Risk management

Is the door always open?

One important risk-management issue, which is often overlooked, is an open-door policy for all employees, where staff are comfortable discussing any issues they may have regarding colleagues or the running of a practice.

The reason an open-door policy is so important is because it will help to pinpoint exactly where things are going wrong within the firm.

It is often simple things which result in a negligence claim and if you can make sure that all staff are reporting relevant issues, this could go some way to reducing your negligence claims.

Here we outline some commonplace problems which can occur.

How confident are you that if your colleagues were facing such problems there would be someone they could talk to?

- Too much work.

Does your practice actively encourage staff to identify when they do not have the capacity to take on extra work? Or could it be the case that your staff are scared to say no because they believe they will be seen as inefficient and not up to the job? When people are overloaded with work they tend to miss things or make mistakes, and these mistakes can result in claims being made against a practice.

- Time Management.

Missed deadlines are one of the main causes for negligence claims and as a result, time management is an important area for every practice.

A partner may have completed one aspect of the workload before the deadline, but if the secretary has only four hours to type a 200-page document, chances are the deadline will be missed.

- Prioritisation.

In today's environment, managing workload is increasingly difficult.

It is crucial to be able to prioritise and delegate where appropriate.

Having a system of cases marked urgent, very urgent and imperative will not deal with caseload in a risk-effective way.

Time management is key not only to preventing claims, but to delivering an effective service to your clients.

- Repetitive work.

Is there one person in the office who always seems to end up with the most onerous of jobs? This is another problem which many law firms face, owing to the monotony of some repetitive tasks.

Most people work best when stimulated, and if someone is actively interested in what they are working on, they are less likely to make mistakes.

Obviously, there is not enough exciting work for everyone to do all of the time, but it is important to make sure you know what each colleague is working on, and to make sure the interesting work gets shared around.

These are all reasons for mistakes occurring and subsequent negligence claims being made against a practice.

Whether you have one designated person for each employee to go to, or whether you practise a mentoring system, it is important that all staff know there is someone who will listen to, and more importantly act on, their problems.

If your firm practises such an approach, then there is a good chance these everyday mistakes will rarely be repeated.

This column was prepared by the Alexander Forbes Professions risk-management team