Terracon Consultants, Inc. Headquarters: Olathe, Kan. Number of offices: 98 Total number of employees: 2,811 Year firm was established: 1965 Total billings for last fiscal year: $335 million

The engineering industry has done an outstanding job emphasizing issues related to risk management during the last several years. Technical publications, seminars, and local chapter meetings typically contain mention of contracts, insurance, or recommended language designed to protect firms and engineers from liability resulting from their services. This increased focus has improved our industry’s risk management practices. The time has come, however, to inquire whether our industry has emphasized risk management to the point that our priorities have been distorted, and education regarding improving overall quality has taken a backseat, creating the false impression that risk management is the central driver of our actions.

Most of us can mentor less-experienced colleagues about the importance of contract terminology and signed contracts. We can also likely recite from memory the standardized risk management language from our reports or plan notes. This knowledge is crucial to the long-term success of any firm in today’s litigious society and is the direct result of the improved emphasis that our industry has made to educate our practitioners on their importance. Knowledge, however, is only half the battle. An effective education program covers more than traditional "risk management" components. It also includes a significant focus on quality-related education to help you perform successful projects and avoid problems, rather than simply defend yourself from them.

Contracts, insurance, and warnings in project deliverables are effective tools to reduce individual or firm liability when facing a claim or litigation. The reality, however, is that these are defensive measures. No contract or insurance policy ever stopped a problem on a project from occurring. Warnings and advice are effective only if we can convince our client to heed those warnings and take our advice. Defensive measures are tools that we rely upon to defend ourselves after a problem occurs, but do not prevent problems from occurring. It is in the execution of our services where we can potentially stop problems before they start.

Most of us have horror stories about problem projects that went to litigation because clients failed to heed our warnings and follow our advice. While in most cases our reports and contract terms eventually provide the intended protections, significant funds are wasted on attorneys and defense costs to fight our way out of those problems. On much rarer occasions, we make errors that pass through our internal quality control practices. Again, we have contractual and insurance protections that help us minimize the financial implications of those mistakes. The price, however, can still be substantial in both deductible costs and the potential for a lost client.

Education and training related to internal quality issues can help prevent both of the above scenarios. High-quality service ensures that data is accurate, projects are managed properly, and that we adequately communicate with our clients about the issues affecting their projects so they can avoid rather than react to problems. By providing increased education and emphasis on quality-related topics, such as effective client communications and internal quality control methods, we can improve our ability to prevent problems. For some reason, however, articles are rarely written about these issues; speakers seldom discuss the importance of these issues; and seminars rarely contain presentations to improve upon these quality-related aspects of our services.

It is important to note that the overall quality of our industry’s services has never been higher. We must be careful, however, not to rest on our laurels. Any successful industry is proactive in maintaining success rather than assuming that success will continue. Imagine how successful we could be from a loss prevention perspective if we applied the same energy we currently use on risk management education to quality-focused educational topics. Again, it is not that risk management education is unimportant, but education to improve the overall quality of our services should never take a backseat. No project ever succeeds or fails because of the wording of a contract or the standardized language used in a report. A project succeeds or fails because of the quality of service we provide and our ability to communicate effectively with the client about those services to help the client make good decisions.

Terracon began implementing a balanced quality and risk management approach to education a few years ago. Our curriculum includes topics related to contracts, insurance, warnings, and report language, but also includes a significant emphasis on project quality, effective decision-making, and the importance of client communications. This training has been tremendously well-received by our practitioners, but this should come as no surprise. When they first set out to be engineers, their goal was to have a long career helping clients build successful projects. No engineer ever started down this career path with the primary goal of performing projects where they would be protected if there was a claim or lawsuit.

Successful projects make for successful firms and rarely result in litigation and claims. Therefore, as an industry we should strive for balance in our educational practices, emphasizing a healthy mixture of important risk management topics and methods focusing on overall quality. Through this balance we will maximize our success not only by positioning ourselves effectively to defend claims, but also by possibly preventing them from occurring in the first place.

Michael J. Yost is vice president/general counsel—Risk Management & Litigation for Terracon Consultants, Inc. He can be contacted at mjyost@terracon.com.