Risk Management Pt. 1

First, risk management needs be to understood clearly. For schools, risk management is the “process of managing uncertainty of exposures that affect a school district’s assets and financial statements using the five steps: identification, analysis, control, financing and administration.”

As stated, risk management goes beyond financial losses, but also to the school’s assets.
You will learn in this ‘Risk Management Pt. 1” on ways to manage risk on the most important school asset, students and faculty.

When it comes to managing risk  you must first take a step back and think of all the possible ways danger could present itself to your students and faculty. This is called risk identification. Think of what can be controlled or prevented. Finding a slippery wet floor can be controlled easily by placing a caution sign then having the janitor quickly come to dry the area. Students getting into fights with each other can be quickly resolved by having the mediators or recess security trained on what to look for and how to problem solve.

One of the most important ways to manage risk for your faculty and students is by protecting them from outside visitors.
Many schools have a simple check-in process where the visitor writes down their name, their reason for being on campus, then they are handed a badge.

Can see what’s wrong with this process? Here are a few concerns that come to mind.
1. Is this visitor safe?
2. Has he been here before?
3. Does he have a record?
4. Is he who he says he is?

By having a visitor management system like KeepnTrack, any school can find out the important questions they need to know in order to protect themselves from a potential harmful person. Imagine knowing how many times or how frequent the visitor has been coming to the school, or knowing if they have a criminal background, or if they are on the sex offenders list, etc.

The first step in protecting your school against visitors is by knowing who the visitor really is before they enter the school.