(CNN) A 6.0-magnitude earthquake shook Puerto Rico September 23rd striking off the coast of the island in the Atlantic Ocean. The quake hit about 49 miles north-northwest of Isabela, Puerto Rico, around 11:23 p.m. ET, according to the United States Geological Survey. The quake was felt in many other islands including, Bahamas, Haiti, Dominican Republic and more.
A 6.0 Earthquake near a critical drug manufacturing hub?
Single Point of Failures can happen at anytime, anyplace. On September 23rd a 6.0 quake occurred near Puerto Rico , a major drug manufacturing hub. It wasn’t long ago, 2017, when Hurricane Maria struck PR and disrupted the global supply of IV saline bags (did you know this?). Major faults run through a critical supply region. 49 pharmaceutical have FDA approved manufacturing facilities in PR alone. Baxter, Eli Lilly, J&J, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, ABC, and Cardinal are just a few that operate in the region. How at risk are your patients and how resilient is your supply chain? A fellow risk practitioner, Gary Lynch, shared these interesting facts.
How wide a net do you cast when you look at emerging risks or when you undertake a “horizon scan” or do you not do any of this?
Procurement is much more than Compliance. It involves and must consider, Force Majeure’s, Business Continuity, Disaster Preparedness, Operational risks, Financial risk, political risk et all.
In a very interconnected world, where many suppliers/vendors to your business are located regionally and internationally, how is it possible that you do not look at these risk types? Further, you must look at the risks that they, your suppliers are exposed to, even if you, as the procuring agency may not be exposed to said risk.
I respectfully submit that the complexity and agility of procurement risks must form part of your overall risk management methodology.
Ken Hackshaw – Lead Faculty for Professional Certificate in Enterprise Risk Management.
