| Recognising and responding to the common causes for the deterioration of stock contained in a controlled environment is vital in the long-term battle for cost and operational efficiency. Keith Gallois and Gerry Heffernan of Chubb Insurance report
Wouldn’t you rather be in control of the risks that face your business instead of hoping that your insurance policy will cover you in the event of a disaster? Property loss incidents within the biopharmaceutical sector are fairly infrequent, whereas losses arising from a change in controlled environment – mostly malfunction or loss of power to fridges or freezers – are comparatively high. The storage of refrigerated stock is a key exposure faced by most contract manufacture or research organisations, and the successful management of this exposure needs to form part of any integrated risk management programme.
ASSESSING THE RISK
To understand the risks you face, the first thing you need to do is carry out an initial assessment of the risk exposure. You need to evaluate how business-critical the contents of the refrigeration units are. Values may range from a few hundred pounds if contents are stored there merely to extend shelf life, to hundreds of thousands of pounds and months of valuable time to replace, impacting your revenue and your client’s research and development operations. An initial assessment should include the following questions: |
