Definition of Risk – BIM Academy: Learning and Development

So far, we have been speaking about the standard that defines how health and safety information is going to be managed, the people that will contribute to this process and the role of information management in this task.

The next step is to see how this information is effectively produced and shared with others. But to do that, we first need to understand a few concepts.

Independently of whether we are implementing BIM on the project or not, when people are producing health and safety information, they are identifying hazards and risks.

But what are they? Is there any difference between a hazard and a risk? What about harm? As you can imagine, health and safety specialists have specific definitions for these terms.

The ISO definition for harm is “injury or damage to the health of people or damage to property or the environment”.

In this definition, we can see that harm is some bad thing that has already become real.

It is something that has inflicted damage to property or people. So, harm is what we want to prevent with health and safety measures.

Hazard is defined in ISO 51:2014 as a “potential source of harm”.

We can see many potential sources of harm throughout our day. For example, a wet surface after some cleaning has been carried out or something sharp lying around in the kitchen in the office.

Hazard is what we want to identify when doing a health and safety analysis. Hopefully identifying harms becomes easier with BIM.

When we put a list of hazards and harm together, we will notice that some harms are more likely to materialise than others.

Also, the consequences of the materialisation of harm vary – some harms might only cause light injuries while others can even cause the death of people.

Therefore ISO defines risks as the “combination of the probability of occurrence of harm and the severity of that harm”.

With these concepts covered we can now focus on how the participants can identify, use and share health and safety information in a BIM-enabled project.

This process is called the “Risk Information Cycle” in PAS 1192-6.

In the Risk information Cycle, each participant should implement four actions.

These actions will be the foundation and structure for collaboratively using health and safety information, and producing it iteratively and progressively throughout the lifecycle of the project.

The four actions are: identify, use, share, generalise. Now let’s look into each one of these tasks in more detail and understand how PAS 1192-6 sets out the Risk information Cycle.

The risk identification stage is about collaborating with other project participants to gather the information that will allow people to identify risks in the project and record them in a structured manner.

This should be done as early as possible so that additional health and safety information can be captured.

The way these interactions will happen should be specified in the EIR so that effective collaboration can take place. The EIR will specify, for example:

• information hosting strategies and resources,
• naming conventions,
• the information security policy,
• the attributes used to capture health and safety information and other aspects relevant to how the information will be structured.

Another task at this stage is to identify the information on health and safety that is already available and could be used or referenced in the project.

For example:
· publicly available information,
· existing information within organisations such as risk registers and
· previous risk studies,
· information from professional and statutory bodies, etc.

Finally, people need to know what type of resources will be available for them to carry out a risk analysis.

For example, will photos of the building be available?

Will 3D and scheduling models be used or will the analysis be carried out on 2D drawings?
Will people have access to 3D laser scanning?
With all these parameters defined, people will have a good basis to start using and sharing information on health and safety?

The risk information use stage is a hands-on phase of the “Risk Information Cycle”.

Here people are effectively using the information that was made available to them to create new health and safety information.

At the risk information use, stage people are analysing and assessing the information in the models.

For instance, people can navigate the models and place 3D risk objects where a risk has been identified,

federate the models from different specialists to see how the different risks interact or whether new risks emerge.

At this stage, people will also manage and propose solutions to health and safety risks.

For example, if a task is deemed too risky to be carried out on-site, a pre-fabricated solution could be proposed instead of minimising the risk of accidents.

Another example is when people spot a risk with regards to substances such as flammable substances.

In this case, once the risk is raised, dangerous substances could be relocated to a safer place on the site.

After analysing and assessing information and managing risks health and safety risks, the information produced in the risk information use stage is ready to be shared with others.

In PAS 1192-6 this is known as the risk information share stage.

In this stage, the project’s participants need to review their scope of services and Exchange Information Requirements to understand which documents should be handed-in and shared with the wider project team.

Participants should also pay attention to how information should be structured so that an information management process can be implemented in order to provide accurate and pertinent information.

In this process, consultants will inform the client back about:

· where or how health and safety information will be used;
· what health and safety information will be provided;
· the risk management tasks arising from elevated risks.

This information will be included in the BEP document – the BIM Execution Plan.

After confirming the deliverables, information standards and formats with the client, and then making sure that all the requirements have been met, the consultants are ready to share the health and safety information in the project CDE.

Throughout the identification, use and sharing stages it is very likely that mistakes and misjudgements will be made.

It is important for the lessons learnt from these mistakes to be recorded somewhere and shared with the project team.

If possible, considerations should also be made about whether these lessons could be shared with the wider industry, professional associations or in publications.