Managing risks in construction projects: life cycle and stakeholder perspectives

As an integral part of risk management process, effective risk transfer should be based on a collective understanding of risks in terms of their impacts, responsible project stakeholders as well as likely stages of occurrence in a project life cycle. Until now, most research has focused on examining risks from the perspective of their impacts on individual project objectives. This paper aims to, from project stakeholder and life cycle perspectives, provide an alternative way to scrutinize the risks associated with construction projects. In light of the AS/NZS4360 Australian/New Zealand Standard of Risk Management and ISO31000 Risk Management (Draft), a methodological framework is developed to provide step-by-step details in identifying and analysing the key risks and allocating them to the responsible stakeholders at particular project phases using two-dimensional graphical presentations. An empirical case study is undertaken to demonstrate the application of this risk management framework. The main contribution of the paper includes the proposition, development and test of a conceptual methodological framework as an alternative way to analyse and manage key risks involved in construction project procurement. In addition, with the aid of the proposed framework, 20 key risks are identified and strategies are formulated to manage the risks from the joint perspectives of project stakeholders and life cycle.