It’s easy to see why construction sites can be hazardous places to work. With heavy machinery, multiple people and potentially harmful materials, it’s vital to have a risk management plan in place to avoid injury and reduce any risks.

A construction risk management plan looks at the potential risks on any project, with ways to manage and avoid potential hazards to workers and occupants. It’s the role of a project manager to identify risks and manage them accordingly. As well as following the latest health and safety rules, the latest building regulations must also be followed in regards to safe materials and workmanship.

What are the types of construction risk?

Many construction risks are obvious to those working on site, but some are less visible. Examples of risk management in construction projects include:

Health and safety risks (such as debris falling and low scaffolding)
Financial risks (including external delays or supply price increases)
Legal risks (such as design defects, stop work orders or contract breaches)
Project risks (eg. schedule delays and labour shortages)
Environmental risks (subsidence, extreme weather, flood plain risks etc)

When evaluating different risk management for construction tasks, project managers must consider:

How likely is it to happen?
What is the impact if it does happen?

Many of the identified health and safety risks can be managed with the correct PPE and protective gear, much of which is a legal requirement on all construction sites. Although some risks may be unavoidable, such as a vital sub-contractor going off sick, a good risk management for construction plan will identify the risk and include alternative plans to get around the problem.

What is an example of project risk in construction?

A lack of protection and/or inexperienced workers can be a cause of project risks and delays on construction sites. Physical health problems and injuries are the most commonly reported risks in construction sites, with manual handling being the biggest cause of injury. With this in mind, it’s vital to have physical risks identified and mitigated for in every construction risk management plan.

How to manage risks in construction

A detailed construction risk management plan helps to reduce the risks by identifying potential problems and offering ways to avoid them. The plan should include each of the following:

Identify the risks - what could happen and when?
Risk assess - work out the probability of each risk happening and score it on your risk assessment (prioritise the most high-risk situations and consider safety, cost and staffing implications)
Mitigate the risk - how will you prevent it, or deal with it if it can’t be avoided?
Monitor the risk - regularly update any changing risks on your assessment. After any risky events record what happened, how and why, and what you’ll change next time

By planning for every scenario separately you can help to look after staff, avoid accidents, reduce delays, keep additional costs to a minimum and protect your professional reputation.

Construction risk management tips

It’s important to remember that new risks can be created as a project goes on, both from internal and external sources, and that many risks will be out of your hands. However, there are a few ways to help in your risk management planning:

Aim to avoid unnecessary risk:

For example, if part of your project involves removing asbestos, it’s best to use a specialist contractor for the job, whilst also providing your team and clients with the correct PPE.

Consider the contract terms:

There are multiple types of construction contract, each with their own pros and cons. Some contracts, such as design and build contracts and sub-contractor contracts, may come with additional risks to consider as more people are on site. Others, such as guaranteed maximum price contracts, may come with additional financial risk to mitigate for.

Plan ahead and stay ahead:

Generally, the more detail and forward planning you can include in a construction risk management plan, the better. As well as detailing each risk separately in your risk assessment, it’s vital to set out consequences, mitigation action and resolution dates. Good risk management plans include information about insurance and what to do in the event of an incident, as well as possible alternative suppliers and subcontractors in case of delays. Plans should also be updated regularly as new risks come up.

Use the 4 Ts:

The 4Ts of effective risk management are: tolerate, terminate, treat and transfer.

Tolerate includes low risk events which don’t require further action yet
Terminate may mean withdrawing a service that’s too risky
Treat is to identify a risk and take action to reduce it
Transfer is where you may seek the services of a sub-contractor to carry out a specialist task to mitigate the risk to your team

To find out more about planning any construction project, visit the Travis Perkins trade news and advice section, and read the latest building regulations on our dedicated hub.

Construction risk management: FAQs

What are the 4 types of construction risk?

The main areas of risk management in construction projects are financial, operational, contractual and environmental factors. From sub-contractors to accidents, bad weather, delivery delays and material shortages, there are many ways for things to go wrong. Thankfully, it’s possible to mitigate these risks as much as possible through forward planning.

What are the 4 Ts in risk management in construction?

The 4Ts of effective risk management are: tolerate, terminate, treat and transfer. Tolerate includes low risk events which don’t require further action yet. Terminate may mean withdrawing a service that’s too risky. Treat is to identify a risk and take action to reduce it. Transfer is where you may seek the services of a sub-contractor to carry out a specialist task to mitigate the risk to your team.

What’s the most common construction risk?

Physical health problems and injuries are the most commonly reported risks in construction sites, with manual handling being the biggest cause of injury. With this in mind, it’s vital to have physical risks identified and mitigated for in every construction risk management plan.

What is an example of risk management in a project?

An example of a risk management strategy to help mitigate for physical injury would be in a renovation project needing multiple concrete lintels to be put in place, each weighing 40kg. As well as identifying the potential in a risk assessment of the lintel falling onto someone when it’s being moved, there’s a risk of lifting-related injuries. To reduce the risk, all workers would be required to wear hard hats and safety workwear, such as steel toe cap boots and work gloves, and have a minimum number of team members to lift each lintel, using the correct stance of bending at the knee and keeping backs straight. Risk could further be mitigated by hiring machinery to assist.

How do you mitigate construction risk?

How to write a risk management plan for a construction project?

Disclaimer: Information displayed in this article is correct at the time of publication, but note that legislation changes periodically. The information contained on this page is intended as an overall introduction and is not intended as advice from a professional building control officer or electrician. Travis Perkins aims to avoid, but accepts no liability, in the case that any information stated is out of date. Always consult the approved local authority building control team before undertaking any work.

Risk Management in Construction

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What is construction risk management?