Once we have reached the stage whereby risks have been identified and prioritised according to their potential impacts and likelihood of occurrence, we must develop strategies for how we are going to control them. Risk Treatment is the stage where the “management” of our risks really begins to take place.

When thinking about how to manage our risks, both our downside and upside risks need to be taken into account as each are opposing strategies.

There are 4 strategies that can be implemented for downside risk treatment, consisting of:

To approach the management of our upside risks (or opportunities) there are also 4 strategies to consider:

The main motive behind prioritising our risks in the risk assessment stage was to help decide on a starting point for treating our risks and deciding on rough guideline for where time and money should be allocated to. When deciding on which risk treatment strategy to use much is left down to the judgment of the risk manager and the urgency of the risk. Criteria for aiding our decision making for which control method to be used can be helped by these Factors to Consider.

Once risks and opportunities have been managed accordingly, the risk register must be reviewed and updated to account for these controls and test for their effectiveness.