Acta Scientiarum Polonorum

Various factors influencing the geotechnical safety of structures are discussed, starting from the concept
phase, up to the post-implementation monitoring; the significant role of random aspects is emphasized.
Assumptions, expectations and practical difficulties related to the use of the European code EN 1997 are
presented, including the difficulty in applying the concept of partial safety factors. The planned edition of the
third part of Eurocode 7 can significantly improve the quality of the code and therefore improve the reliability
of geotechnical design.