ABSTRACT
Most of us work in the construction industry to provide our clients and society with the projects they need, while making a reasonable profit as well. By serving clients and society, we will serve our companies and ourselves too. Eventually, it is all about balancing the interest of the construction industry, to make a reasonable profit, and the interest of clients and society to pay a reasonable price for it. Risk management in general and that of ground conditions in particular can contribute to establish this balance of interests. After previously considering individuals and some types of team, this chapter
explores the relationship of our clients and society with risk. In this chapter we will try to connect the risk perceptions of the project providers to those of clients and society. The latter include the public, people like you and me, who are the end-users of construction projects. As a first prerequisite for the application of risk management, all parties
involved should be willing to make risks explicit and to discuss them in view of their interests. As a second prerequisite, all parties involved need to acknowledge their inherent different risks perspectives, which result from their inherently different interests. The first part of this chapter explores clients in relation to risk. Differences in
perceptions are demonstrated by an example of a contractor’s perception of the client and a client’s perception of the contractor. Public and private clients are distinguished. The first group represents federal or local governments, while the latter refers to private companies, such as development companies and the oil and gas industry. The second part of this chapter concerns our society in relation to risk. Topics
to be covered are the current post-modern era with its characteristics, as well as changes of risk perceptions over time within society, and the challenge to provide
construction projects that really will satisfy the needs of society. As usual, this chapter finishes with a summary.
