RISK 6: Environment and safety
Definition Security of physical assets and information may be compromised by inadequate project design or management. Expected or unexpected environmental issues (such as military contamination like fuel spillages or contamination from the use of certain weapons) may affect the safe and effective delivery of the service.
Reason for overall assessment of this risk category in the eight case study projects: Low level of current risk to value for money Overall there is a low level of current risk to value for money in the case study projects from environment and safety issues. These are, however, risks the Department needs to continue to be aware of in its projects. Some of these risks may be best managed by the contractor, others by the Department, for example depending on who can most effectively control the risk. Only in the Field Electrical Power Supplies project have environment and safety issues arisen that affected risk management. There have been some instances of the generators catching fire. The Department's use of the asset and the design of the generators were both possible factors. After taking legal advice, the Department agreed that, since it specified the design of the generators and had tested and fully accepted them, there should be no liability to the contractor. NOTE 1 This project did not proceed to contract and is not part of the current Department portfolio. |
2.30 There was a low level of current risk to value for money from environment and safety issues in the eight case study projects. An underlying factor was that these risks have been generally allocated to the party best able to manage them. Sometimes this party was the contractor, but in other cases the Department was better able to manage these risks. For example in the Tidworth Water and Sewerage project, the Department was best placed to manage risks arising from its previous actions, which had included World War II bullets being placed in the drains. The Department's explosive ordnance disposal teams are able to deal with any incidents and the Department can educate its personnel to avoid inappropriate use of the water and sewerage system.