Risk analysis of safety in dredging and reclamation works

Abstract

The development of deep-sea ports and industrial ports is important to the marine infrastructure expansion, and therefore advancement of the country's economy, due to several advantages of the water transportation system, including the capabilities of delivering large quantities and different cargo types, lowering the transportation cost, improving safety, and generating fewer pollutions. In Thailand, the Laem Chabang deep seaport project and the Map Ta Phut industrial port development project were initiated and are currently under the expansion phase. This requires a significant investment fund and human resources due to the
demand for special machinery, advanced construction techniques, and the limitation of construction experts available. Therefore,to prevent an accident and a danger from the dredging and reclamation works, this paper aims to study and investigate the risk identification factors on the safety aspect of the dredging and reclamation works. The methodology started by gathering the risk factors from the past literature, identifying the relevant and possible risks, and performing risk assessments based on the experts’ evaluations of the likelihood of occurrence and the severity of impact. The analysis of 14 events revealed that most of the risks
were at a high level. The top three high-risk events were crane lifting, machinery breakdown/unavailability, and lightning in open areas. The risk mitigation approach was finally proposed for each risk factor. The finding from this paper should prove useful to the management of future marine infrastructure development that increases the success of the projects in the long run.