Stormy Weather

Speaking at September’s IRM forum was David Crichton, visiting professor at the Benfield Hazard Research Centre at University College London. He focused in particular on UK flood risk, where he said the number of winter storms in the last 50 years had doubled.

Crichton warned that in England flood risk exposure is growing as more people are living near the coast or rivers, over 70% of schools and hospitals have no flood defences, and homes are built in flood hazard areas. Crichton told the conference that 90% of UK small businesses are not fully insured against flood risk. He also suggested that the UK government can expect to earn more money from VAT on the reconstruction work in the wake of a severe storm than it spends on prevention.

Conference attendees were also asked to use voting software to gauge the perception of climate change risk. Just over a third (34%) of respondents said climate change was not being discussed at board level in terms of business planning. 25% said weather damage to property was the biggest risk from climate change for their organisation in the next 10 years.

Karren Brady, managing director of Birmingham City Football Club, and Doug Richard, founder and chairman of Library House, also provided a business entrepreneur’s view of risk management.