Hazard Identification Risk Assessment and Risk Control (HIRARC) for Mengkuang Dam Construction

Abstract

The construction industry is a main contributor to Malaysia's economy and yet some construction projects are considered being extremely unsafe, unhealthy, and exposing to a lot of hazards and risks to worksites. Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Risk Control (HIRARC) is a process commonly used to determine and evaluate both existing and potential hazards on a worksite and an effective control action plan used to reduce the identified hazards. HIRARC risk management is a fundamental to the business operation, planning and management. This study investigates the implementation of the HIRARC Risk Management Plan and Risk Registered Matrix for the construction project of the Mengkuang Dam in Malaysia, which involved the scopes of raising and extension of the existing dam. Construction of the dam upgrading and expansion was subjected to severe risks factors such as potential impact to the existing dam, project schedule delay, exceeding the project budget and contractual dispute. The Risk Register Matrix based on HIRARC was initiated for this project and was also implemented during the construction of the dam. The risk management plan framework and process involved in the risk identification, risk assessment, risk control, and mitigating measures are discussed for further assessments of risk control and action plans. The findings have shown that the construction project risk in term of the relative risks can be reduced by implementing an effective control action plan to mitigate the risks significantly. The HIRARC risk management that applied in this study can also be adopted in other dam construction projects to provide an effective safety management system and reduce the project relative hazard risks.