The Functioning of Heerema Marine Contractors' Project Risk Management & the Usefulness of Quantitative Risk Analysis

Abstract

Heerema Marine Contractors' (HMC) former Project Risk Management (PRM) method was until recently supported by a specialized risk team. The risk team facilitated the PRM activities, i.e. risk assessment workshops and review moments during the projects. The risk team also performed a quantitative risk analysis on all projects. Such an analysis provides insight into the project risk, i.e. the combined effect of the identified risk events. The Board of Directors abandoned the risk team after three years of service. The abandonment was associated with two adjustments: (a) the project manager received the full responsibility for all PRM activities and (b) the quantitative risk analysis disappeared. Since then there has been an ongoing discussion about the Board of Directors' decision to abandon the risk team. This raises the research questions 'Which aspects of HMC's current project risk management method show room for improvement?' and 'What is the usefulness of quantitative risk analysis in HMC's project risk management?'