We’ve all heard the phrase “truth is stranger than fiction,” and that certainly rings true when it comes to risk management. The fact of the matter is, you simply can’t plan for the unexpected. No matter how much preparation and risk management training you offer your teams, the stranger things that impact your enterprise are ones that you can’t control or predict. In this article we’ll discuss some of the weird risk events that we’ve seen and what companies can do to lessen their impact.

Late last year, a price cut on Nutella caused quite the commotion in French supermarkets that some described as resembling the worst of Black Friday shopping in the United States. When news spread that Nutella lovers could get their hands on a €4.50 tub of the chocolate hazelnut spread for €1.40—a 70% discount—supermarkets soon realized they bit off more than they could chew, with hundreds of customers flocking to the stores. In videos that went viral on social media, large crowds of customers can be seen pushing, shoving, running and even bleeding in their attempt to snag a tub of discounted Nutella—all grounds for a potential hefty lawsuit if a customer was seriously injured. Supermarket employees were clearly not prepared to handle the aftermath of what executives thought would simply be a big sale, including the extra foot traffic in their stores and especially the extra security needed to keep customers and employees safe during the sale.