Dee Why CBD Project Risk Management - Case Study Example

RISK ANALYSIS REPORT (DEE WHY CBD COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT) NAME: INSTITUTION: Table of Contents Introduction 3 The Construction Phase 4 The Likely Risks to Occur 4 The Mitigation Strategies and their Justifications 6 The Design Phase 8 The Likely Risks to Occur 9 The Risk Mitigation Strategies and their Justifications 11 Conclusion 13 References 14 Introduction The field of construction is increasingly becoming a high risk industry particularly with respect to the technological advancements that have been continuously witnessed in the recent years. Typically, there are high risks involved in construction works evidenced by the fact that most projects end up not meeting their deadlines, project costs, and required standards. In some other instances, construction projects suffer risks of time and cost overruns such that the economic viability of the project becomes compromised. The biggest question, however, is, “How best can the term ‘risk’ be defined?” Ideally, a risk may be defined as the results of an occurrence which is projected based on statistical probability. It is essential, therefore, that a risk assessment be carried out for any construction project way before the execution of that project so that such risks be clearly understood and mechanisms of evasion established. In risk assessment, the very first task is usually to identify the actual hazards that may be present in the construction project. The next step after identification of the risks is to develop the possible mechanisms of mitigating the identified risks, with justifications of course. This report provides a comprehensive risk assessment analysis with respect to the construction of the proposed new commercial development in Dee Why CBD all the way from the acquisition of land to the completion of the construction process. Situated at 914-930 Pittwater Road within Dee Why CBD town, the new eight-storey office development is to have full basement car park, a ground floor that would house the foyer with some commercial space, and then 7 levels of open plan office space for lease. There would also be a lift, toilets, bathrooms, and kitchens for every level. This report begins by identifying the potential risks, carries out an analysis of those risks, proposes their mitigation strategies, and justifies those proposed risk control measures in order to have a concrete foundation for solid reliance on these control measures for the betterment of the construction project in question. The Construction Phase In the construction phase of this project, the risks will be associated with the activities carried out by the construction team during the actual implementation of the originally designed structure. Considering the site for this eight-storey office development – Dee Why CBD –, the risk assessment for this phase should be exhaustively analysed. Accordingly, some of the likely risks in this construction project include falls and falling objects, traffic management, electricity, dangerous manual tasks, steel construction, noise, public access and workplace security. The Likely Risks to Occur Traffic Management: Looking at the proposed site for this office development, it suffices to classify it as a high risk construction work, at least according to the WHS regulations. With all these commotion along the 914-930 Pittwater Road during the construction process, it is highly likely that accidents may occur. Some of the risk factors that may cause injuries to pedestrians, site workers, and drivers include construction vehicles, powered mobile plant, pedestrians, and non-construction vehicles. Dangerous Manual Tasks: Any construction projects entail manual tasks and site workers risk injuring themselves with those manual tools and tasks. Some of the manual tasks while undertaking the construction of this eight-storey office development will include operating mobile plant, putting up scaffolding, and dealing with bricks, timber, and ladders. Electricity: The electricity to be used in the site for other construction tasks is not only a risk factor to the workers, but also to the unsuspecting members of the public who would want to gain access to the site unauthoritatively. During electrical installations in this office development and indeed in any construction work, there are risks of accidental contact with the electrical lines. Public Access and Workplace Security: Unauthorised entry into the proposed Development site at 914-930 Pittwater Road may come with such risks as electrocution from live cables, falls, and injuries from falling objects. WHS Regulations require that construction workplaces be free from unauthorised entry as such entry may lead to fatalities and serious injuries. Entry to this site may only be granted to the site workers, management, suppliers, and other direct stakeholders in the project. Falls and Falling Objects: During the construction of this office development, some of the objects that may fall include tools, scaffolding components, precast concrete walls, and materials stacked at the workplace. It is practically impossible to ignore the possibility of falls and falling objects in such construction work as this particular one. Section 274 of the Work Health and Safety Act (WHS Act) stipulates that any construction work that involves the risk of a person falling more than 2 metres is classified as high risk construction for which a Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) should be prepared. For this project, regardless of the normal foundation, excavations will be encountered because of the said full basement car park and ground floors. All these might instigate falls. As was explained by the developer, all buildings within the proposed Development site at 914-930 Pittwater Road Dee Why, NSW will be demolished to pave way for this office development. During such demolitions, falling materials, walls, and debris may cause serious injuries to the workers at the site. Noise: Such construction work as this is prone to excessive noise. Overexposure to noise and extreme noise levels are a hazard in a construction work as they expose both workers and the passers-by to the likelihood of either a reduced or complete loss of hearing by the victims. Ideally workers should not be exposed to extreme noise levels since most of the impacts of such noise are irreparable. Steel Construction: It is possible that this project may not necessarily involve steel construction directly. However, it may involve certain tasks which require erection of such structural components of steel as columns, beams, bracing, girts, rafters, bridging and flying, trusses, and purlins. This is indeed a risky venture for the workers who will be involved in such erections since they risk falling, being fallen on by falling objects, and other minor injuries such as scratches. The Mitigation Strategies and their Justifications Electricity risks for this project may be mitigated by ensuring that any electrical installation in the office development adheres to the AS/NZS 3012: Electrical installations – Construction and demolition sites standards. For the Dee Why CBD project, some of the actual mitigation strategies for electricity risks may include the use of distribution boards and switchboards, marking of construction wiring, protection of cords and extension sets, installation of lighting and emergency lighting, and Residual Current Devices specified for all construction wiring. Traffic management mitigation strategies may include the construction team specifying the preferred travel paths for vehicles within the proximity of the site, establishing entry and exit points to the proposed site, haul routes for debris/ plant materials, or traffic crossing another stream of traffic, and traffic taming strategies in order to contain speed and the potential to take incorrect routes as well. Another major point to consider is the fact that the construction team should ensure that they manage the movement and velocity at which vehicles move in such a way that it reduces the possibility of pedestrians and operators along the 914-930 Pittwater Road incurring injury. Provisions should be made for people and vehicle traffic within this site in addition to selecting travel routes that are remote to the workplace. It is also prudent to ensure that pathways for vehicles and pedestrians do not have any hindrances. For dangerous manual tasks, the most important action that should be taken by the constructor is to ensure that manual equipment, tasks, and work environments for this Dee Why CBD office development are significantly minimised. Initially, they should buy pre-packaged materials in tinier compartments. They should also use mechanical systems like cranes, forklifts, hoists, brick elevators, and vacuum lifting machines. Additional risk mitigation strategies for manual tasks and equipment that may be considered for this eight-storey office development include placing materials near workplaces, proper maintenance of tools and equipment, use of the right tool for the right task in the correct manner, and improvement of design and ease of handling materials and components. Finally, enough space should be dedicated to any manual tasks being handled. Risk mitigation strategies for public access and workplace security risks include installing fences around the site and fitting them with locks to prevent unauthorised entry, locking electrical switchboards, and use of electronic swipe cards at the entrance points to the site where the construction is taking place – Dee Why CBD along 914-930 Pittwater Road in this case. In order to mitigate risks related to falls and falling objects, the site workers should ensure that working load limits are not exceeded, and that the correct equipment is used in raising and lowering objects. Also, the site workers therein should ensure they adequately secure the elevated area using a physical barrier. Other control measures that may be used to contain the likely hazards associated with falls in this site include zoning of the adjoining area, catch platforms and nets, road diversions, working outside normal time, and use of tool lanyards. It may also be recommended that the construction team should install perimeter containment screening using plywood and timber, with its framework having the ability to withstand the load of the screen. For this construction project, noise risks may be mitigated effectively by using complementary equipment and methods that reduce noise, enclosing noisy equipment, installing silencers on certain noisy equipment, and most importantly, ensuring that all workers around any noisy equipment within this site wears personal hearing protection such as plugs, ear canals, and ear muffs. The Design Phase While the risks involved in this phase may seem to be fewer compared to those involved in the construction phase, they are so critical to any particular construction project that ignoring them automatically stalls the construction project in its entirety. The four main risks discussed in this report with respect to the eight-storey office development to be constructed in the centre of Dee Why are design variations, inadequate program scheduling, inaccurate cost estimates, and poor knowledge of the project site and its associated essential services. Even though most of the actually visible risks in a construction project may seem to occur during the construction phase of the work, the actual conceptualisation of all these risks in a construction work begins in the design phase. It is here that risks associated with the conceptualised design and the actual complete design are first idealised before being taken into account by the subsequent stages of the construction project implementation. The Likely Risks to Occur First, the environmental risk of the building to be constructed in relation to the climate around the Dee Why CBD is indeed a risk factor. The design phase should thoroughly study and analyse the climate around the site, and this will help the designers recommend the best construction materials and other resources with respect to this office development. The other possible risk in this phase is information transfer with inaccurate projected objectives of the construction work. This is certainly is a risk that the design phase for this office development in Dee Why CBD should critically take into account. Risk assessment helps make a project more economical. If wrong objectives are passed over by the design team to the construction phase, there is likely to be a problem especially in establishing the cost factor. Such cost impacts may be strenuous either to the contractor or the developer. Thirdly, Knowledge Management is also a critical parameter in the design phase. It is important to mention that all the information on the design adopted for any construction structure should be readily available for the developer, the construction team, and the users of the completed structure. In this case, inadequate knowledge-transfer by the designers of this eight-storey to the subsequent parties and users of the building poses a risk. The building users will require information on how well to operate in the building, and such information is available from the design team as well as the construction team. Similarly, the construction team requires information from the design phase for it to carry out the actual construction. Fourth, there is a possibility of lack or inadequate knowledge on technical conditions. As was mentioned earlier, this Dee Why CBD office development project is a high-risk project that requires that both the designers and constructors have complete knowledge in technical conditions. Lack of or incomplete comprehensive knowledge in design and installation of lifts, basement car park facility design, and material-environment match in the design phase is a risk for such a project. Fifth, poor or incomplete design is a risk factor worth taking into account as well. An eight-storey office development in such a city as the Dee Why CBD is such a high-risk project whose designers need to be highly objective. To the construction phase, the risk is associated with not-up-to-standards construction for the incomplete designs, while to the tenants; the risk is associated with living in a substandard office development. Incomplete design from the design phase is a risk not only to the construction team, but to the end users of the building as well. Sixth, the detailed design phase may pose risk with respect to matching the requirements of the developer with the existing conditions in the Dee Why CBD as well as the financial aspect. Failure to adequately streamline the office development requirements with the developer’s wishes may, therefore, pose as a threat in this eight-storey construction project in the Dee Why CBD. In the event, for instance, that the developer’s financial capability is far much lower than the designer’s projected project demands, the designer might end up designing a building that is not only substandard, but also one that is weak and prone to such calamities as earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes. Seventh, there is the risk of inaccurate projection in changes in design during the construction phase may also pose as a risk in this project. The possible associated risk for this project in relation to inaccurate design change projection is the likelihood of massive variations in both the recommended materials for the construction and their corresponding costs. Whereas it is the responsibility of the designers to fully take such changes into account during the detailed design, it may pose as a challenge to some designers and indeed to most designers. Finally, poor and inaccurate risk identification is another risk for this construction project. Any ignored risk has a high possibility of causing greater harm, particularly for high-risk construction projects such as this office development project in the Dee Why CBD. For this eight-storey office development project in the Dee Why CBD, the risk identification process should not take any risk to chance. The Risk Mitigation Strategies and their Justifications The designers of the eight-storey office development in the Dee Why CBD should set objectives that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Bound (SMART). They can achieve this by involving virtually all stakeholders such as the engineers, the contractors, the developer, the local authorities in the Dee Why CBD, and environmentalists while setting up the objectives. The designers should also partner with environmental experts in their quest to design the office development in a manner that is in line with the climate and surrounding of the Dee Why CBD. While setting the project’s objectives by hearing from all the concerned stakeholders, the designers should as well comprehensively identify the risks in this project based on the views and recommendations of every stakeholder. The design team should be able and willing to clearly explain and clarify their design to all the concerned stakeholders such as the construction team, the developer, the local authorities, and the environmentalists. The design team should hire an independent design expert to verify that all design parameters of such a building are all met. The design team should allow the developer to explain themselves both orally and in writing on their requirements of the project, and discuss it with the designers in a roundtable meeting. The design team should seek the services of an economic consultant and quantity surveyor in order to be able to accurately project any future changes in the design materials and their respective prices in the near future as well. Finally, the project contractor should seek the services of extremely knowledgeable and highly qualified designers to serve in the design team of this eight-storey office development in Dee Why CBD. The inclusion of all the stakeholders in their design team will ensure that the designers set a comprehensive objectives plan that encompasses all expectations of the stakeholders. Additionally, such a move will ensure that the design team comprehensively documents and takes into account all the possible risks in this project’s design. Environmental experts will be crucial in advising the designers about the climate of the site in the Dee Why CBD. Such information will be useful to the designers especially in the selection of the best construction materials for this office development as well as in the adoption of the most appropriate design for this eight-storey office development. By discussing with the developer in a roundtable, both the design team and the developer will settle on a common ground in which the expectations of the developer and the designers’ technical specifications will match. More importantly, however, is the fact that such a move will ensure that the developer gets the exact office development that they desire and that the designers, on their part, design a building that meets all the design requirements. By clearly explaining the details of their design to the construction team, the designers will ensure that the construction phase does not in any way suffer ambiguities in the course of their work. Moreover, this will help them fully adhere to every design safety standard set by the design team in the course of their construction work. Conclusion In assessing the risks involved in any project, it is paramount to take into account the full requirements and specifications of the developer. While the designer is certainly responsible for most of the conceptual stages of the project, it is the desires of the developer that supersede every other aspect of the project, except if advised otherwise by such professionals as the designers and contractors. The risk assessment is heavily dependent on these specifications. Conclusively, it suffices to say that risk assessment and developer’s specifications alongside the pieces of advice from construction and design professionals is fundamentally critical. References AS/NZS 4360 (1999). Australian / New Zealand Standard on Risk Management, Standards Australia and Standards New Zealand. Burtonshaw-Gunn, S. A. (2009). Risk and financial management in construction. Farnham, England: Gower. Jha, K. N. (2011). Construction project management: Theory and practice. New Delhi: Dorling Kindersley. Safe Work Australia (2011). Code of practice: Managing risks in construction work. Thompson, P. A. (1998). Engineering construction risks: A guide to project risk analysis and assessment ; implications for project clients and project managers ; an SERC project report. London: Telford. Read More

Electricity: The electricity to be used in the site for other construction tasks is not only a risk factor to the workers, but also to the unsuspecting members of the public who would want to gain access to the site unauthoritatively. During electrical installations in this office development and indeed in any construction work, there are risks of accidental contact with the electrical lines. Public Access and Workplace Security: Unauthorised entry into the proposed Development site at 914-930 Pittwater Road may come with such risks as electrocution from live cables, falls, and injuries from falling objects.

WHS Regulations require that construction workplaces be free from unauthorised entry as such entry may lead to fatalities and serious injuries. Entry to this site may only be granted to the site workers, management, suppliers, and other direct stakeholders in the project. Falls and Falling Objects: During the construction of this office development, some of the objects that may fall include tools, scaffolding components, precast concrete walls, and materials stacked at the workplace. It is practically impossible to ignore the possibility of falls and falling objects in such construction work as this particular one.

Section 274 of the Work Health and Safety Act (WHS Act) stipulates that any construction work that involves the risk of a person falling more than 2 metres is classified as high risk construction for which a Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) should be prepared. For this project, regardless of the normal foundation, excavations will be encountered because of the said full basement car park and ground floors. All these might instigate falls. As was explained by the developer, all buildings within the proposed Development site at 914-930 Pittwater Road Dee Why, NSW will be demolished to pave way for this office development.

During such demolitions, falling materials, walls, and debris may cause serious injuries to the workers at the site. Noise: Such construction work as this is prone to excessive noise. Overexposure to noise and extreme noise levels are a hazard in a construction work as they expose both workers and the passers-by to the likelihood of either a reduced or complete loss of hearing by the victims. Ideally workers should not be exposed to extreme noise levels since most of the impacts of such noise are irreparable.

Steel Construction: It is possible that this project may not necessarily involve steel construction directly. However, it may involve certain tasks which require erection of such structural components of steel as columns, beams, bracing, girts, rafters, bridging and flying, trusses, and purlins. This is indeed a risky venture for the workers who will be involved in such erections since they risk falling, being fallen on by falling objects, and other minor injuries such as scratches. The Mitigation Strategies and their Justifications Electricity risks for this project may be mitigated by ensuring that any electrical installation in the office development adheres to the AS/NZS 3012: Electrical installations – Construction and demolition sites standards.

For the Dee Why CBD project, some of the actual mitigation strategies for electricity risks may include the use of distribution boards and switchboards, marking of construction wiring, protection of cords and extension sets, installation of lighting and emergency lighting, and Residual Current Devices specified for all construction wiring. Traffic management mitigation strategies may include the construction team specifying the preferred travel paths for vehicles within the proximity of the site, establishing entry and exit points to the proposed site, haul routes for debris/ plant materials, or traffic crossing another stream of traffic, and traffic taming strategies in order to contain speed and the potential to take incorrect routes as well.

Another major point to consider is the fact that the construction team should ensure that they manage the movement and velocity at which vehicles move in such a way that it reduces the possibility of pedestrians and operators along the 914-930 Pittwater Road incurring injury.

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