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The purpose of this paper is to present a novel hybrid fuzzy-system dynamics (SD) approach for the quantification of the impacts of construction claims.

The most significant claims affecting a project are identified. The various factors affecting the impacts of claims are identified. Then, the qualitative model of construction claims is constructed considering the complex inter-related structure of the influencing factors. The mathematical relationships among the variables are determined and the quantitative model of claims is built. Finally, fuzzy logic is integrated into the proposed model to take into account the existing uncertainties.

To show the capabilities of the proposed simulation model, it is implemented on a real project and the impacts of the identified claims on the project cost are quantified. It is shown that the external interactions among different claims can intensify their overall impact.

Identification of interactions among various influencing factors is not an easy job when there are a large number of claims in a project. Well-qualified experts and the existence of historical data may limit the application of the proposed method in projects with limited data and/or qualified experts.

The proposed hybrid fuzzy-SD approach provides a practical and flexible tool that can be used in various construction projects to assess the cost impacts of construction claims taking into account their complex interactions. Using the proposed method, the accuracy of achieved results is increased compared to conventional methods that are used for the quantification of claims since the complex inter-related structure of influencing factors and the claims interactions are taken into account. One of the capabilities of the proposed hybrid fuzzy-SD method is its flexibility. Depending on the type of contract and the parties involved in the project, the proposed hybrid fuzzy-SD method can be used during different stages of the project life cycle to model and quantify claims.

The proposed approach may present a flexible and robust method for quantification of construction claims. The novelty aspects of this paper are as follows: the extensively complex structure of claims arising from both internal and external interactions is accounted for using SD. The existing uncertainties affecting the impacts of a claim are taken into account.

The purpose of this paper is to examine relevant case law governing the failure and/or success of global or rolled‐up claims, where it is said to be impractical or impossible to demonstrate the links between certain causes of action and the monetary value to be attached to each. The paper proposes a theoretical framework to improve a claimant's prospects of success in advancing a global claim, not only in circumstances where it may be impractical or impossible to provide a breakdown but also where a cost benefit analysis concludes it is reasonable to do so.

The paper uses traditional doctrinal legal methodology to evaluate judicial statements on the merits of global claims from a number of jurisdictions. The paper also draws on key authorities from the realms of health and safety and professional negligence.

The cases demonstrate attempts by the court to recognise the problems faced by claimants at the end of a construction contract where their total costs exceed the agreed contract price. The comparative success or failure of a global claim depends on the judicial approach to a number of factors including: impossibility, impracticability, conduct of the claimant and defendant, balance between excessive particularity and basic information, the keeping of records, the costs of claim preparation and apportionment. There remains a significant risk of failure of a global claim but the risk can be reduced significantly provided the claimant conducts a defensible cost benefit analysis of the approach taken.

A global claim can be used more often provided the rationale behind its presentation forms a logical basis. The cost of litigating complex construction contracts can be reduced significantly if global claims can become the norm rather than the exception, provided the claimant conducts a cost benefit analysis and the court concludes the analysis is reasonable and defensible.

Traditional legal theory relies upon the proposition that the claimant must prove that to which he believes he is entitled to such an extent that the defendant's right to know the case it has to meet is satisfied. This paper adds value to the theory by proposing a radical strategy whereby a reasonable claimant can assist the court in finding a factual and logical basis for awarding the whole of a global claim and, where appropriate, by deduction in addition to the principle of apportionment, less than the whole.

The purpose of this paper is to review the principles for valuation and proof of contractor's claims for additional site overheads arising from delays to completion of construction projects.

An overview of prolongation costs and established principles for recovery is provided. Aspects of recent decisions are analysed critically with respect to proof of delay claims, site overheads and claims for winter working losses. Findings are compared with the established principles.

Some statements in the judgment in Costain v. Haswell [2010] TCLR 1 with respect to requirements for proof of delay claims and for recovery of site overheads depart from established principles. Other elements of the judgment confirm existing principles. The need to distinguish between time‐ and volume‐related costs emerges as critical in valuation of delay‐related losses.

The need for a claimant to establish proof of delays to completion, and proof of loss, particularly in professional negligence claims, is emphasised. The consequences of failing to establish proof are noted as extending potentially to loss of the entire claim.

The paper will help construction practitioners, academics and lawyers understand the potentially far‐reaching impact of the principles advocated in recent case law.

In construction management, risks and claims are treated separately, but several studies tacitly acknowledge a strong link between the two. In this context, this research intends to investigate whether risks and claims have a causal relationship? Based on this causal relationship, a claim-based risk assessment model (C-RAM) is developed to quantify occurrences and cost implications of risks using project data.

First, the causal relationship between risks and claims is established through a conceptual framework for content analysis of the literature on risk management (RM) and claim management (CM). Then, a C-RAM is developed based on the content analysis of 234 claims from 24 settled arbitration awards.

Risks and claims are found to be two stages in the same chain of uncertain events that affect projects, subsequently revealing a causal relationship between risks and claims. Due to this causal relationship, claim documents become a potential source of risk information from past projects. Proposed C-RAM quantifies occurrences of risks with three parameters: number of projects in which a risk occurs, number of ways in which a risk occurs, and number of claims a risk causes if it occurs. Also, cost implications of risks are quantified as percentage of contract sums for interpretation as tangible values.

Though C-RAM is applicable to all types of claims, the results in this paper are based on impacts of risks in past projects that caused claims and reached to arbitration stage.

The causal relationship between risks and claims will encourage integration of knowledge on RM and CM which is currently treated separately. Practitioners can now visualize claims as cost implications of risks that occurred in projects. Further, C-RAM makes risk assessment (RA) more objective by quantifying the cost implications of risks as percentage of contract sums which can be readily used for contingency estimation.

The relationship between risks and claims, and the potential of claim documents as a source of project risk information, can initiate a new paradigm in RM research based on project data.

The term claim has become of paramount significance in construction projects worldwide. This research is targeted at providing a deeper insight of the status of claims management in general and change order claims in particular with respect to the Egyptian industrial construction sector, as change orders have proven to be the main cause of claims in this sector. A questionnaire focusing on persistent issues noted in construction management literature within the past fifteen years was addressed to a selected sample of Egyptian construction industrial projects. The results furnished by the sampled projects demonstrated clearly that claims management in the Egyptian industrial construction sector has been suffering from a variety of impediments, including lack of proper notification procedures in public contracts and poor documentation management. The results indicated that oral change orders were present in nearly 76% of the sample projects and that half of these oral changes resulted in loss of rights due to improper documentation, which could be attributed to the lack of the contract awareness of the site team and to the “fear of consultant” phenomenon. The main cause of change orders was categorised by approximately 67% of the respondents as the additional scope of work, which was largely attributed to the fast track nature of the industrial sector. The research also identified several factors associated with time and cost increases of the sampled projects, among which were: private ownership and unit rate contracts. Finally, several recommendations for improving claims management are put forward. They included: the formation of a unified form of general contract condition for all the Egyptian industrial sector; the use of information technology systems in lieu of traditional filing procedures and the inclusion of a float‐sharing provision in contracts.

Infrastructure projects play a vital role in the development of countries' economies. However, these projects, notably underground ones, are encountering growing claims as they are subject to many unknowns. Without having a clear insight into the causes of claims and their influence on one another, it is not possible to mitigate their adverse impacts on these projects' goals. To this aim, the main purpose of this study is to identify the critical paths leading to cost claims for underground metro projects.

First, causes of claims were identified through a literature review and then refined to 22 main causes according to the opinions of 148 Iranian experts. A qualitative system dynamics (SD) model was then provided to visualize how various causes interact with each other. The model was developed and validated by drawing on the expertise of industry-related experts, and the critical paths were finally recognized based on their frequency and severity indexes.

The findings revealed that each cause should be evaluated based on their connections with others as there are complex relations among the causes. It was also shown that the major claim paths among others were initiated due to ambiguous contract clauses, unforeseen physical conditions and land handover problems.

The findings of this study provide a better insight into how various causes of claims for underground metro projects are related to each other and can eventually assist project managers of different parties, even in other countries, to select proportional strategies to mitigate their adverse impacts.

Aim of this paper is to set some cost benchmarks for the cost of processing an insurance application and processing a claim.

Activity‐based costing (ABC) model. The ABC model was applied to a unified business process and set the benchmarks for the cost of processing an application and a claim.

The average cost per application is approximately AUD221 and the cost of processing a claim is AUD260. The cost of support functions is higher in the case of application processing and back office direct costs are higher in the case of claim processing.

The success of benchmarking exercises depends on the cooperation of the benchmarking partners. Furthermore, the benchmarks can be more accurate when ABC is applied to the business processes. Most insurance providers are yet to adopt the ABC model.

This paper introduces the breakdown of the processing costs for general insurance. The breakdown is given on the basis of direct and indirect costs as well as front office, back office and support function costs. To the best of author's knowledge this is the first application of process benchmarking to the insurance industry.

Although there has been a great deal of interest in the idea of accounting for human resources and considerable theoretical discussion of the problems of measuring human resource value and cost, there has been virtually no empirical research on the validity of proposed methods and models. This paper reports some preliminary evidence on the validity of selected surrogates of a person's value to an organization. It describes a field study conducted to determine the convergent and discriminant validity of three possible surrogates of a person's value to an organization: replacement cost, compensation, and a performance measure.

To provide a brief survey of the literature directed towards the analysis of warranty claim data.

For convenience, this survey of the analysis of warranty claims data is somewhat arbitrarily be classified by topics as follows: age‐based claims analysis, aggregated warranty claims analysis, marginal counts of claims analysis, warranty claims analysis by using covariates, estimation of lifetime distribution using supplementary data, two‐dimensional warranty, warranty costs analysis, sales lag and reporting lag analysis, and forecasts of warranty claims.

Emphasis is placed on a discussion of different kinds of warranty claims data selected from reviews and on a comparison of the statistical models and methods used to analyze such data.

Since the literature on product warranty data is vast, more work on this problem is needed.

This review points out why warranty claims data is important and gives a survey of the literature pertaining to the analysis of such data. The emphasis is on the analysis of minimal databases of real warranty data, constructed by combining information from different sources, which can be collected economically and efficiently through service networks. The research is applicable for those responsible for product reliability, product design decisions and warranty management in manufacturing industries.

The paper reviews different statistical models and methods used to analyze warranty claims data. The statistical models and methods presented are be valuable and meaningful tools for product reliability and warranty management and analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to show that claims filed against law enforcement agencies alleging the violation of constitutional rights continue to plague police administrators, officers, agency trainers, and risk managers. This technical paper seeks to report on the analysis of 151 police and sheriff departments' claims, losses, and litigation in order to assess the trends, costs, and nature of these claims.

Using official records of a risk management entity in Michigan, 15 years of incidents were analyzed in order to identify the trends in third‐party claims, liability, and losses of police and detention centers.

The general findings of 11,273 claims are provided as well as a detailed analysis of 2,929 claims, representing 25 common categories in police work and detention facilities. The findings illustrate the current trends in police liability and reveal important managerial concerns which can direct administrators in revising policy and procedures, in focusing training endeavors, and incorporating risk management strategies in order to reduce the risk of police liability.

The findings will be useful for police trainers in structuring their training efforts. Suggestions for future research which examine successful risk management practices and avert liability are also discussed.