The implementation of a risk management programme in Irish local authorities

Abstract

Irish local authorities and their insurer have experienced increasing liability losses during the past ten years. To combat this situation their insurer requested the local authorities to implement a risk management programme. Risk management is aimed at reducing the cost of risk by identifying, evaluating and handling risk by both physical and financial means. As a management function risk management should form part of the formulation of the strategy of the organisation, strategy being a means of setting direction in the long term. Once formulated a strategy must be implemented. This dissertation reviews the methods used by the insurer and the local authorities to implement a risk management programme and establishes the barriers that were faced during the course of implementation and the attempts made to overcome them. It considers the integration of risk management into strategy and recommends a tentative means of overcoming the problems of implementation.