Risk Assessment and Prioritization Using a New Hybrid Decision-Making Approach Based on FMEA in Fuzzy Environment (Case Study: Arak Central Library Project)

Risk assessment and prioritization is one of the most important components of risk management in any organization. Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is one of the most commonly used methods for assessment and prioritization of the multiple risks. Despite the widespread applications of this method in various industries, FMEA is associated with some shortcomings that can lead to unrealistic results. In this study, a new hybrid decision- making approach is presented in three phases to cover some of the shortcomings of the FMEA technique. In the first phase, based on the subject literature and getting help from a group of experts, 23 risks related to the construction project were identified and classified into six groups including technical, dynamics of the project environment, multiplicity of project stakeholders, employer, project management, and contractor. In the second phase, the fuzzy Stepwise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (SWARA) is used to measure the weights of decision criteria. In the third phase, the outputs of the previous phases are used as a basis to prioritize the risks using the Weighted Aggregated Sum Product Assessment (WASPAS) methods under fuzzy environment. To illustrate the potential benefits and applications of the proposed hybrid approach in a case study was implemented. The results obtained from the new hybrid approach to show that the low performance of the human resources, communication and cooperation of a poor contractor with another group, lack of proper management by the contractor regarding financial matters, supplier support, and subcontractors, and low performance of the human resources as the most important risks were recognized in the construction project of the Central Library of Markazi Province. Also, after performing the validation test and sensitivity analysis, it was found that the proposed method can provide valuable and effective information in helping to manage the risk of construction projects.