Risk! Engineers Talk Governance

In this episode of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss due diligence for bushfires.

Richard has been involved in advising on bushfire risk and controls since Ash Wednesday in 1984, while both Richard and Gaye as R2A were involved with bushfire assessments post Black Saturday in 2009.

Their discussion highlights:

• Bushfire season is getting longer, and the ability to prepare for it is getting shorter. Volunteer firefighters are also declining.
• Bushfire best practice for local planning for protection has adopted a vulnerability approach – criticality rather than likelihood.
• From a due diligence viewpoint, we know we cannot stop bushfires. But, what are all the controls that we can put in place?
• Often it's not the threat of the bushfire itself, but the interaction of a community or people with the bushfire – the vulnerability of peri-urban areas.
• Building codes have been updated to improve bushfire resistance, but challenges remain around prescribed burning and access of remote areas during fires.
• Prepare your property, but be ready to evacuate early on high-risk days, as access can quickly become blocked.

For further information on Richard and Gaye’s consulting work with R2A, head to https://www.r2a.com.au.

In this episode of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss their recent success (as Expert Witnesses) at VCAT (Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal) and how design trumps risk assessment.
They discuss their case involving an application for a building permit in the outer safety zone of a major hazard facility. WorkCover advised against building two new dwellings due to increased population and societal risk. However, Richard and Gaye, as expert witnesses, argued that proper safety and design measures, such as laminated windows and steel roofs, could mitigate the risks.

The VCAT decision supports R2A’s position, and emphasises the importance of, working out the credible worst-case scenarios and then designing for it.

You can listen further about this VCAT hearing in Season 2 episodes 1 & 2 of our podcast.

If you’d like to learn more about Richard & Gaye, visit www.r2a.com.au.

Please submit any feedback or topic ideas to [email protected].

In this episode of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss R2A's preferred approach to due diligence.

They explain why they start with a top-down approach, usually starting with the military intelligence, threat and vulnerability technique. And how often organisations who have started with a bottom-up process have been floundering for some time, come to R2A to cut through the detail.

Richard and Gaye also discuss:

· importance of selecting the right tools and techniques for the job,

· need for multiple perspectives and approaches to ensure a comprehensive analysis,

· importance of bringing key stakeholders together and the challenges of working in silos,

· need for preparation and adaptability in the due diligence process.

Please note the matrix mentions is available in all R2A publications. You can find these at https://www.r2a.com.au/store
If you'd like to learn more about Richard & Gaye's due diligence work at R2A, head to www.r2a.com.au or get in contact at [email protected].

In this episode of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss control and reasonableness in WHS/PHS legislation.

They explain that the WHS/OHS legislation is a statutory statement of the common law duty of care and a defence against negligence, and that there’s two primary controls for negligence defence: no power defence (lack of control) and doing every reasonably practicable thing to address the matter. The aspect of control is built into the reasonableness decision in the legislation.

The episode also covers:

• the importance of not getting caught up in arguments about responsibility and instead taking collective responsibility for addressing hazards.
• Lord Atkin's question "Who is my neighbour?" and how the legal ruling relates to design process and retrospective design review.
• the benefits of the due diligence approach in bringing key stakeholders together to collectively address safety issues.

The Criminal Manslaughter booklet mentioned can be found at https://www.r2a.com.au/store/p/r2a-criminal-manslaughter-directors-booklet

For more information on Gaye and Richard’s due diligence work at R2A, head to https://www.r2a.com.au/

In this episode of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss the application of due diligence in the Marine Pilotage industry.

They discuss various consulting work they’ve done with Marine Pilots across Australia and New Zealand ports, and summarise the key take-away that the process is no different for pilotage due diligence reviews than any other (industry’s) due diligence review.

That is,

• There needs to be an argument as to why all the credible critical issues have been identified.
• In a port, they typically look at all the user groups and what activities they're doing.
• Look at all the controls that can be put in place, which are reasonable in the circumstances.
• Always needs to be a quality assurance system to make sure that what is being put in place are sustained and managed accordingly.

But, noting, there will be site specific or port specific issues so the controls put in place may be different.

Find out more about Richard and Gaye’s consulting work at https://www.r2a.com.au.