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 is a coalition of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC).

This is accomplished through educational convocations that are held twice a year in conjunction with the SEI Structures Congress in the spring and the ACEC Fall Conference and software-based tools that are made available to CASE members through e-mail and on the CASE website.

The framework about which the tools are developed is called the 10 Foundations for Risk Management. These Foundations are 10 aspects of business and project management that will help reduce claims. A column by Douglas N. Elliott, P.E., in the August 2007 issue of Structural Engineer introduced the first two tools in this series.

The third and fourth of these foundations are "Planning—plan to be claims free" and "Communication—communicate to match expectations with perceptions." These two aspects of risk management provided the inspiration for two of the many tools that the Toolkit Committee of the Risk Management Program have and will develop over the coming months.

Tool 3-1 Planning: Planning to be claims free

Tool 3-1 provides a framework and assistance to help a firm develop a risk management plan. It is a simple spreadsheet tool that focuses attention on the sources of risk in an engineering company along one axis and the 10 Foundations to help mitigate that risk along the other axis.

Risk in an engineering practice can come from many sources, but the four which are prime sources are staff, clients, project owners, and the projects themselves. At the intersection of each of these four elements of practice with the 10 Foundations—Culture, Proactivity, Planning, Communications, Education, Scope, Compensation, Contracts, Contract Documents, and Construction Phase—the tool shows several examples of the risk factors that coincide with the confluence of risk sources and risk mitigators.

For example, at the intersection of staff and Contracts, you might be prompted to think that a risk associated with those two elements of business is "staff being unaware of contract terms." As you think about how to mitigate that risk factor, the tool asks you to develop a policy and procedure that will help deal with that risk. In this case, a policy may be established that requires "all members of the project team to be aware of the terms of the contract" and then implement a procedure that "the project manager will read the contract and will provide a written summary of the terms to the project team regarding their responsibilities." The policy is what should happen and the procedure defines how it is to happen.

As more risk factors are identified along with policies and procedures that will reduce the impact of the risk factors, an overall risk management plan for your firm will take shape. It is hoped that this tool will provide the impetus and inspiration for you to plan to be claims-free by taking control of the risks that confront your business and determine in advance what should be done to minimize the effect of those risks on your bottom line.

Tool 4-1 Communication: Communicate to match expectations and perceptions

Any time you talk about risk management, you have to talk about communications. It is well documented that poor communication contributes to a large percentage, if not the largest percentage, of the reasons for claims against engineers. Therefore, if you want to mitigate the chances of having a claim filed against your firm, a good place to start is with improving your communications.

All of the players on a project need to communicate what’s happening on a project and how that affects the other stakeholders on the project. This communication should be professional and courteous, with flow going back and forth among the players to ensure understanding by all.

One simple tool to help this process along is the Project Status Report. The Project Status Report is intended to be sent to your client, the owner, and any other stakeholder whom you want to keep informed. It should be sent out at regular intervals, depending on how much activity is going on for the project. The more activity, the more frequently it should be sent.

The following are examples of what is included in Tool No. 4-1: Project Status Report Template:

project team activities: explain what was accomplished since the last report and what will be done in the near future;
immediate action items: a list of what both you and your client need to do; and
upcoming deadlines: a milestone list for easy access to a project schedule.

Access to these tools is provided to CASE members free of charge. However, non-members may purchase these tools in the future or may test one of the tools, free of charge. Visit www.acec.org/RMP to see a description of the tools and choose the one you would like to try. Then, e-mail the vice-chairman of the Toolkit Committee, Cory Matsuoka, at cmatsuoka@ssfm.com and request the tool. Should you want to join CASE and have access to all of the tools, visit www.acec.org/coalitions/CASE/index.cfm and click on "Membership—Join Now!"

The Risk Management Program (RMP) is organized as a program of the American Council of Engineering Companies’ (ACEC) Coalition of American Structural Engineers (CASE). The group’s mission is to enhance risk management, loss prevention, and claims management techniques of the structural engineering profession. To learn more, visit www.acec.org/RMP.

Doug Ashcraft, P.E., S.E., is operations manager of the Structural Engineering Services Group of Walter P Moore and Associates, headquartered in Houston. He can be reached at dashcraft@walterpmoore.com. Corey Matsuoka, P.E., PMP, LEED AP, is executive vice-president and director of Project Management and Environmental Planning for SSFM International, Inc., in Honolulu. He can be reached at cmatsuoka@ssfm.com.