The First Thing in Building Management
The Number One Task of Any Building Manager: Risk Management
The first and most important responsibility of any building manager is risk management.
Before budgets, before aesthetics, before service levels — the building manager’s primary obligation is to identify, reduce, eliminate, and avoid risk for all stakeholders within the facility.
This responsibility sits at the centre of professional building management.
Understanding Risk in Building Management
In our view, risk presents in two distinct forms:
1. Tangible Risk
Tangible risk is visible and physical. It includes the potential for:
- Personal injury
- Financial loss
- Security breaches
- Asset damage
These risks can usually be seen, anticipated, and acted upon through observation and experience.
2. Intangible Risk
Intangible risk is more subtle. It exists where:
- Critical information is missing or unknown
- Documentation is incomplete or unverified
- Decisions are made without full visibility of consequences
This type of risk is often embedded in a situation, with its true impact only becoming clear after an incident occurs.
A professional building manager must be alert to both.
Vigilance at the Coalface
Unlike risk consultants or software platforms, the building manager operates at the coalface every business day.
Daily site inspections — often referred to as “site walks” — are fundamental. During these walks, the building manager is constantly asking:
- Is there a risk here?
- If an incident occurred, who would be affected?
- Could this result in injury, financial loss, or liability?
This vigilance is not optional. If risk is not actively managed, the Owner’s Corporation (Body Corporate) is exposed to liability.
Risk Management Is Customer Care
Risk management is, at its core, a form of customer care.
The “customer” includes:
- Residents and tenants
- Visitors and contractors
- Workers
- The broader community using the facility
The building manager’s duty is to act in the best interests of all stakeholders, reducing risk wherever reasonably possible.
Our Four Risk Management Priorities
All building management risk decisions should be assessed through the following hierarchy:
- Workplace Health & Safety
- Insurance Compliance
- Preserving Asset Value
- Maintaining Operations
Example #1: Managing Sub-Contractors (Cleaning Services)
A typical building requires regular cleaning of:
- Carpets and floors
- Walls and architraves
- Gardens
- Lifts
- Tiled and common areas
Where the Owners Corporation engages a cleaning contractor directly, the building manager still carries operational risk oversight.
1. Workplace Health & Safety
- Are safety signs installed?
- Are chemicals handled correctly?
- Are pedestrians and occupants protected?
2. Insurances
- Public Liability insurance
- WorkCover insurance
- Job Safety Analysis (JSA)
- Safe Work Method Statements (SWMS)
- Worker inductions and White Cards
Even if documentation should have been provided earlier, safety must be controlled immediately on site.
3. Preserving Value
- Is the contractor delivering the agreed scope of works?
- Are cleaning methods protecting assets rather than degrading them?
- Is value for money being achieved?
4. Maintaining Operations
- Are works disrupting other building activities?
- Can the task be performed with less impact on occupants?
Example #2: Missing Fire Extinguisher
During a routine site walk, the building manager notices a fire extinguisher missing from its designated location.
This triggers immediate risk considerations:
1. Workplace Health & Safety
- Increased fire risk to life and property
2. Insurances
- Potential breach of insurance policy conditions
- Non-compliance with essential services requirements
3. Preserving Value
- Fire protection exists first to preserve life
- Secondarily, to limit property damage
4. Maintaining Operations
- Compliance with the Annual Fire Safety Statement
- Ensuring essential services are fully operational
A vigilant response reduces exposure — a distracted response increases liability.
Workplace Health & Safety Comes First
Health and safety is the highest priority in risk management.
Even well-intentioned assumptions about safety can be flawed. What is safe for most may not be safe for all.
Legal professionals often refer to the “eggshell principle” — meaning that systems must protect the most vulnerable, not just the average user.
Sub-Contractor Insurance: Read the Certificate
At a minimum, all contractors must hold:
- Public Liability Insurance
- WorkCover Insurance
But here’s the critical point:
Insurance only covers the work the contractor is licensed to perform.
Example:
If an electrician “helps out” by fixing a leaking tap and causes water damage, their insurance may not respond — because plumbing is outside their licensed scope.
This oversight becomes the building’s problem.
Conclusion
Risk management begins — and lives — with building management.
It is not passive. It is not administrative. It is vigilant, proactive, and informed.
The questions every Owner’s Corporation should ask:
- Do we understand the limits of our insurance policies?
- Is our building manager actively identifying and reporting risk?
- Are issues addressed before incidents occur — or after?
In building management, risk ignored is liability accepted.