A Culture of Risk Management

Hiring competent employees and engraving it into your company’s culture are great strategies for creating a culture of risk management.

If the past two years have taught us anything, it’s the importance of planning for the unexpected. No one was prepared for a global pandemic or the new risks that came with it.

A great way to ensure you can prepare for the unexpected risks is to make it part of your club’s culture. Gainesville Health and Fitness (GHF) has been doing exactly that.

“At GHF, we believe risk management starts with the integration and ownership of risk across all departments organizational-wide,” said Noah Hastay, the operations manager for GHF. “If risk mitigation is top of mind for each employee, decisions will be made accordingly.”

COVID-19 has forced many organizations, including GHF, to make coordinated decisions across multiple departments simultaneously. Hastay said real-time communication is a key component of this process to ensure the proper problems are being proactively — and sometimes reactively — addressed. “We had to ensure we eliminated information bottlenecks by giving access to information about potential risks and solutions without instilling unnecessary fear,” he explained.

In order to have efficient communication, you first must have competent employees who are passionate about serving and protecting members. Next, Hastay recommended each department and employee assess every situation in the club to determine the potential risk, evaluate the severity of the potential risk, determine if they have the tools to mitigate this risk or if it needs to be escalated to management. Then solve it if necessary.

“Ongoing walkthroughs with staff are what we have found is the best training we could do to ensure they know what to look for in this ever-changing landscape,” said Hastay. “Risk can come in many shapes and sizes — from physical facility to cybersecurity. Showing our staff what to be on the lookout for on a day-to-day basis has proven to be the most effective way to stay ahead of potential issues.”

Another organization that is prioritizing on-demand and on-going training to its employees when it comes to risk management is Club Fitness.

“In 2020 Club Fitness made a significant investment in employee development and training by implementing a robust Learning Management System that creates, launches, tracks and reports on employee training programs,” said Tina Hall, the vice president of human resources for Club Fitness. “In addition, in 2021 we hired a learning and development manager with a doctorate in curriculum development to help us build our learning paths, with a stronger emphasis on safety. Each new employee hired is required to attend and complete safety training, which includes understanding OSHA standards and regulations, as well as how to prevent accidents and injuries, and identify and report potential safety concerns.”

Additionally, Club Fitness has prioritized risk management strategies by forming close partnerships with OSHA and their loss prevention team to continuously review and update relevant and required safety protocols and training.

“Through our partnerships we were educated on how to proactively manage loss by implementing a robust safety training curriculum for new employees as well as annual compliance,” explained Hall. “We implemented a process where leadership conducts thorough post-accident/injury assessments to determine cause and possible mitigating steps to prevent re-occurrence. We are very proud of our robust claims management practices — developed in partnership with our insurance agent — and have benefited from lower rates for our general liability and worker’s compensation insurance.”

Another way your facility can prevent potential problems is by making sure your members are aware of their part in risk management.

For example, GHF decided to no longer allow a certain style of lift in their facility after someone almost injured another member by improperly performing the movement. A way they inform members is through signage. Hastay said this can be effective if it is in the right location, the right size and speaks a simple message. However, he warned that having too much signage can have the adverse effect in which people won’t read any of it. It’s important to be selective on what you make into a sign.

“Aside from signage, using overhead messages, messages on the TV screens throughout the club and verbally educating members are other methods of communicating risk management methods to the members,” said Hastay.

To convey their higher standards and safety protocols to members, Club Fitness leveraged its social media platforms, email databases and in-club signage. It also provides employees with training on how to foster a respectful environment by properly sharing policies, protocols — including safety — and culture with our members when a potential safety concern is observed, including inappropriate or unwanted behavior. The policy also states any potential harm, threat or risk to a member or employee must be reported to the chief operations officer or human resources immediately.

Overall, there are a plethora of ways to prepare for potential risks in your facility. However, hiring competent employees and engraving it into your company’s culture will ensure you and your team can handle whatever is thrown at you.