EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR UPDATE A Addressing and Increasing Awareness of Project Risk To continue discussion and t the 2016 DFI winter planning meeting, the institute’s leadership identified risk and safety as one of the most important topics for our organization to address collectively, through our technical com- mittees, events and magazine. During the discussion, it was suggested we study who owns the following deep foundations- related risk: design and construction risk, contractual language, subsurface informa- tion and site characterization, differing site conditions, private and public work consid- erations, baseline reports and safety risk, such as working platforms. It was also decided to address these important issues during the next SuperPile and Annual Con- ferences and via a special magazine issue. This past June, SuperPile ’17 in Cali- fornia included a track on safety. One presentation on working platform safety synthesized the results of a survey of contractor members conducted by DFI. Key areas of the survey and presentation focused on whether inadequate working surfaces caused safety problems, what types of specific safety issues were encountered, and what were the con- sequences. In addition, the contractors (75 responded representing general and specialty firms) were also asked who was responsible for ensuring a safe/stable working surface. Though the majority of the respondents stated working platform safety was the responsibility of the general contractor, there were some contractors who indicated the owner or engineer as the responsible party. The presenters also compared the survey responses from U.S.- based contractors to current practice in Europe, focusing on topics such as the design, construction and maintenance of working platforms; risk and consequences of inadequate surfaces; and guidelines and certification, which place the respon- sibility of ensuring a safe/stable working surface on the specialty contractor but maintenance of the working platform on the general contractor. the comparison of practice, a preconference workshop is being developed for the DFI-EFFC Conference in Rome, on June 6-8, 2018 (see page 43). Additionally, a working group on platform safety is being convened by DFI, with potential action items of developing a guidance document and engaging other associations (e.g., ADSC, PDCA and AGC). the 42 Annual Conference on Deep Foun- dations in October, three categories of risk were explored: While preparing a session on risk for nd • Ground Risk – site exploration risk, dif- fering site conditions, geotechnical base- line reports, stakeholder risk (owners, engineers, contractors) and documentation • Contractual Risk – relative ownership and acceptance of risk, contract delivery systems that influence the risk taken on by each of the parties involved, private versus public contracts and their clauses, risk mitigation tools (risk registries and baseline reports) and the risk of not being paid • Interpretation and use of information to execute the work Ultimately, the 90-minute session will emphasize the importance of clearly identifying and allocating risk during the tender phase so that risk can be mitigated by the parties best positioned to manage the risk and so that risks that become realities can be addressed adequately and fairly. The session will begin with presentations by invited panelists, who represent various project stakeholders, and continue with a facilitated Q&A discussion with attendees. The panelists will include a representative from the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) study on the “Guidelines for Managing Geotechnical Risks for Design-Build Projects,” an attorney who will provide a construction law viewpoint, representatives from a large Theresa Engler Executive Director [email protected] contractor and a specialty con- tractor, an engineer from a design/geotech firm, and an owner. Based on the feedback from this session, a follow- up session is planned for the International Foundations Congress and Equipment Expo (IFCEE) in March 2018. DFI President Dan Brown fully supports DFI’s risk initiative, stating, “DFI is an organization uniquely positioned to lead this initiative because we incorporate all of the different interests, and provide a forum to ‘find common ground.’ This is especially relevant with the changing environment of project delivery (e.g., design-build, P3s and CM/GC), which presents new challenges in addressing the issues of risk and how everyone can be affected by risk.” As Tom Wilson, chief risk officer of Allianz, an insurance and asset management company, stated, “Risk management is a cul- ture, not a cult. It only works if everyone lives it, not if it’s practiced by a few high priests.” So, we need everyone to join the con- versation at the DFI Annual Conference in October in New Orleans and at IFCEE in March 2018 in Orlando. We also encourage you to contribute an article to the Jan/Feb 2018 special issue of Deep Foundations devoted to “Deep Foundations and Risk,” which has been moved from Nov/Dec 2017 to include the results of the annual conference session on risk. Contact [email protected] with editorial sug- gestions on risk assessment and manage- ment related to deep foundation design and construction, such as geohazards, acceptable risk at various stages of design and construction, and risk-based decision making by stakeholders on deep foun- dations projects. DEEP FOUNDATIONS • SEPT/OCT 2017 • 9
