Stage 3 - Preventing and Mitigating Adverse Impacts

Potential risks that are most severe (in terms of threats to human health and safety, risks to vulnerable groups etc.) should be prioritised for action (see Stage 3 iii. Use leverage with business partners, and OECD definition). The UNGPs make clear that severity is judged by the scale, scope or irremediable nature (i.e. irreversibility) of the impact (see UNGP 14 commentary).

These criteria should help a company in understanding, for example in the case of its business relationships, that its largest contractors or suppliers may in fact not be the most urgent in terms of effective responses. Instead, focus should be placed on those business relationships where potential adverse impacts to people in any location may be most severe.

The purpose of prioritising risks is in large part linked to recognition that in some cases a company will not have the resources or knowledge necessary to address at once all adverse impacts identified. It is important to stress, however, that such prioritization does not suggest that all impacts identified do not need to be addressed. In fact companies will likely need to address a range of risks at the same time given the often interrelated nature of human rights related concerns.