Risk Management Event
 

Hey Guys,

So I am the new Risk Manager of my fraternity and for one of my first jobs, I need to think of a Risk Management event for the fraternity. Last year, they got firemen to come to the house, smoke out a room, and practice and talk to us about proper fire evacuation procedure and safety.

Now I need to plan one. Does anyone have any creative ideas like that?

Probably not so appropriate for a fraternity but the sorority chapter I advise has hosted self-defense chapter developments to teach the ladies how to better protect themselves. Always a fun one when you can practice what is being taught and take out some aggression on well padded "dummies".

(Assuming you're a national organization) I would consider contacting your HQ about some topics that other chapters have successfully hosted. They may be able to supply you with some curriculum to follow to make your job easier.

Another thought ... What about contacting a local police department/MADD chapter to see about having a drunk driving presentation where you use an "altered" vehicle to illustrate what it is like attempting to operate a vehicle drunk? That sounds like a fun and active event to prove a risk management point.

We just had a risk management presentation on safe alcohol use. We had someone come in and teach us how to calculate our BAC, the Langdon Street officer (the officer in charge of our Greek row) come in (this was really useful, because we got to ask him questions about what exactly will get you fined and ticketed), and we went over our risk management policy. It was really useful, especially the part with the officer.

Every time I hear about people doing things with their BAC all I can think of is the WKRP episode where Johnny drank more and his reaction time got better.

Risk Mgmt
 

Sometimes its the more practical problems that should be tackled vs the catastrophic ones. One of the things I did when creating RM Policy was to have the undergrads, at whatever chapter I happen to be supervising, re-enact a normal party. Usually takes an hour from how they set everything up to how they close the party. Then look at things they can do to prevent extremely excessive drinking, preventing DUIs, property damage, making sure everyone gets to their cars without incident, and other possible liabilities. I figured it would be more important since these are more common, and unless your a pro at emergency mgmt, typical reaction for something like a house fire or whatever is to get away and call 911.

Something that might be helpful for something like the bigger stuff though:

http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/

Most communities have classes that teach emergency response. The training is geared toward being a community volunteer in case of emergency, kinda like a third string back up for fire and police but still has a lot of great stuff on personal risk mgmt and emergency response. Also, at least for Jersey City, we were given the tools and training to do stuff like turning off water/gas/electric for our house.

-Chris

Another idea could be to have the Red Cross or your school's Heath Center come and certify members in First Aid and CPR. The training would only be minimal time and cost and would be beneficial for all members. The certifications are generally good for at least 2 years and some are good for up to 5 years.