Abstract
This chapter introduces the first step of the Risk Management process, the detection or identification of risks in a project. It starts building a risk-linking matrix in which every sector is compared with the others in order to determine if there is a risk-wise relationship. This is a good starting point that obliges us to engage in a mental exercise to look for potential risks. It follows an analysis of different types of risks and their limits measured by their impacts. The proposed Risk Breakdown Structure analyses risks and determines their relative importance through a real-life case based on tree analysis. Relative significance is important, and to that effect, two types of diagrams are proposed. A new tool, the Z-Matrix, is used to detect and evaluate a series of impacts where one influences others. Situations are analyzed for identifying risks in construction, environmental, society, project safety, geological risk, quality, legal issues, communications and external factors in projects, and some of them are illustrated with case examples. It moves on for identification and mitigation measures for more complex cases involving transportation, with an example using a tool called ‘The Bowtie Diagram’. The chapter finishes with the explanation and exemplification of the ‘Risk Register’, a fundamental tool for Risk Management.
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Notes
- 1.
The Bhopal disaster in India in 1984 was a consequence of unforeseen circumstances that probably nobody had anticipated. In this case the combination of several factors such as the accidental contact of water with methylisocyanate caused a chemical reaction which, combined with other chemicals, generated gases that could not be contained and escaped to the surrounding area, a working-class neighbourhood. It is assumed that more than 3,000 people died and perhaps another 500,000 suffered severe injuries.
- 2.
The Vajont Dam in Northern Italy was finished in 1963. While the reservoir was being filled, a lack of stability in the mountains enclosing the lake that had formed behind the dam materialized, resulting in the fall of a large quantity of boulders into the reservoir. The water wave produced by this plunge killed thousands of people both up and downwards of the dam.
- 3.
Construction equipment used to vibrate freshly poured concrete.
- 4.
Developed by Mitsubishi and extensively used for a large variety of manufacturers.
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Munier, N. (2014). Risk Identification. In: Risk Management for Engineering Projects. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05251-9_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05251-9_4
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