KUCHING: ASTEEL Group (Asteel) this year has been prompted to re-assess the company’s mitigation plans, after taking into account pandemic planning considerations.
Dato Seri Victor Hii Lu Thian
According to founder and managing director Dato Seri Victor Hii Lu Thian, Asteel has a risk management in place to safeguard its shareholders’ investment and asset.
“To mitigate risks, we have devised a robust and comprehensive framework which identifies four risk categories and their corresponding potential risks,” Hii said.
“These categories are Significant, High, Medium, and Low; and are effective in improving Asteel’s operational efficiency.
“The framework also allows us to review how risk owners implement their action plans, effectively and efficiently.
“However, the pandemic has prompted us to re-assess our mitigation plans taking in account pandemic planning considerations, which were not incorporated initially in our business continuity and disaster recovery strategies.”
Hii revealed that in the ‘new normal’, Asteel would need to perform an immediate assessment on the company’s process and functions, third-party dependencies, including understanding the key risks and impact involved.
Asteel’s team will conduct a business impact analysis, to identify the chain of activities and functions, along with interdependencies (such as people, process, technology, data, facilities and third parties) and related impacts, to inform the group on potential mitigation strategies.
Some of the things that Asteel has taken into consideration include reviewing the company’s crisis communication plans by appointing single points of contact to ensure seamless engagement with authorities as well as its stakeholders.
Others included revisiting potential policy exceptions and crisis management approval process to take into consideration exceptions on an accelerated basis of each component.
Asteel is also reviewing its manpower and their capabilities to perform critical tasks remotely. The company is also ensuring that its employees update their contact information in its records.
In addition, Asteel is updating its standard operating procedures and manuals, as necessary, monitoring any emerging threats and issues that may impact its business and conducting brief pandemic training with employees to enhance employee and organisational preparedness to respond effectively.
“We also have to ensure that we have a clearly documented framework – including risk tolerance, which is supported by an effective governance process to make risk acceptance decisions,” Hii added.