Background The start of 2019 has seen much media attention to various incidents resulting from, arguably, negligent decision making. One such incident was the recent high-rise apartment building fire in Melbourne that resulted in hundreds of residents evacuated. The fire is believed to have started due to a discarded cigarette on a balcony and quickly spread five storeys. The Melbourne … Read More
Why your team has a duty of care to show they’ve been duly diligent
In October and November (2018), I presented due diligence concepts at four conferences: The Chemeca Conference in Queenstown, the ISPO (International Standard for maritime Pilot Organizations) conference in Brisbane, the Australian Airports Association conference in Brisbane (with Phil Shaw of Avisure) and the NZ Maritime Pilots conference in Wellington. The last had the greatest representation of overseas presenters. In particular, … Read More
What you can learn about Organisational Risk Culture from the CBA Prudential Inquiry
R2A was recently commissioned to complete a desktop risk documentation review in the context of the CBA Prudential Inquiry of 2018. The review has provided a framework for boards across all sectors to consider the strength of their risk culture. This has been bolstered by the revelations from The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services … Read More
Managing Critical Risk Issues: Synthesising Liability Management with the Risk Management Standard
The importance of organisations managing critical risk issues has been highlighted recently with the opening hearings of the coronial inquest into the 2016 Dreamworld Thunder River Rapids ride tragedy that killed four people. In a volatile world, boards and management fret that some critical risk issues are neither identified nor managed effectively, creating organisational disharmony and personal liabilities for senior … Read More
Australian Standard 2885, Pipeline Safety & Recognised Good Practice
Australian guidance for gas and liquid petroleum pipeline design guidance comes, to a large extent, from Australian Standard 2885. Amongst other things AS2885 Pipelines – Gas and liquid petroleum sets out a method for ensuring these pipelines are designed to be safe. Like many technical standards, AS2885 provides extensive and detailed instruction on its subject matter. Together, its six sub-titles … Read More
Risk Engineering Body of Knowledge
Engineers Australia with the support of the Risk Engineering Society have embarked on a project to develop a Risk Engineering Book of Knowledge (REBoK). Register to join the community. The first REBoK session, delivered by Warren Black, considered the domain of risk and risk engineering in the context risk management generally. It described the commonly available processes and the way … Read More
Rights vs Responsibilities in Due Diligence
A recent conversation with a consultant to a large law firm described the current legal trend in Melbourne, notably that rights had become more important than responsibilities.
Engineering As Law
Both law and engineering are practical rather than theoretical activities in the sense that their ultimate purpose is to change the state of the world rather than to merely understand it. The lawyers focus on social change whilst the engineers focus on physical change. It is the power to cause change that creates the ethical concerns. Knowing does not have … Read More
How did it get to this? Project risk versus company liability
Disclosure: Tim Procter worked in Arup’s Melbourne office from 2008 until 2016. Shortly after Christmas a number of media outlets reported that tier one engineering consulting firm Arup had settled a major court case related to traffic forecasting services they provided for planning Brisbane’s Airport Link tunnel tollway. The Airport Link consortium sued Arup in 2014, when traffic volumes seven … Read More
Everyone is Entitled to Protection – But not Always the Same Level of Risk
When it comes to dealing with a known safety hazard, everyone is entitled to the same minimum level of protection.
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