Risk Management

Create a culture of risk awareness and mitigate identified high priority/serious exposure agency risks.

 

Importance:

The Governor’s Executive Order 16-06 highlighted the need for all state employees to be aware of and know how to assess risk in their daily duties.  DSHS has responsibility for numerous state resources, most importantly client and employee welfare. It is necessary to assess what potential and probable risks might affect business operations and the quality of care to our clients.  DSHS leaders must understand the most serious exposures and make informed decisions about how to deploy resources that lessen risk. In addition to preventing loss of life or assets and/or expensive litigation, developing and sustaining a risk management framework throughout DSHS also can lead to innovation for mitigating risk. DSHS’s risk management initiative is critical to comply with Governor Inslee’s executive order.   

 

Success Measures:

  • Implement risk awareness and assessment (including root cause analysis for loss prevention) training on a rolling basis so that all DSHS supervisors, management staff and frontline staff have completed this training by June 2021.

  • Raise risk awareness through agency-wide communication:

    • Make available to all staff a monthly communication by October 2017.

    • Publish 15 risk-related articles in DSHS’ internal communications options, Inside DSHS and This Week on Inside DSHS by June 2019.

    • Make a series of videos available to all staff on basic elements of risk management and on mitigating risk.

  • Build a comprehensive risk register process:

    • Develop a consolidated agency-wide risk register by May 30 of each year.

    • Provide an up-to-date risk register to the Department of Enterprise Services by September 1 of each year.

  • Develop action plans by June 30 of each year for all of the top risks identified.

 

Action Plan:

  • Align the risk register process with the legislative submission and budget development processes.
  • Identify and assess top risks for inclusion on the agency risk register.
  • Finalize risk register and prioritize top agency risks for mitigation.
  • Update administrative policy 9-13: Enterprise Risk Management annually, in compliance with Executive Order 16-06.
  • Monitor risk mitigation action plans quarterly.
  • Offer online risk awareness and assessment training and provide in-person risk awareness and assessment trainings and workshops.
  • Develop a communication plan with agency risk staff to generate content.Write articles and film videos for Inside DSHS and This Week on Inside DSHS highlighting risk mitigation successes and risk awareness tips.