Contents


Preface

Writing a book is a tedious undertaking but for an academic it is cathartic because you get an opportunity to tell the world about things that you have always wanted to. It gives ample time and space to explain your perspective without being too cautious of the space limitations. I have worked in the industry for more than 20 years as a quantity surveyor and I have always been interested in knowing more about what is risky, how to determine risk, and how to avoid it or minimize it but using systematic relevant approaches. I have come to realize that when it comes to risk you have to know the context and apply the tools that could be efficacious in that

When I took the challenge of editing this book I soon realized that one has to absorb a lot of information from many sectors and immediately guide the writer to stay very close and be relevant to the theme, but at the same time give them space to express themselves. It was not an easy task because a lot had to be chopped off that was not considered to be relevant to the theme. To those authors who did not make the cut I would love to encourage them to look for other opportunities to tell the world their perspectival appreciation of their chosen subject. Their contributions matter and their importance surpasses and goes beyond this particular publication.

Reading chapters was the most fulfilling part of the whole exercise because you get to learn many different approaches to risk. You also get to learn whether people have particular and/or different interpretations of risk. What I would love to have seen more of was how culture influences the way practitioners deal and appreciate risk. But what we have in this book is exceptional and intense in the sense that it equips the learner and gives an intimate panoramic view of how people interpret risk. Beyond just reading the chapters the administration work involved was handled superbly well and I would love to take this opportunity to thank the publishers for their professionalism, dedication, patience, and prowess in assisting me in making

I thank everyone who has contributed to making this project a success. It is a shared glory and it should not belong to any one individual alone. Doing so will deprive it

**Dr. Nthatisi Khatleli**

University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

environment especially when the challenges are not purely technical.

So not being published should not be regarded as a train smash.

sure that only the work of the highest quality was published.

of its proper glow and dampen its deserved shine.
