Cheung, S O and Tsang, K F (1997) Professional liabilities in construction: Exposures and responses. In: Stephenson, P (ed.) Proceedings of 13th Annual ARCOM Conference, 15-17 September 1997, Cambridge, UK.
Abstract
Occupations are regarded as professionals where the nature of their work requires specialised skill. Construction professionals such as architects, engineers and surveyors are no exception. These professionals involved in project developments are expected to provide a high standard of service. In addition to their contractual duties towards their engagers, there also exists a duty towards the community. Whilst professional institutions have laid down stringent rules to regulate,. monitor and control the competence level of their members, construction professionals are subjected to commercial pressures for speedy delivery and working with minimum, or even insufficient information. Increasing complexity and advances in technology are added dimensions to the exposures to professional liability claims. In this context, the use of compulsory professional indemnity insurance schemes has been topical in the last decade. This paper examines the requirements on skill and competence, under statute and code of conduct of the relevant professional institutions. This paper also reports a survey study seeking to identify the common causes of exposures to professional liabilities claims faces by architects, engineers and surveyors practicing in Hong Kong. The result of the study indicates that there exists major differences in the type of exposures among the three groups of construction professional. The study also reveals that t11ese professionals prefer to rely on internal quality assurance schemes to reduce their exposure.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | exposures; negligence; professional competence; quality assurance |
| Index terms: | professional liability, dimension, face, professional indemnity, complexity, competence, statute, construction professional, Hong Kong, negligence, quality assurance, exposure, insurance, project development, occupation, survey, architect, engineer, duty |
| Subjects: | project delivery, quality assurance, health monitoring assessment and metrics, sociology, personnel development, profession, legal systems, contractual role, public and environmental health, psychology, economic analysis, systems engineering, liability law, Geography, professional development, data collection methods |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Human Resources, Organizational Design, Information Management, Contract Administration, Business Strategy, Legal Issues, Geographical Context, Project Management, Health and Safety, Roles and Professions, Engineering Principles, Quality Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here