The new Risk Management Standard has been downloaded more than 3,000 times from the AIRMIC website since its launch in London last September. At an average of almost 450 downloads per month, the standard has become the most popular document ever made available on the AIRMIC website. And, since it is also freely available from the websites of ALARM, The National Forum for Risk Management in the Public Sector (www.alarm-uk.com) and The Institute of Risk Management ( www.theIRM.org ), the number of copies downloaded could be many thousands more.
With the ease of internet and e-mail transference, the circulation of the standard is very likely running into tens of thousands. Google.com, the worldwide search-engine, has already ranked the standard at the top of its choice of website selections for 'risk management standard'.
This is good news for AIRMIC, the IRM, and ALARM, who pooled their expertise to formulate the new risk management standard in the hope that it would be become widely used both in the UK and internationally. Despite considerable development costs, the sponsoring organisations agreed that it should be made as widely available as possible at no cost.
Members of the three bodies have been encouraged to adopt the principles of the standard to help provide a major step forward in formalising the risk management framework within their individual organisations. A handy pocket-size summary of the standard's risk management process has also been published. ISO/IEC risk management vocabulary has been used throughout the 18-page standard.
Prior to publication the standard was rigorously examined by professional and authoritative groups throughout the business and regulatory communities. Based on website activity during its first six months, it appears the standard is fast becoming a seminal work for the risk management profession.
