On Personal Risk Management

How to assess and plan for risks to safety in your own life
by Michael Zimmer - Vorticity Martial Arts
January 2, 2004
What is personal risk management? It is a systematic way for planning on how to deal with risks, that is done prior to the appearance of the risk. It is drawn from the discipline of risk management which has emerged as a way to systematically evaluate threats and implement plans to deal with them in a large number of contexts. These range over diverse areas such as aircraft design, systems management, finance, insurance, and other disciplines too numerous to list here. This article outlines a simple approach for applying systematic thinking about risk to evaluate your own personal safety (or another's personal safety) in the context of environmental hazards, including threats from bullies, criminals and other predators.

Introduction

What is personal risk management? It is a systematic way for planning on how to deal with risks, that is done prior to the appearance of the risk. It is drawn from the discipline of risk management which has emerged as a way to systematically evaluate threats and implement plans to deal with them in a large number of contexts. These range over diverse areas such as aircraft design, systems management, finance, insurance, and other disciplines too numerous to list here. This article outlines a simple approach for applying systematic thinking about risk to evaluate your own personal safety (or another's personal safety) in the context of environmental hazards, including threats from bullies, criminals and other predators.

The Approach

1) Plan

A) SURVEY i) Determine areas of danger ii) Qualify with specific conditions for occurrence including triggering events iii) Calculate chances of occurrence iv) Rate severity of consequences v) Determine importance vi) Categorize by chance of occurrence and severity of the consequences vii) For those of sufficient importance determine: (1) Effective strategies to reduce the odds (2) Effective strategies to reduce the severity of the consequences B) STRATEGIZE i) Categorize strategies as to degree of effectiveness and cost to implement ii) Include cost of lost opportunities as well as outlays of time and money iii) Choose most workable, most cost effective strategies

2) Prepare (detailed strategy and tactics)

A) TRAIN i) Human psychology ii) Animal psychology iii) Self-defence iv) Running v) Swimming vi) Home security vii) First aid, CPR (breath of life) viii) Defensive driving B) PURCHASE EQUIPMENT i) House, vehicle and personal alarms ii) House lighting iii) House and vehicle locks iv) Weapons v) Communications devices C) PREPARE ENVIRONMENT i) Practice strategy and tactics (1) Self-defence scenarios - Escapes from standing holds and pins - Escape from on ground holds and pins - Avoiding blows - Hitting and throwing - Using escape routes - Using environment as an aid - Use of self-defence devices (2) Running (3) Swimming (4) First aid, CPR (breath of life) (5) Defensive driving

3) Execute

A) IMPLEMENT STRATEGIES TO REDUCE PROBABILITY OF RISK B) MONITOR THE ENVIRONMENT FOR RISKY SITUATIONS C) AVOID SITUATIONS WHICH ARE DETECTED EARLY D) DEAL WITH SITUATIONS WHICH ARE DETECTED LATE i) Flee ii) Seek assistance from others iii) Utilize environment for assistance iv) Hide v) Find a weapon vi) Throw up obstacles vii) Put yourself in a protected position (1) Up a tree (2) In a car (3) In a locked room viii) Deal with situation using psychology (1) Defuse if possible (2) Intimidate if feasible (rarely successful without a weapon and will) ix) Deal with situation at a physical level (1) Fight back with intent (2) Get a superior weapon if possible E) DEAL WITH THE AFTERMATH F) MEDICAL ASSISTANCE FOR YOU, BYSTANDERS, AND PERHAPS ASSAILANT G) POLICE H) LAWYER

4) Assess

A) TO WHAT DEGREE WAS I SUCCESSFUL? i) Have I been able to implement my plan? (1) Do the dangers, probabilities, and consequences still seem realistically understood? ii) Did the strategies and tactics work? (1) Did my measures to reduce the chances of problems work? (2) Did my measures to reduce the severity of the consequences work? (3) Do I need more training and more practice? B) WHAT SHOULD I DO TO REASSESS THE DANGERS AND THE RISK MANAGEMENT MEASURES?

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