Ideas for Risk Management Coord.

[south texan]

Hello All,

I am currently the Risk Management Coord. for the newest addition to D Phi E, Colony Mu. I am wondering if anyone has any ideas that can help me get a solid foundation for our colony. I would greatly apperciate any ideas.

Anna

[doubleblue&gold]

Of course first check with your national organizaion on policies. As a colony if you don't have a house to worry about (insurance, fire alarms, 24 lock down) I bet the biggest would be social---such as alcohol and drug policies, getting to parties, etc. Basically think about any practices that sisters or the group as a whole could get you into legal trouble----to start with.

[Eupolis]

-- and remember that more often than not, it's the unintentional but not carefully thought out mishaps that can get people in trouble.

Lots of people don't like to think about risk management because it involves a lot of worst-case-scenario thinking. When you're planning an event, think, "Okay, in the worst case scenario, what can happen that someone would try to blame us for?" Some scenarios you can exclude as completely outlandish, but there are a lot that you can imagine and avoid. Also, what counts is not what is actually the organization's fault, but what someone could try to blame you for (because even if you win in court, it's expensive), and what you could have prevented if you'd thought about it beforehand.

Fundamentally, your (the colony's and all of its members') legal responsibilities fall into these categories:
1) To abstain from intentionally harming anyone;
2) To undertake the precautions that objectively reasonable and prudent persons would take to prevent harms that an objectively prudent person would foresee (legally, this is decided after the fact, which is why you have to think ahead!);
3) To satisfy the requirements of your organization's insurance policies;
4) To commit no criminal behavior.

The sorority is a corporation covered by corporate law and the law of agency. Without going into details, this means that the corporation can be responsible as a whole for some wrongs of its officers, and the officers can sometimes be personally responsible for the wrongs of the corporation (for example, if the officer directs the conduct or fails to act when she has an affirmative duty to prevent it and knows about the facts that should give her the knowledge that there's a problem).

So, now that I've gone and scared you, what do you need?

1) As much advice from headquarters as you can get! Fortunately, they will be thrilled to advise you endlessly on risk management. It may be up to you to figure out the details of how risk management policies designed for larger chapters will work in your colony.
2) The respect and support of the members. Fortunately, people are usually more inclined to follow rules if you can explain why the rules exist.
3) Imagination. It's no fun to brainstorm risks, but it's very satisfying to say, "you know, I thought of that problem, and it's taken care of." You may run into resistance if you present an entire list of possible risks to the chapter ("oh, come on, that would never happen!"), but if you pick out the biggest risks and suggest rules that are engineered to prevent them as well as the more outlandish problems, that'll probably go over well.

Beyond all of this, though the number one most valuable asset in risk management is to have members who care about one another, who respect each other and the organization, and who are serious about looking out for each other. It's much easier to build a fun organization that operates safely on that foundation than on any other. Spend energy cultivating this, and you'll have fewer other problems. You still need to do the other stuff, but a solid foundation in the chapter's personality makes a big difference.

[James]

Well. And well.

Think Mafia Lawer. Think TRANSFER liability. Think FRIENDS in high places.

ITs your job to find legal ways for your people to do what they want to do.

When you find yourself saying NO a lot, then you are failing your people.

What Euopolis said is very correct, you just need to find ways within the system to do what you want.

I will say one thing: You will be sued if something goes wrong. IT costs very little to initiate a law suit and its an easy way to get information. Deal with that fact.

But you can limit or transfer your liability.

[James]

Transferring Liability.

The whole point of the Third Party Vendor or having an event on someone else's property is to make sure they are the focal point of the law suit.

You will still be sued! You will almost always be sued!

But they have the brunt of liability for serving underage people and the safety of their premises. Falls, assaults etc.

You can have a lot of events if someone else is serving the alcohol and its at someone else's place.

Actually sororities have been famous for this for years. The girls party at Fraternity Houses that have traditionally provided the alcohol and the space, and therefore have taken the fall if anything went wrong . . . good move on the girl's parts .

[Eupolis]

I'll recharacterize a bit of what James said.

It's true, people won't like it if you tell them "no" every time they want to do something. Your biggest legal risk is probably the risk of getting sued in civil court because something went wrong at a formal colony/chapter function and someone got hurt. The second biggest legal risk is probably the same thing for informal colony/chapter functions.

I'm not saying "never do anything that might involve some kind of risk." You'd end up not doing anything. What risk management entails is coming up with ways to make the risks small -- taking the reasonable steps to minimize the risks you can foresee.

For example, there's a conversation around here somewhere that has some posts about fraternity parties and security. If a fraternity is going to have a party -- even a dry party -- it needs to have some people at all times who are monitoring security. For my chapter that meant at least six people -- three people monitoring doors (only one of which was open for entry) and three more moving around the party. Risk management can mean making sure the stairs in a house are properly cleaned and that any rugs or carpeting in a meeting room aren't going to trip people. It doesn't necessarily mean harsh and restrictive rules. But like I said, you'll have less need for restrictive rules if people are really watching out for each other and for themselves.

[south texan]

All of this information is going to be extremely helpful when we decide to plan our events. I really appreciate it, and keep it coming.

Anna

Delta Phi Epsilon
Colony Mu