ISO 18128:2024

International
Standard
ISO 18128
First edition
Information and documentation —
2024-03
Records risks — Risk assessment
for records management
Reference number
© ISO 2024
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Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
3.1 Terms specific to risk . .2
3.2 Terms specific to records .2
4 Core concepts . . 3
4.1 Issues and concerns about uncertainty .3
5 Determining scope, context and criteria . 4
5.1 General .4
5.2 Defining the scope .4
5.3 External and internal context .5
5.3.1 General .5
5.3.2 External context .5
5.3.3 Internal context .5
5.4 Definition of records risk criteria.5
5.5 Risk description .6
6 Uses of risk assessment techniques . 7
7 Risk identification . 7
7.1 General .7
7.2 Techniques for identifying risks .8
7.2.1 General .8
7.2.2 Checklist analysis for risk identification .9
8 Risk analysis . 9
8.1 General .9
8.2 Techniques for analysing risks .10
8.2.1 General .10
8.2.2 Business impact analysis (BIA) .10
8.2.3 Human reliability analysis (HRA) .11
8.2.4 Bow tie analysis . 12
9 Risk evaluation .13
9.1 General . 13
9.2 Techniques for evaluating risk . 13
9.2.1 As low as reasonably practicable (ALARP). 13
9.2.2 Reliability-centred maintenance (RCM) .14
9.2.3 Risk indices .16
9.2.4 Cost/benefit analysis.18
Annex A (informative) Categorization of techniques following IEC 31010 .20
Annex B (informative) Checklist of uncertainties .22
Bibliography .26

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Foreword
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This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 46, Information and documentation,
Subcommittee SC 11, Archives/records management.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.

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Introduction
Successful organizations identify and manage all their business risks. Identifying and managing the risks to
records processes, controls and systems (records risks) is the responsibility of the organization’s records
professionals.
This document is intended to help records professionals and people who have responsibility for records in
their organization to assess records risks.
This is distinct from the task of identifying and assessing the organization’s business risks to which creating
and keeping adequate records is one strategic response. The decisions to create records or not in response to
general business risks are business decisions, which should be informed by the analysis of the organization’s
records requirements undertaken by records professionals together with business managers. The premise
of this document is that the organization has created records of its business activities to meet operational
and other purposes and has established at least minimal mechanisms for the systematic management of the
records.
The consequence of records risk events can be the loss of, or damage to, records, which are therefore no
longer useable, reliable, authentic, complete, or unaltered, and therefore can fail to meet the organization’s
purposes.
The document provides guidance and examples based on the general risk management process established
in ISO 31000 (see Figure 1) to apply to records risks, including information on relevant risk assessment tools
and techniques. It covers the risk assessment components:
a) risk identification,
b) risk analysis, and
c) risk evaluation.
This document introduces and explains selected techniques from IEC 31010 that are applicable in a records
management environment (see Table A.2 for the list of techniques).
The results of the assessment of records risk should be incorporated into the organization’s general risk
management framework. Consequently, the organization will have better control of its records and their
quality for business purposes.
This document does not deal with risk treatment. Once the assessment of records risks has been completed,
the assessed risks are documented and communicated to the organization’s risk management section.
Response to the assessed risks should be undertaken as part of the organization’s overall risk management
program. The priority assigned by the records professional to the assessed risks is provided to inform the
organization’s decisions about managing those risks.

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NOTE Source ISO 31000:2018, Figure 4
Figure 1 — Risk management process

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International Standard ISO
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