Achieving Business Excellence Frameworking Toolkit

Operational Risk Analysis

Operational risk analysis reveals how risk is managed in the operation of a facility.

The objective is to prepare an action plan to close the ‘gaps’ and deal with the most pressing risks with the resources available.

The method has five steps:

List the main service systems, such as electrical and water supply.
Identify the standards that apply to each system, such as Building Regulations and IEE Regulations.
Assess the performance of the systems and compare with the standards.
Create risk profiles for sections of the project and combine the profiles to produce a total risk curve.
Categorise the risk (for example green, amber and red) and identify the priorities for action and the resources available.

Operational risk strategy puts patients first (see Innovation 3) illustrates operational risk analysis in the context of a large acute hospital in Northern Ireland.

Note that operational risk analysis provides valuable feedback to establishing the joint vision for future similar projects.