Risk management on small projects

The Swedish construction sector has for some time struggled with problems that result in increased costs, delays and faults. To sort out and analyse these problems, the government appointed a commission which culminated in the report Skärpning gubbar (2002). The report highlights that, despite ongoing work with quality management and internal quality surveillance, improvements are still lacking. Risk management is about thinking ahead and preventing things from going wrong and about stimulating and searching for better solutions. Small projects rely on few individuals, yet are significant in number in the sector representing 83% of the projects between 1-15 MSEK (in 2003). This dominance highlights the importance of working efficiently with risk management in order to address the concerns and problems identified in Skärpning gubbar. The research is focused on small projects and how risk management, including the tools and techniques employed, is undertaken. This paper presents results from an interviewbased survey of risk management at the site level. 28 interviews were conducted on 10 different projects in Sweden. The respondents occupied key positions on those projects, representing the contractor as well as the client. The results show that there is a low to non-existent level of education in risk management amongst the respondents. The use of formal risk management is low and there is a lack of a systematic approach. The paper concludes that the risk management system applied on small projects is rather poor. Project staff rely on their own intuition, experience and personal judgments to control the projects. Control is mainly performed in a traditional way through schedules and detailed work plans and not through management systems.Godkänd; 2007; 20071008 (pafi