Geotechnics on the move: guidance for a risk-driven way of working

Abstract

This paper presents a summary of a guide for practitioners about the implementation of geotechnical risk management in organisations in the construction industry. Currently, the guide is only available in Dutch. This paper aims to share the key elements of the book with an international readership. First, the perhaps unusual content and style of the guide and its summary are explained, which is the result of organisational rather than technical research. Then, the reality of geotechnical engineering and construction and an ambitious vision of their future perspective are sketched. In this vision, geotechnical risk management plays a dominant role. However, while straightforward in theory, applying complete geotechnical risk management as a routine proves to be a tough exercise in client, contractor, engineering and project organisations. For this reason, a selection of scientifically derived and practically tested organisational key conditions is presented. These conditions aim to facilitate successfully implementing geotechnical risk management in (project) organisations. Finally, this paper gives 10 lessons that have been learned from practice. The lessons aim to support engineers, managers and executives, while they are routinely applying geotechnical risk management in their organisations. This should increase the success rate of projects at a reasonable cost.