Speaking Risk With Our Project Managers

Effective communication between the system safety engineer and the project manager (PM) is an essential characteristic of good risk management in a robust system safety program. However, these two disciplines often use similar terms with disparate meanings that can lead to sub-optimal technical or programmatic outcomes. MIL-STD-882E defines “risk” as “a combination of the severity of the mishap and the probability that the mishap will occur”. The Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide, 6th Edition, defines “individual project risk” as “an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on one or more project objectives”. It is incumbent upon the system safety professional to clearly communicate safety-related issues, hazards, risks and concerns using language most likely to be understood by the PM to ensure that he or she has the requisite information to make a sound programmatic decision. This paper explores the discrepancies between project risk management and safety risk management standard processes that hinder clear communication and can drastically impact program performance. We present methods to consider that will improve understanding between the system safety professional and the PM, along with two framework approaches for integrating safety and project risks.