Case study 2.15

Asset management for public entities: Learning from local government examples.

Invercargill City Council – Adopting a standardised approach to risk management means individual managers can focus on managing the risks rather than worrying about what risk management approach to take

Invercargill City Council has adopted a risk management process consistent with the Australian/New Zealand Standard AS/NZS: 4360 Risk management.

The Standard specifies the elements of the risk management process, and allows organisations to develop their own risk management systems consistent with the Standard, but specific to the organisation’s needs. The Standard provides a generic guide for managing risk. The Council has developed this into an approach that it applies to its assets. The Standard is applicable to all stages in the life of an activity, function, project, product, or asset.

Invercargill City Council has a corporate risk analysis process that it has incorporated into its asset management planning. Each asset management plan has a risk register. Risks are identified against community and strategic outcomes. The risk process identifies potential effects on levels of service and identifies existing and proposed control or mitigation measures.

In common with other councils planning for civil defence and emergency management, Invercargill has identified its critical assets as part of the “Lifelines” project. However, it has gone further and made the link to its own risk management processes, as well as identifying critical parts of the network from the point of view of the public and providers of other services (for example, Telecom).