Constructability Hazard For High Speed Rail Project

Mr. Om Prakash Singh  Senior Alignment Engineer,  High Speed Rail KL-SG and MRT2,  Kula Lumpur, Malaysia

 

Introduction

As part of the Economic Transformation Plan, there is ongoing High-Speed Rail (HSR) project of Ahmedabad-Mumbai, Kuala Lumpur – Singapore, and Thailand. HSR connects the southern region of Malaysia and Singapore in 90 minutes with a speed of 300km/h. With a total length of approximately 335km within the Malaysian section, the high-speed rail service connects 7 major towns with stations at Bandar Malaysia, Putrajaya, Seremban, Ayer Keroh, Muar, Batu Pahat and Iskandar Puteri. Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed rail has operation speed of 320km/h.

This Constructability Hazard is prepared with due consideration for health and safety and to impose better standards of HSR management in design by avoiding, reducing and controlling HSR hazards faced by workers on construction site. The design has taken reasonable steps to address HSR hazards and associated risks to ensure that the project is capable of being constructed to be safe, can be maintained safely and complies with all relevant safety and health legislation.

 

Construction Safety

Based on the recent development of construction safety research, the concept of construction safety both at the policy level and implementation is needed. In this case, the safety of the construction should be seen not only of occupational safety but the safety of the total system of construction (total safety of construction systems). Thus, the safety of the construction will have dimensions of (i) safe for people, (ii) safe for the public, (iii) safe for the property, and (iv) safe for the environment. Safety for people to understand including safety from danger (hazard), which can lead to accidents and occupational diseases. In addition, construction safety should be viewed throughout the life cycle of the building woke up (built assets), starting from conception, planning, design, procurement, implementation, operation and maintenance, deconstruction and reconstruction.

 

Purpose of Hazard Log

• Recording identified hazards and causes of the hazards
• Recording the hazard consequences and affected group
• Recording the appropriate actionee (Hazard Owner) and mitigation measures in place
• Classifying hazard based on the likelihood of occurrence (accident frequency) and consequences of the accident (accident severity) to arrive at a level of risk (initial risk)
•  Assessing residual risk after considering mitigation measures proposed and relevant disciplines
• Tracing hazard status
• Recording hazard closer as endorsed by Hazard Owner, Head of Department, and Project Management

Hazard Risk Identification Hazard Risk Management is a continuous process where the project team will identify risks and develop strategies to mitigate or avoid those risks. The pertinent Hazard risk items are identified from each relevant Department head of this section.   Risk Frequency The Risk Frequency is the qualitative rate of occurrence (probability range) of that Risk. In other words, it is the range of probabilities that the Risk occurs (Table 1).

 

Risk Severity The Risk Severity is the qualitative category of the level of harm caused by that Risk once it occurs (Table 2).   Risk Evaluation Risk evaluation will be performed by combining the frequency of occurrence of a hazardous event with the severity of its consequence to establish the level of risk generated by the hazardous event. For the HSR project, the ’frequency-consequence’ matrix shown in Fig. 1 will be used.   Risk Acceptance Table 2, defines qualitative categories of risk and the actions to be applied against each category. The Railway Authority will be responsible for defining the principal to be adopted (in this case the ALARP principal) and the tolerability level of a risk and the level that fall into the different risk categories.

 

Preliminary Hazard Analysis (PHA)

The first hazard identification process will be the production of a Preliminary Hazard Analysis (PHA) for each of the systems that make up the HSR project. The PHA is a semi-quantitative initial risk study carried out in the early stages of the project that is performed to identify potential hazards that may lead to an accident. The PHA will rank each identified accidental event according to the severity and frequency. The PHA will also identify potential safeguards and mitigations to be considered for implementation to reduce the risk to an acceptable level.This can have two parts. i.e., Design and construction stage.

 

Interface Hazard Analysis (IHA)

The IHA shall identify and assess existing or potential hazards between systems and/or subsystems and the inter-relationships of each subsystem to determine the cause and effect of possible independent, dependant and simultaneous failures that could present a hazardous condition.

 

Operation and Support Hazard Analysis (OSHA)

OSHA shall consider tasks and human actions including acts of omission and commission by persons interacting with the system, subsystems and assemblies at any level, including the public. All human factors and ergonomic aspects of the design and its operation shall be considered. When the OSHA indicates a potential safety hazard, it shall be made known to HSR immediately.

 

Risk Close-Out

The objective of the Risk Close-Out process is to identify residual project risks for handover to the project owner or contractor at completion of the Handover Phase of the project. Residual Close-Out Risks are defined as those project risks that have a probability of occurrence greater than zero and could impact operations. These risks are detailed in the Hazard Risk Close-Out Register, which is handed over to the project owner to ensure risk management continuity.

 

Conclusion

The Hazard risks are very important issues in construction. Not only this is important for High Speed Rail and Light Rail only it can be applied to every construction field like road construction and Building construction etc. Hazard log for a year was made and risks were analysed. Based on the risk analysis, the following safety measures have been provided:.

Fencing provided for operational area. Fencing overlaps onto viaduct ramp or runs under viaduct ramp (viaduct crosses fence at high level). Automatic area is fenced within depot, and depot has security perimeter fence. Hand rail along raised platform runs along the length of train allowing access anywhere. Fall arrest system to be fitted for all high-level platforms.

Transition slabs installed (by depot / civil contractors). Concrete apron in front of buildings. Fixed concrete end stops in workshop and stabling provided by Civils. Fill the gap with inserts.

Clearly demarcated walking route clear of pit (and clear of train on pittrack). Anti-climb fencing provided around track area. No catenary outside fenced area. Security fencing provided around depot operational area. No public access to depot operational areas. Dedicated loading / unloading area provided at stores. Loading / unloading inside workshops. P-way unloading at dedicated hardstand. Floor areas will be marked to segregate fork lift and pedestrian movements.

Provide separate pedestrian access at gate. Dangerous goods’ store well away from occupied buildings. Guardhouse and perimeter fence to prevent unauthorised access to depot. Clearly demarcated walking route Road has barrier, which can only be opened under Depot Controller’s permission, segregation of Traffic with Road Barrier.

As far as practicable, keep manholes out of footpaths, roadways (also trip hazard from raised manhole covers). Manhole cover is seated and double sealed on the manhole.

 

References

1. EN5016 “Railway applications-The Specification and Demonstration of Reliability, availability, Maintainability and Safety”
2. Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (ACT514)
3. Universal Design Standard dated 26 April 2017 Rev P01 (Document Reference No: KLSG-C001-CH2-SA-ST-00-000-000001)
4. Engineering Safety Management Plan (KLSG-MHSR-CH2-SA-PL-00-000-000005)
5. Interface Management Procedure
6. ISO 14001 Environment Management Standard and the Occupational Health & Safety System OHSAS 18001