Like me I’m sure you would’ve noticed all the media and literature, quoting scientific studies that talk about gratitude being important to mental health and wellbeing, happiness and resilience. With family who live in America, I enjoy participating in Thanksgiving with them in whatever way that I can and

RMS team members visited Fiji – a week in October and a week in November – to survey Adventist Church-owned sites. Greer Jackson and Andrew Mowbray are pictured above with Josh and Pr Senitiki Waqa from Fiji Mission. Covering 96 sites, they travelled by 4WD, trucks, minivans, ferries, dinghies

Off the back of a weekend of unprecedented bushfires, large regions of NSW and QLD now face catastrophic fire conditions tomorrow. TOTAL FIRE BAN IN EFFECT. If your area is under threat of bushfire, or potential fire, please keep the following in mind: DO NOT put your life at

Members of the RMS team participated in 3 days of professional development at the Adventist Business Professionals Conference on the Gold Coast, held June 4-6, 2019. RMS were invited to host a plenary session and several workshops on a variety of risk and safety topics. It meant a lot

Earlier this year, two of our RMS representatives enjoyed the warm hospitality of Kanwal Seventh-day Adventist Church. Risk Officers Andrew Mowbray and Linzi Aitken met with Alister, Donna and Geoff who are the beautiful folk who have put their hearts and souls into Kanwal Church’s ‘Cornerstone Cafe’. Every Wednesday

On the night of 12 February, 2018, Tropical Cyclone Gita passed over the islands of Tonga. It was a Category 4 cyclone that wreaked havoc across the nation. Adventist Church-owned homes, schools, offices and churches sustained damage with some sites left uninhabitable and unsafe. How would life get ‘back

Join us in welcoming Greer Jackson to the role of Senior Financial Systems Specialist! We knew it was going to be tough to fill the shoes of our previous IT guru, but thankfully, great things take time and we’re delighted to welcome Greer Jackson who completes our team by

Well it is out with the old and in with the brand aligned, scale-able and mobile compatible online presence.   Earlier in May, and with the help, guidance and technical expertise of the designers and developers at eBrands, we quietly launched our new website. We are pleased that our

Have you ever had to provide RMS with a long, carefully itemised list of your organisation’s tablets, laptops and computers? We know it can be a drag.   In an effort to improve efficiency and reduce the burden of providing RMS with an itemised list of computers, laptops and

Culture. It is a big deal right now in businesses and organisations. We talk about “cultural fit” in employment, we talk about “workplace culture” as either toxic or healthy, and we’ve heard a lot about some rather questionable ethical cultures within the banking industry. The Adventist Church has its

When something goes wrong, when a mistake is made, do we question our systems and processes or do we find someone to blame? Is our objective retribution or restoration? As a Christian, Adventist organisation what side of this fence should we sit? Does our culture need to change? Just

There’s a new theory around password security worth sharing. South Pacific pision personnel enjoyed a recent IT security training session where we learnt that the old way of making passwords – choose a word, substitute some letters for numbers or symbols, 8 characters minimum – could be hacked by

A safe workplace recognises family. You have families, friends, pets… some people even have cats. Every day you give of yourself; you contribute something positive to the world either through your job, through volunteering, or simply making a hot, nourishing meal for your family. You are loved and you

Studies show that focusing and immersing yourself in one task at a time is the answer to boosting your productivity, increasing accuracy and improving your brain on a biological level.   Psychologists and neurology experts call it “single-tasking” and research shows that it is better for your brain, and

Australia’s Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) Act 2017 and Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) are both now in effect, with New Zealand not far behind. This is a clear indication that it is time to get serious about data security and protecting the privacy of individuals. In Australia,

Our Church organisation is regularly involved with and in control of recreational activities that bear varying degrees of risk, for example; bike riding, abseiling, canoeing. Recently, some inquiries have come through to us about whether or not a particular activity is “allowed” or “covered by insurance”, for example, trampolining*.

“Hello?” “Hello, is that Mrs Jane Smith?”  Mrs Jane Smith does not recognise the number or the voice calling her, and she’s savvy enough not to confirm her identity. How does she get out of this one politely? “Ah…” she hesitates then quickly blurts, “if you’re selling something I’m

You’re pushing to make a deadline and you’re about to rush out the door for a lunch meeting but you really need to send that file on before you head out. You click ‘Forward’, type a few letters in the ‘To:’ field and let Outlook fill in the rest,

Taking over the reins of RMS, and replacing Paul Rubessa as Manager is our own Jonathan Hale. For the past six years, Jonathan has served as Assistant Manager for RMS, a role which allowed him to demonstrate his effective claims management skills, attention to detail, great communication and discernment,

Professor Sidney Dekker, Director of the Safety Science Innovation Lab at Griffith University, along with his team have produced a film that cites real-life, Australian examples, of organisations that have questioned the traditional safety hierarchy and bureaucracy. These organisations recognised that despite more and more bureaucracy and compliance requirements

We invited our corporate travellers to share their best tips, tricks and shortcuts to keeping safe, efficient, connected, healthy and happy while travelling. The travellers who gave the best answers received a nifty powerbank – the perfect traveller’s companion.   The judging panel were asked to choose the best

There are two types of funding support available to eligible Adventist organisations for risk and safety programs and initiatives.   RMS Risk Dollars. Work Smarter. Risk Management’s own funding initiative is specifically for helping church organisations solve identified risk and safety-related issues. Some may incorrectly presume that we are “giving away”

RMS Manager, Paul Rubessa, has accepted a call to lead ADRA Australia as their new CEO. Paul has served in RMS for 11 years, the last 7 years as Manager. During that time his foresight, strategic planning and ability to lead people has seen numerous improvements in the efficiency

Do you know what costs Australia $61.8 billion a year? Work related injury and disease. October is National Safe Work Month and this year’s theme is “sharing safety knowledge and experience benefits everyone”. It reminds us of a succinct phrase we heard last year: “there’s no IP in safety”.

In August, RMS hosted its second annual Safety and Risk Forum in Wahroonga, NSW. The theme for 2017 was “Engage with Purpose” and was attended by over 40 delegates – all Adventist church employees with a Work Health Safety or Risk element to their roles. This number was double

How would you feel if you rocked up to Church and there was a professional looking crew filming you and your children as you arrived? Would you feel comfortable? Filming and photography is an activity most of us enjoy recreationally, as it allows great memories to be recorded. But

“Hello?” “Hello, is that Mrs Jane Smith?” Mrs Jane Smith does not recognise the number or the voice calling her, and she’s savvy enough not to confirm her identity. How does she get out of this one politely? “Ah…” she hesitates then quickly blurts, “if you’re selling something I’m

In August, Julieann Cother was presented the annual GIO Safety Award in the presence of colleagues and peers at the Safety and Risk Forum held in Wahroonga, NSW. Julieann is the Corporate WHS Manager for Sanitarium Health and Wellbeing across both Australia and New Zealand. She has been involved

Winter is back AGAIN! It seems like every second person is affected by colds, flu and other nasty winter-related viruses going around. So perhaps it is time to refresh our collective knowledge with a little winter wisdom from the NSW Department of Health…   CATCH IT Keep a supply

“…How can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who

In 1991, during a testimony about his firm’s securities scandal, the famous business magnate Warren Buffett spoke about compliance and following the rules. He finished with the now famous line, “Lose money for the firm and I’ll be understanding. Lose a shred of reputation for the firm, and I

Let’s not beat around the haystack – potluck lunches are a much-loved institution of Adventist churches everywhere. However, they are not always great for one’s…ahem…constitution. Sometimes the tummy trouble an hour or two post-feast can adversely affect Sabbath afternoon lay activities, well into Sunday. Yes, we’re talking about food

A sign outside a Baptist church reads: “Whoever stole our AC units, keep one – it’s hot where you’re going.” Question: What makes a thief or vandal choose your site to hit? Answer: Opportunity When selecting a site to strike, a thief or vandal does not care about a

Christian organisations such as ours pride themselves on their purpose, centred around leading people to Christ. A significant emphasis is placed on living a Christ-centred life, upholding attributes such as trust, friendliness and helpfulness. It is through our personal interactions with people that we hope to share His love

If you didn’t see the moment when the Best Picture Oscar was graciously and decisively handed to its rightful recipients, you missed a great lesson in risk management. In this unbelievable situation, millions worldwide witnessed how different types of people react in a crisis. And it gives us a

At a recent safety conference our team were impressed when one of the speakers stressed that when it comes to risk and safety matters there should be no “intellectual property”. It’s a point that we agree is fair – to withhold a resource that could help keep people safe

Don’t ask a New South Welshman to execute a hook-turn in Victoria without complaining. In South Australia remember that indicating a lane change is optional and tailgating is required to get through the next traffic light. When in Queensland make sure to drive either too fast or too slow,

This time next year all Australian government agencies, private sector businesses and not-for-profit organisations will be required to notify the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as well as the affected individuals when a data breach occurs. What is a notifiable breach? This amendment to the Privacy Act 1988

We know, it’s hard enough to keep current with your teenager’s latest narrative let alone all that cyber stuff because, let’s face it, #boring. But simply increasing knowledge of cyber terms and phrases can really help build cyber confidence. So without further ado, let’s start with our three fave

We’re not going to beat around the bush: RMS discourages church travel on any airline with a poor safety rating. The best possible price on flights is something we all enjoy, but those few dollars saved could also mean that an airline is ‘saving’ costs maybe where they shouldn’t…like

It’s no fun at all when what was supposed to be a fun activity with a bunch of school kids or a youth group takes a turn for the worst. It can be especially embarrassing if the incident could have been prevented by checking off a few simple precautions.

It has been a year since we launched the Risk and Safety Funding initiative. What have we done with the money? When we launched Risk and Safety Funding in November 2015, we knew that the old way of doing risk and safety was not cutting through, but what we

Bolting out of the ’emerging risk’ category, cyber threat is absolutely real, constantly evolving and happening right now. As custodians of our organisation’s insurance and risk we are getting this message loud and clear from across all experts in our industry. Adventist Church Technology Services (formerly known as SPD

Poor merging technique. Creeping speed. Distracted by mobile phone. Tailgaiting. Not stopping completely at stop signs. Impatience and road rage. When you get behind the wheel are you naughty or nice? Our motor vehicle insurers in Australia and New Zealand have expressed concern about our poor motor vehicle claims

We had just moved to a new city and were visiting with old friends at their home when our happy chatter was pierced by a shrieking alarm. The owner of the house, a long-term resident of an area considered a ‘rough’ part of town, had a heightened sense of

RMS has two types of funding available for risk and safety projects. GIO – available to Adventist Church organisations in Australian states or territories where GIO is the workers compensation insurer. Those are Western Australia, Northern Territory, ACT, New South Wales and Tasmania. Criteria, terms and conditions apply. You

Do I need to see a doctor if I get sick or injured when overseas? We’ve been getting this question a lot, but unfortunately it is being asked too late. Uniquely, when we’re travelling we don’t really want to admit that we might be sick or injured because we

Your church is most likely some kind of landmark in the world of Niantic’s hugely popular augmented reality game, Pokémon Go, which means you may occasionally find people you’ve never seen at church before gathering nearby. Perhaps that feels weird and awkward, and it probably is, but before we

The next generation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs or ‘drones’) are smaller and lighter in weight, prompting changes in both law and insurance. Previously, RMS was unable to offer any form of liability cover for drones causing damage or injury. Drones weighing under 2kg are now covered while being

Hosted by Risk Management Service, the first ever Safety and Risk Forum took place on August 16-17, 2016. A unique gathering of work, health and safety and risk professionals from across the Church network this inaugural event featured prominent international speakers. “Ideas that Change Culture” was the overarching theme