President's Message

What is a risk manager? What does a risk manager do? I cannot tell you how many times I hear these questions when I tell someone what I do for a living. Almost without fail during social situations, the subject of one’s chosen profession comes up. When the response is a doctor, lawyer, accountant or a schoolteacher, the answer is self-explanatory. What happened to risk manager?

While our chosen profession is one that has been around awhile, it is still trying to find itself. To further confuse things, the banking industry has adopted the term risk manager to describe someone who deals in financial risk, most often on the lending side.

As President of the Chapter, I have had the pleasure to speak to many executive recruiters this year. Just before I give them Becky Smith’s contact information as our placement director, I ask about the position. This is not because I am seeking employment; it is because I am curious as to the job descriptions that run the gamut. The only thing I know is I have never seen two job descriptions that are the same. With each position comes a different set of responsibilities.

Our risk management members have diverse responsibilities. They report to different managers depending on the corporate structure. Some risk managers deal solely in insurance. Some have insurance as a minority responsibility. Today's risk manager can have responsibility for insurance, safety, security, transportation, facilities, environmental, and the list goes on. Today's risk manger might report to the treasurer, CFO, CEO, human resources, or finance director. Today’s risk manager might be a manager, as the title implies, or might be the Director of Risk Management, or the VP of Risk Management, or even the CRO, the Chief Risk Officer. Whatever your title or responsibilities are, we must promote our profession.

I do not know too many of us who started out wanting to be a risk manager. There are some, however most of us ended up here through opportunity and chance. Now there are undergrad and graduate degrees in risk management, where the next generation can receive a degree and hit the ground running. This all brings me to the point of this message. We as a collective group must get the word out about what we do. RIMS National is working tirelessly on this message. Ellen Vinck, our National President, is on a speaking tour that would rival a national political figure.  When you are given the opportunity to describe your job, take a moment and promote our profession. Collectively we can get the word out. I look forward to the day when I am asked what I do and my response is met with an acknowledgement of what it is we do for a living.

Dennis Healy

L.A. RIMS Chapter President

Important Notice “Blocking Your Cell Phone Number"

Many of our members may have already heard that your cell phone service provider is considering selling/giving your cell phone number out to telemarketers, beginning in September 2005.  To verify, you might want to contact your cell phone service provider. 

If you do not wish for your phone number to be given out, you can prevent this by calling 888 382-1222.  The national DO NOT CALL REGISTRY is brought to you by the California Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission.  You may also use their website at www.Donotcall.gov.  Once you call from your cell phone number, it will be effective immediately and will stay in place for 5-years.

New training guidelines are available to protect maintenance and other employees exposed to mold.  In the absence of federal regulations, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) has developed  Guidelines for the Protection and Training of Workers Engaged in Maintenance and Remediation Work Associated with Mold.

NIEHS urges trainers to follow basic principles, including:

• Remove fungal damage in buildings and address the underlying causes.
• Provide respiratory protection and training, with NIOSH-approved N-95 disposable respirators as a minimum level of protection.
• Base personal protection on specific tasks that increase mold exposure, not on measured exposure levels.

To obtain the guidelines, visit http://www.niehs.nih.gov NIEHS is an agency of the National Institutes of Health.

Jump-Starting a Defibrillator Program

Each year, there are 325,000 victims of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), or ventricular fibrillation in this country, according to the Heart Rhythm Foundation.  About 95 percent of them die before they reach a hospital, and some 10,000 of the fatalities occur at work.  Without medical intervention, a victim will collapse, lose consciousness, and die.

Downloadable Software Addresses Terrorist Building Threats

Risk assessment software to help building owners and managers guard against terrorist threats to their facilities has been developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

The software uses a three-step process for developing a risk-mitigation plan.  It helps users look at possible damage scenarios and explore strategies to reduce vulnerability, such as engineering alternatives and management practices.

It also helps evaluate the costs of possible mitigation strategies and determine which is most cost-effective.

The software can be downloaded at no cost from http://www2.bfrl.nist.gov/software/CET/

L.A. RIMS Luncheon