What resident engineers should know about risk management

Construction risk cannot be completely eliminated, however hard the resident engineer tries. The engineer cannot be omnipresent during construction, and eventually all construction projects will endure shortcomings of one form or another. The extent of these shortcomings, however, is of vital importance as they could mean the difference between finishing a project successfully or suffering through a time-consuming detailed postconstruction audit. The best resident engineers are able to ensure that projects are completed within design and to the best of their abilities, ethically, and with proper documentation for every decision. Successful projects depend upon detailed preconstruction investigations and numerous competent elements: engineering design, contracts, construction materials, and labor crews. Sometimes the most neglected element is the most important: risk management. Ethics is a journey of professional development, self-discovery, and consideration of the dynamic and volatile world of business while affirming one's own ethical parameters. By identifying unethical practices and properly documenting ethical decisions, construction risk cannot be eliminated but can be actively managed and mitigated.