Wouldn’t it be great if we had a screwdriver to fix our firms’ quality issues? Or a drill to address our communication problems?

As engineers, we are all good at researching and developing means to help more efficiently solve the daily problems presented to us in our practices. You probably have an abundance of analysis, design, and management tools at your fingertips, but how many risk avoidance, assessment, and minimization tools do you have?

During the last three years, the Council of American Structural Engineers (CASE) Toolkit Committee has been producing Risk Management tools for the structural engineering design professional to fill this need. The tools are generally software based and intended to be used by engineers at all levels of experience. This full toolbox of easy-to-use tools is available free to CASE members and for purchase to non-CASE members on the CASE website.

The tools have been developed using CASE’s Ten Foundations of Risk Management as a framework. The Ten Foundations of Risk Management were developed by engineers in private practice to help engineering firms build a risk management program. The first five foundations deal with business practices while the last five foundations deal with project management. The Foundations are:

1. Culture
2. Prevention and Proactivity
3. Planning
4. Communication
5. Education
6. Scope
7. Compensation
8. Contracts
9. Contract Documents
10. Construction Phase

Following are two of the latest tools that the committee developed in the last year:

Tool 4-3: Sample Correspondence Guidelines — It is important to create an atmosphere of open communication when trying to avoid claims due to miscommunication. The intent of Tool 4-3 is to make it faster and easier to access correspondence with appropriate wording addressing some commonly encountered situations that can increase your risk.

The sample correspondence contained within this tool is intended to be sent to the client, owner, subconsultant, building official, or even your own employees to keep them informed about a certain facet of a project or their employment. The correspondence templates are designed to be edited as needed based on the requirements of each situation and each firm. Firm logos, letterhead, headers, and footers can easily be added to the sample correspondence to suit your firm’s needs.

Examples of some of the situations addressed in this tool are Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) contingencies, design-build and condominium projects, oral discussions, and human resources issues.

Tool 4-4: Phone Conversation Log — The telephone may not seem like an important part of your risk management arsenal, but used effectively, it could provide just the defense you are looking for. As we all know, e-mails get saved and sent all over the world. The information contained in them is available to anybody on that e-mail chain. Telephone conversations, in general, are not as discoverable.

However, the Phone Conversation Log is designed to keep track of who was called, what was discussed, and any action items stemming from the call. The information in the log can also be downloaded to a memo and sent to the caller to confirm the conversation.

One of our project managers had his notebook subpoenaed. That notebook contained a list of all of the telephone conversations made by the project manager letting the client know that we needed certain information to complete our design. In the end, it showed the effort we made to get the project right, and the lack of effort on the client’s part.

The Council of American Structural Engineers (CASE) is a coalition of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC). CASE provides a forum for action to improve the quality of structural engineering through enhancement of business practices, decreased professional liability exposure, and increased profitability. To learn more, visit www.acec.org/case

Corey Matsuoka is the executive vice-president at SSFM International, Inc., and a board member of the CASE Executive Committee. He can be reached at cmatsuoka@ssfm.com.