How to determine risk and an idea around managing Omicron risk

Someone told me the other day that people view or access risk according to A. the likelihood of it happening and B. the consequences.

So if the consequences are huge (like death) but the likelihood is extremely low, they might not view it as much of a risk. Or if the likelihood is high but the consequences are insignificant, that’s a low risk. But if the consequences are really bad and the likelihood of it happening is enough to cause you sleepless nights, then you’d consider that high risk.

Obviously, everyone’s idea of risk is different, depending on their appetite for risk and how they view the consequences. Apply it to Covid, for example.

So with Omicron in the community today and what we’ve seen happening in Australia, I’d say that the risk we need to assess as business owners is A. the likelihood of your team catching Omicron and needing to isolate AND the likelihood of them being a close contact and needing to isolate and then B. what the consequences of that would look like for your business… For many, having an entire team at home isolating would have a huge impact on the operation of their business – cafes with a small number of staff, for example, might have to close completely.

My advice: if you can’t have the team working from home, try to organise spilt shifts with no crossover of staff. That way, if someone in your team gets Covid or is a close contact of someone with Covid, it doesn’t mean you lose an entire team for a week or more. Maybe you could split premises, have some people work mornings and not afternoons, have people work different days of the week, or even look at night shifts.

Just something to ponder when doing a risk assessment and how to mitigate that risk in your business over the coming weeks to prevent even more disruption…