Revisions to ISO 31000 FERMA benchmark survey

An ISO working group meeting in London, hosted at the offices of law firm DLA Piper, has put forward proposals for limited revision of the enterprise risk management standard ISO 31000, and an update to the language guide which accompanies it, Guide 73. The recommendations will go forward to the next meeting of the ISO 31000 technical committee and the working group, which will take place in Istanbul in September.  The aim is to have the new documents available before the end of 2016.

The UK experts on the group are two Airmic members, Julia Graham who is Director of Risk Management and Insurance at DLA Piper, and Fiona Davidge, Enterprise Risk Manager for The Wellcome Trust. They were supported by David Adamson from BSI Group.

“ISO 31000 has become the most popular enterprise risk management standard in the world and one of the most popular standards in the ISO standards library. It has stood the test of time very well. However, it was published in 2009 and it is considered that some modification is required to bring the content and language up to date,” said Graham.   

The ISO technical committee created the working group to begin the task of revision when it met in Chicago in September 2013. In addition to Julia and Fiona, the London meeting drew representatives from Austria, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United States.

The working group considered several pages of comments on the revisions proposal, and using the opportunity of such an international gathering in London, it heard a number of presentations on current topics focused on resilience, including one by Airmic chief executive John Hurrell on Airmic’s research report Roads to Resilience.

After much debate, the working group put forward a design specification for adoption by the technical committee. Having studied the implications of both a limited and a full technical revision of ISO 31000 and Guide 73, it proposed to concentrate its resources on a limited revision and not yet start a full technical revision.

The working group also recommended that the technical committee consider creating: 

• A study group on human and cultural factors;
• A study group on risk management maturity;
• A group to continue working on an ISO 31000 survey for discussion in Istanbul;
• A less formal study group to look at other potential work items, such as risk appetite and risk management in SMEs.

FERMA Benchmarking Survey 2014 now under way in UK

The Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA) in association with Airmic and its other national association members has launched its 2014 benchmarking survey on risk and insurance management in the UK and 19 other European countries.

FERMA vice president and survey working party member Michel Dennery said: “In the 2014 survey, we have reassessed the questions to increase the focus on risk management and risk transfer. The questions are more accurate and relevant to the present situation. The format is attractive and the questions are clear. We are conscious that the survey does make a demand on members, but if they take time to consider their answers, they will be the first beneficiaries of the quality of the results.”

The result of the survey will be published at the FERMA Seminar, which will take place in Brussels on 20 and 21 October. 

Julia Graham