It is widely recognised within the National Animal Health System that the efficient and effective deployment of available animal health resources and skills requires that there be a shared view of the priority of the various issues to be addressed and that the available resources should be deployed to issues in order of their priority.

It is also widely accepted that issues should be prioritised on the basis of the risk they pose to Australia's animal health status and access to markets. What has been lacking within the Australian animal health system is a commonly agreed process for assessing risk and therefore assigning priorities to the various issues facing the system.

To address this deficiency, Animal Health Australia commissioned Impact Consulting Group in 2004 to develop a risk assessment process that could be applied across the animal health system to evaluate and manage risk and to assign priorities.

The process developed by Impact Consulting Group is based very heavily on the Australian Standard for Risk Management AS 4360 and follows the process steps defined therein:

1. Establish the context

2. Identify risk

3. Analyse risk

4. Evaluate risk

5. Determine risk treatment

6. Monitor and review

7. Communicate and consult

In its development, the process was thoroughly tested in the course of pilot studies undertaken with the cooperation of NSW Department of Primary Industries and Primary Industries and Resources South Australia and has subsequently been applied to a number of studies undertaken by Animal Health Australia.

A focus of the pilot studies was the relevance and applicability of the process to the assessment of jurisdictional conformance with the National Animal Health Performance Standards. It is apparent from these studies that the process has application to the assessment of performance against the standards; the development of actions to address any deficiencies revealed in the assessment process and to the auditing of compliance with the Performance Standards.

Animal Health Australia encourages stakeholders in the Australian animal health system to use the National Animal Health Risk Assessment Process in evaluating the animal health risks associated with their activities; to identify opportunities for improving performance and for prioritising the application of available resources.

Click here to view the User Manual for the National Animal Health Risk Management Process (974 KB)

Page Updated: 1 July 2005