needed to reduce risk can be paid for with those now-available resources.

Keep in mind there are you may already be incurring from lack of risk management. These include higher insurance premiums, difficulty attracting and retaining skilled employees and enjoying a poor corporate reputation. Reputational risk has a hidden affect on both for-profit and not-for-profit organization. Poor reputation can mean fewer sales in the for-profit sector and greater difficulty fund-raising in the not-for-profit sector.

9. How is Cunnart compensated for its services?
Training programs are priced on a daily basis, plus expenses. Organizations booking multiple days of training obtain preferential pricing. Resource materials are provided to every student on the training day. Publications offered by Cunnart are available on the seminar day at a reduced cost to the organization and students.

10. Does Cunnart offer an Independent Insurance Review?
Cunnart services include consulting, training and risk management publications. Inevitably, insurance questions are raised during discussions of risk management. Insurance programs are discussed in general terms; however we suggest that an insurance consultant be contacted for specific recommendations and advice.

11. What is a Risk Management Policy Statement and do we Need One?
Think of these written statements as a detailed mission statement. It describes the organization’s risk management goals and philosophy towards the risk management process. The statement clearly lays out risk management’s responsibilities and authority. During the writing process, it encourages senior management to define what they want the risk management department to do. Cunnart can help you develop a risk management policy statement to help you structure your organization’s future risk management culture.

12. How Would I Conduct a Risk Management Assessment?
On a regular basis, thoroughly review the potential risks to the organization. This is often easiest to do by focusing on one area of operations at a time and encouraging contributions from the organization’s employees who bring specific skills to the task. For example, you may include someone who has technical knowledge in the area being reviewed, a health and safety technician and someone who is unfamiliar with the work but brings an ‘outsiders’ perspective.

Checklists are often helpful as they ensure that the key points will be considered by everyone involved in the review. Cunnart has significant experience in facilitating risk assessments of various public entity services.

13. Where does Insurance Fit with Risk Management?
Traditionally, risk managers have been seen as chiefly insurance buyers. While insurance is an important factor, risk managers now emphasize the need to prevent the chance of accident loss and all the related negative effects that can arise from those losses. Insurance is a key element in the financial capacity of the organization to recover from losses.

14. Should we have a risk management committee?
Many large organizations employ full-time, professional risk managers whose job includes chairing a corporate risk management committee. The Risk Management Committee can be an effective method of identifying and addressing the organization's risk management requirements. The Committee is often most effective as a supportive partner to the risk management department. The Committee's diverse membership provides get a broad view on the organization’s risks and can promote creative problem solving.