The mission of the Risk Management Program of the Council of American Structural Engineers (CASE) is to improve the practice of structural engineering by reducing the frequency and severity of claims. CASE members have been developing tools that make achieving this goal more manageable. All CASE member firms have access to these tools included with their membership. These tools have been developed using the 10 Foundations of Risk Management as a basis. These 10 principles form the foundation upon which a risk management plan can be built.
Previous Risk Management columns published in Structural Engineer have introduced the 10 tools, each one based on one of the 10 Foundations. The Toolkit committee of CASE is now working on additional tools that will further enhance the box of tools that structural engineers will have to help manage risk.
Tool 2-2: Find the right employees
One of the most important assets of a structural engineering firm is its staff. We all spend a good deal of time and energy finding and keeping good employees. Although we mostly consider our staff an asset, they can turn into liabilities if our staff are not qualified for the type of work to which they are assigned. An analysis of claims over several years by a major insurance carrier showed a sizable percentage of claims could be traced back to a mismatch of employee capability with the requirements of the project.
To help firms "get the right people on the bus," CASE has prepared an interview guide that can help find the qualified people you need to staff your projects. The tool was developed around the premise that a good candidate possesses the proper hard skills, talents, and soft skills. Hard skills are the objective facts about the candidate such as GPA, publications, and education level. Talent is the innate ability the candidate possesses that shows how they think, their personal drive, and how they relate to others. Soft skills are such things as a person’s problem-solving skills, communication skills, and teamwork ethos. The guide provides a framework for performing an interview, supplies questions that may be asked, and offers a few templates that can be used to document the interview.
Tool 10-2: Keeping track of submittals
The tenth foundation of risk management is the construction phase. Because a new party—the contractor—has entered into the building design and construction process, there is increased liability for the structural engineer.
During this phase, there are many items that pass between the contractor and engineer. Keeping track of submittals, requests for information (RFI), and sketches is an important task during this time. Many claims have come about because of untimely response to submittals or RFIs. Sometimes contractors like to pad RFI numbers by submitting requests that are not truly needed for the sake of gaining information. Then when the project is over, a claim is developed using the number of requests for information as evidence of poor construction documents.
The tool that CASE has developed to help with this aspect of construction phase services is an Excel spreadsheet that will help keep track of the date in and date out for items requiring a response and return. When users input a deadline date for a return, the spreadsheet will show that item in red if it has not been returned in time. The tool will also allow users to categorize the intent of the RFI to track how many of the RFIs sent were legitimate requests and how many were simply for show.
Conclusion
Access to all tools is provided free to CASE members. Non-members may purchase the tools at the ACEC bookstore. One trial copy of some of the tools is available for non-members to test at no cost. Visit www.acec.org/rmp/tools.cfm for a complete description of the tools. E-mail Corey Matsuoka, chairman of the Toolkit Committee at cmatsuoka@ssrm.com for more information.
