Risk management in construction has only recently become a topic of interest for French engineers and researchers. In 2003, MRGenCi, the first French national organisation for risk management in civil engineering, was founded by the first author. It now brings together more than 20 partners (including authorities, builders, consultants, academics and insurers). The understanding of failure analysis has developed progressively among the community of experts and engineers. It is now important to open a new perspective by showing the value of a shared failure database. A first prototype database has been promoted by the authors, which now contains more than 960 failure cases. For many reasons this prototype database cannot yet be considered as a research tool, but merely as a demonstration tool to show what can be done, once organisational problems are identified and solved. It can also be used (among other purposes) for teaching, both using specific failure cases and at a more synthetic level. Information contained in the database is useful for incorporation in a range of courses, on topics such as geotechnics, materials science, tunnelling, bridges and reinforced concrete. It also has direct application for teaching risk management in civil engineering.Read less <