Understanding environmental incidents on construction sites in Australia: the causal factors, environmental impact and their relations
Abstract
The construction sites are prone to environmental incidents. In this paper, the root causes of incidents and immediate actions taken after events are identified through qualitative analysis, while the environmental impacts, the cost of mitigation, time of incident occurrence, as well as the relationship between the causes of incidents and immediate actions and the causes and environmental impacts were quantitatively analysed. In total, 499 environment incidents occurred over an 8-year period on the construction sites in Australia was examined in this study. The results show that the most common causes of incidents were equipment and plant failure, oil spillage, and fuel spillage, while the most expensive incidents in terms of mitigation were flooding, poor weather, and process failures. Further, the most common actions taken immediately after incidents were cleaning and clearing, shut down of operation, plant and equipment and notifications. More than 50% of incidents resulted in the contamination of land and groundwater, while the majority of incidents occurred between 10:00 am and 12:00 am. We propose strategies for project managers and environmental managers to better understand potential environmental hazards.
Keyword : environmental incidents, causes, immediate actions, environmental impact, environmental management, construction sites, Australia
How to Cite
Andrić, J. M., Wang, J., Mahamadu, A.-M., & Zhong, R. (2019). Understanding environmental incidents on construction sites in Australia: the causal factors, environmental impact and their relations. Journal of Civil Engineering and Management, 25(7), 617-630. https://doi.org/10.3846/jcem.2019.10435
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
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Rowlinson, S. M. (1997). Hong Kong construction-site safety management. Sweet & Maxwell.
Saldaña, J. (2013). The coding manual for qualitative researchers. Sage.
Sharrard, A. L., Matthews, H. S., & Roth, M. (2007). Environmental implications of construction site energy use and electricity generation. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 133(11), 846-854. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2007)133:11(846)
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Yang, J., Li, F., Zhou, J., Zhang, L., Huang, L., & Bi, J. (2010). A survey on hazardous materials accidents during road transport in China from 2000 to 2008. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 184(1-3), 647-653. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2010.08.085
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Australian Government, Department of Environment and Energy. (1999). Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Retrieved from https://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/about
Australian Government. (2011). Work Health and Safety Act. Retrieved from https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2017C00305
Cao, G., Yang, L., Liu, L., Ma, Z., Wang, J., & Bi, J. (2018). Environmental incidents in China: Lessons from 2006 to 2015. Science of the Total Environment, 633, 1165-1172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.03.271
Carroll, J. S. (1998). Organizational learning activities in highhazard industries: The logics underlying self‐analysis. Journal of Management Studies, 35(6), 699-717. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6486.00116
Chen, Z., Li, H., & Wong, C. T. (2005). EnvironalPlanning: Analytic network process model for environmentally conscious construction planning. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 131(1), 92-101. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2005)131:1(92)
Chen, Z., Li, H., & Wong, C. T. (2000). Environmental management of urban construction projects in China. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 126(4), 320-324. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2000)126:4(320)
Dione, S., Ruwanpura, J. Y., & Hettiaratchi, J. P. (2005). Assessing and managing the potential environmental risks of construction projects. Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction, 10(4), 260-266. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1084-0680(2005)10:4(260)
Fraser, G. S., Ellis, J., & Hussain, L. (2008). An international comparison of governmental disclosure of hydrocarbon spills from offshore oil and gas installations. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 56(1), 9-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2007.09.032
Fuertes, A., Casals, M., Gangolells, M., Forcada, N., Macarulla, M., & Roca, X. (2013). An environmental impact causal model for improving the environmental performance of construction processes. Journal of Cleaner Production, 52, 425-437. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.02.005
Gangolells, M., Casals, M., Gasso, S., Forcada, N., Roca, X., & Fuertes, A. (2009). A methodology for predicting the severity of environmental impacts related to the construction process of residential buildings. Building and Environment, 44(3), 558-571. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2008.05.001
Government of Western Australia, Department of Justice. (1986). Western Australian Environment Protection Act. Retrieved from https://www.legislation.wa.gov.au/legislation/statutes.nsf/main_mrtitle_304_homepage.html
Government of Western Australia. (2013). Environmental Protection (NEPM-UPM) Regulations. Retrieved from http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/publications/tabledpapers.nsf/displaypaper/3910991a0606504314d4c15f48257c050026e9fb/$file/991.pdf
Guerin, T. (2014). Understanding causes of leaking plant and equipment on construction sites that can lead to soil and groundwater contamination. Remediation Journal, 25(1), 115-131. https://doi.org/10.1002/rem.21418
Guerin, T. F. (2002). Heavy equipment maintenance wastes and environmental management in the mining industry. Journal of Environmental Management, 66(2), 185-199. https://doi.org/10.1006/jema.2002.0583
Guerin, T. F. (2015). Understanding the causes of spills from the supply and handling of chemicals at resource construction sites: A case study. Remediation Journal, 25(3), 115-145. https://doi.org/10.1002/rem.21436
Kim, Y. A., Ryoo, B. Y., Kim, Y. S., & Huh, W. C. (2012). Major accident factors for effective safety management of highway construction projects. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(6), 628-640. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000640
Lehtola, M. M., van der Molen, H. F., Lappalainen, J., Hoonakker, P. L., Hsiao, H., Haslam, R. A., Hale, A. R., & Verbeek, J. H. (2008). The effectiveness of interventions for preventing injuries in the construction industry: a systematic review. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 35(1), 77-85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2008.03.030
Ling, F. Y. Y., Liu, M., & Woo, Y. C. (2009). Construction fatalities in Singapore. International Journal of Project Management, 27, 717-726. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2008.11.002
Lu, J., Sun, N., Xia, J., & Hou, G. (2012). Analysis on present status and development trend of China’s environment risks. Environmental Science and Management, 37(1), 10-16.
Ortiz, O., Castells, F., & Sonnemann, G. (2009). Sustainability in the construction industry: A review of recent developments based on LCA. Construction and Building Materials, 23(1), 28-39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2007.11.012
Perdicoúlis, A., & Piper, J. (2008). Network and system diagrams revisited: Satisfying CEA requirements for causality analysis. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 28(7), 455-468. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2007.08.004
Queensland Government, Department of Transport and Main Roads (2017). Environmental incidents. Retrieved from https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Community-and-environment/Environmental-management/Environmental-incidents
Rooney, J. J., & Heuvel, L. N. V. (2004). Root cause analysis for beginners. Quality Progress, 37(7), 45-56.
Rowlinson, S. M. (1997). Hong Kong construction-site safety management. Sweet & Maxwell.
Saldaña, J. (2013). The coding manual for qualitative researchers. Sage.
Sharrard, A. L., Matthews, H. S., & Roth, M. (2007). Environmental implications of construction site energy use and electricity generation. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 133(11), 846-854. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2007)133:11(846)
Shen, L. Y., & Tam, V. W. (2002). Implementation of environmental management in the Hong Kong construction industry. International Journal of Project Management, 20(7), 535-543. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0263-7863(01)00054-0
Shin, I. J. (2013). Major industrial accidents in Korea: The characteristics and implication of statistics 1996–2011. Process Safety Progress, 32(1), 90-95. https://doi.org/10.1002/prs.11551
Taylor, D. W. (2007). The role of consequence modeling in LNG facility siting. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 142(3), 776785. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2005.07.070
Wiens, J. A., & Parker, K. R. (1995). Analyzing the effects of accidental environmental impacts: approaches and assumptions.
Ecological Applications, 5(4), 1069-1083. https://doi.org/10.2307/2269355
Yang, J., Li, F., Zhou, J., Zhang, L., Huang, L., & Bi, J. (2010). A survey on hazardous materials accidents during road transport in China from 2000 to 2008. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 184(1-3), 647-653. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2010.08.085
Zolfagharian, S., Nourbakhsh, M., Irizarry, J., Ressang, A., & Gheisari, M. (2012). Environmental impacts assessment on construction sites. In Construction Research Congress 2012: Construction Challenges in a Flat World (pp. 1750-1759). https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784412329.176