Loss Prevention and Risk Management
Applied to engineering and environmental firms in particular, John’s work in the fields of loss prevention and risk management is legendary.
- He helped establish important concepts like limitation of liability, alternative dispute resolution, peer review, case-history-based instruction, and audio education, among others.
- To impeach the biased standard-of-care testimony of “hired-gun” experts, he conceived and was principal author of “Recommended Practices for Design Professionals Engaged as Experts in the Resolution of Construction-Industry Disputes”, endorsed by more than 40 national, international, and regional societies and associations.
- Two million (or more!) copies of the model report-insert sheet he created for the Geoprofessional Business Association (GBA) – “Important Information about This Geotechnical-Engineering Report” – have been printed.
- He has created an array of innovative contract provisions, all rendered in “plain-English,” and has written four editions of Contract Reference Guide, published individually by GBA and four insurance companies.
- He has developed monographs, articles, and columns on topics like “taboo” words, project-file management, retaining field personnel, and dealing with mold, among 200 more.
- He created the profoundly influential Fundamentals of Professional Practice (FOPP) program, a six-month basic-training course whose alumni include some 2,500 engineering and environmental firms’ rising stars, more than 100 of whom are today the CEOs of the firms that enrolled them.
- John’s many archived webinars remain fresh and on-point, known for their topical mastery, humor, and not just a little irreverence.
- He has delivered his acclaimed series of BackYard Seminars hundreds of times to thousands of attendees, both nationally and internationally.
- John’s individualized services in this field range from single-issue to whole-firm loss-prevention evaluations, to plan creation, program and materials development, and one-on-one writing-coach services, among many others.
What Can John Do for Your Firm?
Risk-Management Audit
How much risk is your firm creating for itself? Does your website suggest your firm has capabilities no firm can actually possess? Do your proposals contain unfortunate ambiguities? What about correspondence prepared by staff? And do staffers know and apply all they should? John Bachner can provide important evaluations and explanations and offer specific suggestions for improvement.
Materials Development
What type of materials will benefit your firm’s loss-prevention posture? Model documents and templates? Go/no-go analytical tools? Checklists? Case histories? Materials to spur group discussion? Many approaches are available, depending on the issues involved, the firm involved, and the people involved. Few people – if any – have John Bachner’s experience. And success.
Programming
Do you need to provide guidance to your staff? Programs related to specific issues: Words and phrases to avoid. Contract provisions that can create problems. On-site behavior that can have lasting, negative impact. John can identify the problems and work with you to develop the kind of programming that best fits the needs of your firm and the people who comprise it.
Board and Advisory-Board Service
Looking for fresh ideas and ongoing guidance? John can be of significant help by serving on a firm's board of directors or its advisory board. How can we attract more of the client types we want most? What new capabilities and services should we be looking into to better serve our clientele and be in the vanguard of the future? How can we attract and retain more of the professionals our firm relies on? What can we do – department by department – to lower our professional-liability risks? John has been answering these and similar questions successfully for decades.