.👤 Michael Challis
Founder & Principal Consultant — Real World Risks
Raised in institutions after becoming a ward of the state, Michael Challis learned early how systems fail and how people, places, and structures expose their weakest points.
What began as survival evolved into a lifetime understanding of real-world risk in its most human and practical form. Today, that insight drives the mission of Real World Risks.
Michael applies his lived experience of criminal method and system failure to lawful, evidence-based compliance testing — helping protect owners, tenants, and corporate stakeholders from exposure to legal, regulatory, and physical threats.
🛠️ Core Expertise
Physical and procedural compliance audits
Threat awareness and defensible risk reporting
Legal mapping aligned with ISO 31000, WHS, CPTED, and strata law
Strategic risk advisory to law firms, insurers, and owners corporations
Michael's work bridges lived experience with legal defensibility, ensuring that every report stands up to real-world challenges — not just tick-box compliance.
💡 Strength Behind Every Assessment
“Every qualification I hold strengthens one mission: to expose what compliance reports often miss.”
Each framework deepens the precision and defensibility of Real World Risks assessments:
📘 ISO 31000 Risk Management
All Real World Risks assessments are grounded in the ISO 31000 international standard — evaluating risk by likelihood, consequence, and control performance. This turns theoretical risk into measurable, auditable compliance proof.
🛡️ Certifier Corruption Prevention — Construct NSW (2025)
Delivered as part of the NSW Building Commissioner’s CPD program, this credential reinforces Michael’s commitment to transparency, procedural independence, and governance integrity — key pillars in strata and high-risk property environments.
Michael’s mission is clear:
Turn lived insight into legally defensible compliance that protects people, property, and reputation.
🔐 Real Insight. Real Evidence. Real World Risks.
Real risks don’t hide in paperwork they live in basements, stairwells, and entry points. When common areas aren't protected, tenants pay the price."
Real World Risks
📚 Credentials & Integrated Methodology
Real World Risks delivers more than assessments — we deliver integrated, regulator-ready evidence rooted in risk science, ethics, and real-world insight.
Founder Michael Challis brings together formal risk discipline, ESG intelligence, and compliance integrity to ensure each report meets the demands of regulators, insurers, courts, and governance bodies.
🔒 Credentials
ISO 31000 Risk Management
International standard for structured, defensible risk assessment.
Forms the core methodology for every Real World Risks audit.
Certifier Corruption Prevention – Construct NSW (2025)
Accredited under the NSW Building Commissioner’s CPD program.
Reinforces procedural integrity, transparency, and ethical assessment across high-risk property sectors.
ESG in Construction – IAT Construct (2025)
Explores how Environmental, Social, and Governance principles connect compliance, accountability, and sustainability.
Links ESG frameworks directly to tenant safety, insurance defensibility, and long-term asset resilience.
Cyber Security Acknowledgement – TAFE NSW (2025)
While not a cybercrime specialist, Michael is trained in the risks of complacency, digital vulnerability, and basic cyber-exposure.
This awareness supports a holistic risk review that includes physical + digital domains — a growing need in modern facilities management.
🔄 Integrated Application
These credentials form the backbone of the Real World Risks approach — where ISO 31000 discipline, ESG accountability, and statutory compliance converge into a single, evidence-based reporting methodology.
The result:
Independent, legally sound risk reports that withstand scrutiny from regulators, insurers, and courts — and support internal governance, WHS obligations, and ESG performance.
🌍 ESG & Compliance: Real-World Alignment
Real World Risks integrates Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles directly into our compliance assessments — not as buzzwords, but as measurable, risk-aligned outcomes.
We help owners, committees, and property stakeholders align their compliance practices with ESG values to deliver:
🔒 Insurance defensibility
🧠 WHS and maintenance transparency
🌱 Sustainability-backed risk reduction
📈 Long-term resilience and value creation
✅ ESG Advantages for Strata & Commercial Property
Enhanced reputation through transparent compliance reporting
Greater access to sustainable capital and ethical investors
Measurable cost savings via waste, risk, and inefficiency reduction
Competitive advantage in ESG-aligned lease negotiations
Stronger long-term governance and reputational resilience
Compliance with evolving ESG regulations and risk disclosure frameworks
Verified ethical supply chain awareness
Transparency that builds tenant and community trust
Innovation and reform driven by ethical governance standards
🛡️ Protect Your Position — Before Someone Tests It
Book an independent compliance assessment with Real World Risks today.
Turn exposure into evidence. Turn compliance into strategy.
Case Insight: When Non-Compliance Becomes Liability
In Mr Archibald v The Owners – Strata Plan No. 50441 [2023] NSWCATCD 111, the Tribunal imposed civil penalties and costs after an Owners Corporation failed to perform agreed rectification works under section 106 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW).
NCAT ruled that delay or partial compliance did not satisfy the statutory duty to maintain common property. Each unfulfilled work order carried independent liability, justifying penalties and cost orders.
For strata committees and Owners Corporations, the message is clear:
inaction is liability.
Failure to comply with orders exposes entities to civil penalties, personal exposure, and insurance risk.
Let’s Walk Your Building Before the Regulator or the Crooks Do.
Find the evidence of flaws and gaps that cost tenants and owners claims, fines, and credibility. We identify compliance and liability gaps that affect insurance, ESG reporting, and leasing performance. You receive:
Photo and video based evidence of building risk and compliance status
A risk matrix aligned with ISO 31000 and ESG governance principles
Practical steps to reduce exposure, strengthen insurer confidence, and increase leasing appeal