Who got that job?

By STEVE HART




Cate Quinn's first taste of working in risk analysis came after she left a job as a scientist at Forestry Research in Rotorua for a working holiday in London.

"There aren't many forests in the City so I had to quickly find something else to do," said Quinn.

But Quinn had developed a few skills that opened some doors.

"I did a lot of work with land owners in Rotorua and was out and about quite often talking to people to find out information - I developed a useful skill," said Quinn. "In London I ended up working for Railtrack as an analyst building databases as part of the Y2K programme. I developed statistical and modelling skills which led me down the path into a risk analysis position with a consultancy firm.

"The profession is becoming recognised a lot more now and there are many ways into it. I don't know anyone who's trained to do it, mainly people come from other disciplines such as the sciences, engineering, accounting or insurance.

"Some people see risk analysis as adding to the cost of a project, but we really help to save costs. The risks of any project are already there, but what we do is help people think about them and plan in the risks or identify an opportunity earlier than they may have.

"It's a project management tool to help people quantify risks so project managers and engineers - the experts - can make the best decisions and develop a strategy for dealing with it."

In Britain Quinn worked in the aftermath of the October 17, 2000, Hatfield rail accident in Leeds, when a train derailed because of a cracked track and four people were killed.

"Every inch of track in Britain had to be checked. Meanwhile trains were running slow and everyone wanted to know when a full rail service would start again.

"We did calculations and gave Railtrack a time period. This gave the company confidence when telling the media when the network would fully reopen."

One of Quinn's current projects is managing risk for the northern motorway extension from Orewa to Puhoi.