Construction Project Management: Risk and Safety Management

This report discusses the risks and opportunities associated with the construction of a 1000 cell prison. It identifies the major risks and suggests mitigation approaches for them. The report evaluates potential supply chain vulnerabilities and planned risk and opportunity management principles.

Running head: CONSTRUCTION PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Construction Project management (Risk and Safety management)
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................2
1. The identified project Risks.............................................................................................2
2. Risk Assessment..............................................................................................................4
3. The risk mitigation approach for the identified risks.......................................................6
4. Potential Supply Chain Vulnerabilities...........................................................................7
5. Planned Risk and Opportunity management Principle....................................................8
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................8
References............................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
A risk and opportunity report is to be prepared for a special purpose vehicle/consortium,
which is a consortium of multiple private companies who built and operate prisons and the other
public service buildings. The latest project of the client is to design, construct and operate a 1000
cell prison for accommodating male, female and the juvenile detainees who will be serving a
custodial sentence of over 3 years. The designing of the prison involves, demolition of derelict
industrial or farm building on the site, upgrading a 3km track to form a highway for accessing
the roads and corridors of utility provision. The project will also consider the initial security
consideration as well. The report gives an overview of the risks and opportunities associated with
the project. The key project risks and opportunities are identified and the mitigation approaches
for the identified risk is suggested in the report (Harris and McCaffer 2013). The report further
evaluates the potential supply chain vulnerabilities and planned risk and opportunity
management principle in the report. The different risks associated with this project are elaborated
in the following section.
1. The identified project Risks
The scope of the project is clear, however, there are major risks associated with the
project. The risks are identified from the various perspectives, which include the business case,
commercial, program, health and safety risks (Loosemore et al. 2012). The major risks
associated with the project with the project are as follows-
1. There is a certain health and safety risk associated with the demolition of derelict
industrial and farm buildings resent on site. Although the demolition works will be done on
according to the project plan, it is essential for the management team to ensure proper safety of

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the workers. Since the site is particularly large, a considerable amount of time is needed to be
allocated for this demolition work (Zhou, Goh and Li 2015). Choice of skilled labours is a major
opportunity for the project team for improving the process of project implementation.
2. The excavation is to be done by ensuring proper security measures. However, there are
certain technical risks associated with the demolition works on the site as the site is located in a
remote rural location where it is difficult to transfer the modern machineries. Furthermore, the
land is in the area of former coal mines. Since there has been no site investigation till date, there
is a possibility for the project to face these technical risks (Walker 2015). The remote location of
the site adds to the difficulty level of excavation and development of the new prison.
3. Apart from the safety risks of the labours, the project might face the risk of resource
shortage since it is quite difficult to get labourers who will be ready to work in such adverse
conditions.
4. There is a considerable amount of financial risks associated with the project. Since the
site is located in a remote location and is very difficult to access, it is quite possible that the cost
of transport of the materials and cost of hiring the labourers and workers exceed the cost that was
predetermined for the same task.
5. The project plan includes separate demolition contract and the main work contract. The
separate demolition contract and the main work contract can result in the difference in the
opinion among the two contractors resulting in a schedule risk (Kerzner and Kerzner 2017). The
demolition contract will be followed by the main work contract and any delay in the demolition
work can result in the delay of the entire project. Therefore, the project is expected to involve a
schedule risk.

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6. There are certain commercial risks associated with the project as well. This might arise
as a consequence of schedule risks. Since the project is a high priority project, any delay in the
schedule might result in commercial risks. The chances of the project in facing this risk are quite
high since there has been no site inspection till date. Without site inspection, it is quite difficult
to calculate the time required for demolition works since it includes precast cell block
construction and M & E service risers.
These are the major risks associated with the project of developing and building new
prison. Apart from these identified risks, there are several opportunities associated with the
project which are as follows (Park and Kim 2013)-
1. Since the feasibility test of the project has been carried out already, there are very less
chances of project failure.
2. The market condition of the project is very buoyant and of high demand.
2. Risk Assessment
There are certain risks associated with the project which is identified in the previous
section. The assessment of the identified risks is necessary in order to determine the priority of
the risk and the risk mitigation approach. This is needed in order to address the high priority risks
in an urgent basis so that it has a very little impact on the successful execution and
implementation of the project (Zou and Sunindijo 2013). The assessment of the identified risks is
represented in the following table-

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SL.
No
Risk Description
Likelih
ood
Impact
Priority
1. Health and Safety Risk High Medium High
2. Technical Risks High High Medium
3. Resource Shortage Medium Medium Medium
4. Financial Risk High High High
5. Schedule Risk Low Medium Medium
6. Commercial Risks Medium Medium Medium
Table 1: Representing the Risk Assessment of the identified project risk
The above table gives an overview of the likelihood of occurrence, impact and priority of
the risk identified for the project. The likelihood of occurrence of health and safety risk in this
project is quite high. This is mainly because of the remote location of the site and the difficulty
in accessing the different parts of the site. Although the impact of this risk on successful project
completion is considerably less, the priority of mitigating this risk is high as well since the safety
of the workers is the responsibility of the project implementation team. The technical risks
associated with the project are high as well and the impact of the risk is high. This is because the
technical difficulties associated with the project can result in project delays. The risk assessment
matrix further provides the idea of likelihood of occurrence, impact and priority of the resource,
financial and the schedule and commercial risks associated with this project.
The opportunities identified for the project should be addressed with highest priority as
the success of the project largely depends on them. Furthermore, the project is of very high

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demand in the market and therefore the opportunities of the project are needed to be addressed in
a proper manner.
3. The risk mitigation approach for the identified risks
The approaches of risk mitigation include identification of the risk, assessment of the
impact of the risk, analysis of risk prioritization and risk mitigation (Zhou, Whyte and Sacks
2012). The different risks mitigation approaches for the identified risks are as follows-
Risk Mitigation Approach
Health and Safety Risk Risk Avoidance, is the risk mitigation approach for
mitigation of the health and safety risk. Risk
Avoidance is one of the easiest ways of risk
mitigation (Badri, Gbodossou and Nadeau 2012).
In order to avoid the health and safety risk
associated with the project, it is necessary to hire
skilled labours who are used to work in heights and
in extreme conditions.
Technical Risks Risk Reduction is one of the recommended risk
mitigation approaches for mitigation of technical
risks. This risk mitigation approach is associated
with taking proper steps in minimizing the
identified risk by taking proper measures. In order
to reduce this risk, the skilled and well trained
labours are hired who can work even in extreme
conditions
Resource Shortage Risk Reduction is the risk mitigation approach that

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is recommended for the project. The shortage of
resource is mainly because of the remote location
of the construction site. The need for proper
management of this risk is high and can be
mitigated by ensuring that resources are gathered in
advance before that start of the main works
Financial Risk Financial risk should be avoided by proper budget
estimation and proper resource estimation for the
project.
Schedule Risk The schedule risks associated with the project can
be transferred to the contractor who would be in
charge of providing the compete project work
within the set schedule
Commercial Risks The commercial risks should be avoided by
preventing the occurrence of the schedule risks
(Lock 2017).
Table 2: Representing the Risk mitigation approaches of the identified project risk
4. Potential Supply Chain Vulnerabilities
The vulnerabilities associated with the supply chain are as follows-
1. Since there is a risk of resource shortage, it is quite possible that the project is not
completed in time.
2. The remote location of the site can possibly delay the project implementation process.

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5. Planned Risk and Opportunity management Principle
For the remaining design and the procurement stage of the project, it is recommended
that a planned approach will be undertaken (Haimes 2015). The site inspection should be done
prior to the design phase and the project procurement is subjected to the availability of the
adequate resources and project implementation on schedule.
Conclusion
The report discusses the different risk a project that is associated with the development of
a prison can face. The major reason of occurrence of such risk is the location of the site along
with some technical constraints. The report discusses the different process of risk mitigation and
the vulnerabilities associated with the project.

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References
Badri, A., Gbodossou, A. and Nadeau, S., 2012. Occupational health and safety risks: Towards
the integration into project management. Safety science, 50(2), pp.190-198.
Haimes, Y.Y., 2015. Risk modeling, assessment, and management. John Wiley & Sons.
Harris, F. and McCaffer, R., 2013. Modern construction management. John Wiley & Sons.
Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H.R., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Lock, D., 2017. The essentials of project management. Routledge.
Loosemore, M., Raftery, J., Reilly, C. and Higgon, D., 2012. Risk management in projects.
Routledge.
Park, C.S. and Kim, H.J., 2013. A framework for construction safety management and
visualization system. Automation in Construction, 33, pp.95-103.
Walker, A., 2015. Project management in construction. John Wiley & Sons.
Zhou, W., Whyte, J. and Sacks, R., 2012. Construction safety and digital design: A
review. Automation in Construction, 22, pp.102-111.
Zhou, Z., Goh, Y.M. and Li, Q., 2015. Overview and analysis of safety management studies in
the construction industry. Safety science, 72, pp.337-350.

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Zou, P.X. and Sunindijo, R.Y., 2013. Skills for managing safety risk, implementing safety task,
and developing positive safety climate in construction project. Automation in Construction, 34,
pp.92-100.