Risk management

Risk management is an accepted practice in business activi­ties. Risk is the possibility of loss or injury. It is a part of everyday life for businesses and individuals. Individuals and businesses must evaluate the risks they face, and they should minimize the costs involved with those risks.

Risk management is not simply a matter of insuring against risk. It involves, first of all, surveying all the areas of risk to a com­pany and then preparing a series of recommendations to minimize potential losses from them. This is often done by risk management consultants. But some major companies have now appointed their own risk managers.

1. Fire is still the greatest potential risk. The risk manager can simply recommend bricking up a doorway or a hole in the wall of a warehouse to prevent fire from spreading. Or he can suggest a safer method of stacking. On the other hand, he can recommend installing a very expensive sprinkler system. This could save a company huge sums in insurance premiums.

2. Industrial espionage is another, constantly increasing risk. Computer security is particularly important, and it is absolute­ly vital that only authorized persons should have access to the in­formation stored in the computer. The risk manager will suggest methods of selecting computer staff and restricting access to it inside and outside working hours.

3. Working conditions are another area of risk manage­ment; even such ordinary things as ventilation, heating and lighting are important. These can expose a company to personal claims from staff for damage.

4. Accident prevention and a company's increased liability because of new consumer protection legislation are other, obvi­ously important areas.

5. A great many recommendations fall into the 'common sense' category. Suppose a company relies on only one supplier for a vital raw material. If that supplier suffers a total loss of pro­duction because of a fire, strike or some other reason, the compa­ny faces huge losses, and even more important, a permanent loss of market share. To prevent this, the risk manager or consultant might recommend coming to a two-way agreement with a com­petitor that in such a case the competitor would supply raw mate­rials to the assembly line. The agreement might even stipulate supplying the end product if that were necessary. Another exam­ple of this 'common sense category' is that all the top executives should never travel together in the same jet, or that valuable goods should not all be stored in one building but spread over a number of sites. Risk management is becoming more and more important as a concept.

III. Find the English equivalents:

возможность потери или повреждения, элемент повседневной жизни, бизнесмены и частные лица, свести затраты к минимуму, страховка от риска, ряд рекомендаций, большие компании, дверной проем или дыра в стене, предотвратить распространение огня, более безопасный способ, с другой стороны, устанавливать дорогую систему огнетушителей, сохранить для компании огромные суммы денег, страховые премии, компьютерная безопасность, особенно важно, иметь доступ к информации, хранить в компьютере, выбирать персонал, ограничивать доступ, часы работы, освещение и тепло, претензии от персонала, жизненно необходимое сырье, пострадать от потери всей продукции, вследствие пожара, чтобы предотвратить, двустороннее соглашение, ценные товары.

IV. Complete the sentences.

1. Risk is a part of …

1. Risk management involves …

1. Some major companies have …

1. Industrial espionage is …

1. Computer security is particularly …

1. A great many recommendations …

V. Agree or disagree to the following.

1. Risk management is an accepted practice in business activities.

2. Risk is the possibility of loss or injury.

3. Only businesses face risks.

4. All companies nowadays have their own risk managers.

5. The greatest potential risk is fire.

6. Expensive sprinkler system can save a company huge sums in insurance premiums.

7. All employees should have access to the information stored in the computer.

8. Ventilation, heating, lighting are important.

9. A great many recommendations fall into the “common sense” category.

10. Risk management is becoming less and less important as a concept.

VI. Decide what precautionary measures correspond to each of risks.

1. fire	1. to provide necessary ventilation, heating, lightning.
2. industrial espionage		2. to brick up a doorway or a hole in the of a warehouse
3. working conditions		3. to install expensive sprinkler system.
4. accident prevention		4. to restrict access to the computer.
5. “common sense” category		5. consumer protection legislation.
		6. two-way agreement with a competitor.
		7. top executives should never travel together in the same jet.
		8. valuable goods should not be stored in one building
		9. to provide necessary ventilation, heating, lightning.

.

VII. Say it in one word:

• to reduce smth (to m…)

• it is used to put out a fire (s…)

• antonym for “constant” (p…)

• expensive and necessary (v…)

• a person, who gives advice (c…)

• a system, that provides buildings with air (v…)

• a synonym for “products” (g…)

• the result of cooperation of two sides (a…)

VIII. Choose the word that doesn’t suit the others:

1. risk, loss, injury, damage, liability.

1. to minimize, to secure, to restrict, personal claims, to prevent.

1. vital, important, safe, huge, jet, total, major.

IX. Answer the questions.

1. What is risk?

1. Who faces risk in every day life?

1. What does a risk management involve?

1. What methods can be recommended in case of fire?

1. Why is computer securing so important nowadays?

1. What things constitute area of working conditions?

1. What is accident prevention?

1. What are the examples of “common sense” recommendations?

X. Speak to the following.

1. Think about other measures of preventing a fire.

2. What else can help a company to avoid industrial espionage?

3. Tell about another examples of “common sense” recommendations?

Lesson XIII

I. Read and translate the following international words without using a dictionary:

business, organization, computer, process, information, electronic, machine, to manipulate, specific, instruction, firm, operation, second, form, exclusively, university, agency, activity, personal, program, to transform, graphics, graph form, to organize, column, document, disk, material, expert, human, automation, function, effectively, to collect, magnetic, regularly, statistics, correctly, finally, verbal, text.

II. Remember the following words:

mainframe computer – очень большой компьютер

good-sized room – крупногабаритная комната

fraction – доля

desktop – настольный

inch – дюйм

electronic circuitry – электронная схема

large-scale – крупномасштабный

input unit – входное устройство

software – программное обеспечение

spread sheet – крупноформатная таблица

grid – сеть

to update – обновлять, модифицировать

manually – вручную

via – через, посредством

graph – график

chart – схема