The water industry is well experienced in dealing with problems including exercises in emergency planning.  All water companies should allow for succession plans and help their staff develop into roles as they develop the managers of the future. However, the pressing question now is; has Covid-19 going to cause us to re-evaluate this approach?

At a time like this, water managers should be thinking about improved resilience in their processes and procedures, so as to reduce the risk of failure and increase their ability to quickly adapt and overcome new challenges.

So, what is expected in your role as a Water Industry manager in relation to Risk & Resilience moving forward?

Firstly, ensuring the health and safety and well being of your employees is of the upmost importance. As the water industry is so heavily regulated with financial penalties that can be aggressively applied, the days of having spare capacity in our operational workforce have gone, or have they? Will this key element be revisited in the light of the pandemic? We will have to wait and see.

Multi-skilling has not always been adopted into teams, therefore managers have to be sharper, with a greater breadth of understanding than ever before to manage risk and build and foster resilience in this current climate.

Ensuring your staff are well trained in Risk & Resilience

Whether pandemics or project issues, water company staff need the necessary training to be able to respond to the unplanned event and having a thorough grasp of the concepts of effective Risk and Resilience should be part of this.

Milestones during projects can often lead to problems and hopefully your risk assessment should have excluded the chance of unforeseen events.  Staff should have a broad understanding of the concepts and be aware of upstream and downstream activities from a wider company perspective and also consider any external influences that may impact on day to day activities.

During this current climate, Risk & Resilience training for staff is critical in helping develop technical skills and understanding of the Management of Risk & Resilience and improved performance. Developing your people will encourage strategic thinking to foster business improvement.

For this reason, Learning & Development Associates have created a 3-day Level 5 short course in “The Management of Risk & Resilience”.

Find out more and book onto this course here.