APPENDIX 3

Report K. Rainer Massarsch

Considerations Regarding Management of

Environmental Risks

Contents
1

Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 2

Identification of Environmental Risks ............................................................................ 2

Implementation of Environmental Risk Management .................................................. 3

3.1 Contractual Requirements ........................................................................................... 3
3.2 Building Conditions Survey ........................................................................................ 3
3.3 Control of Residual Risks ............................................................................................ 4
3.4 Full-scale Test.............................................................................................................. 4

References .......................................................................................................................... 4

Considerations Regarding Management of

Environmental Risks
1 Introduction
"I have made my greatest engineering contributions not by solving difficult problems but by
avoiding them", Conlon 1989.
The main objective of environmental risk management for tunnelling projects is to identify
risks at an early stage of the project, which makes it possible to avoid future problems. During
the construction phase or thereafter it is often difficult and time-consuming to resolve such
problems, which can result in negative environmental effects, project delays and increased
costs. Environmental risk management shall therefore be an integral part of environmental
impact assessment.
Risk management is widely adopted to control risks in construction projects, especially when
assessing environmental aspects of a project, safety of workers and the public and financial
and other project risks. Codes and technical guidance documents have been published on
safety in tunnelling and risk management of tunnel works, for example the Code of Practice
by the ITIG (2006).
The most important aspect of environmental risk management and the observational method
is the identification of hazards and associated risks and the preparation of remedial and/or
mitigation measures.

2 Identification of Environmental Risks

A multi-disciplinary approach shall be used to update the identification of the initial risks and
to keep under control the residual risks by:

Collecting, analysing, and processing the monitoring data relating to the previously
excavated section, (TBM data, retaining wall movements).
Collecting, analysing, and processing new data that can affect the local geological /
hydrogeological reference model.
Collecting, analysing and processing the piezometric data.
Collecting, analysing and processing data related to noise and vibration monitoring.
Reviewing the results of recent condition surveys of buildings and pre-existing
information on buildings and their foundations.
Reviewing the results of the building assessments including the sensitivity to potential
variations.
Defining mitigation and contingency measures.
Reviewing the need for monitoring instruments or the frequency of the readings, and
reviewing the requirements in terms of the on-going construction works.

3 Implementation of Environmental Risk Management

The PPP Contractor in cooperation with the Applicant shall manage the risks during
construction of the tunnels and underground works and operation of the scheme in
compliance with the requirements given and ensure that the residual environmental risks
associated with these works after the application of any mitigation measures shall comply
with the Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA). The environmental risk management
process, to be managed by the Applicant and implemented by the contractor, should include
the following activities:

Implement an integrated organisation to manage environmental movement risks,

including ground movements, ground water flow, vibrations and groundborne noise.
Implement a database and geographic information system (GIS) to provide a common
means of storing, accessing and interpreting the all relevant information, including
buildings, tunnel construction and monitoring data.
Carry out building/structural surveys as required for any buildings/structures that may
be affected by the works.
Carry out predictions of settlement/movement from the works.
Carry out predictions of vibrations and groundborne noise from the works.
Asses the initial risks induced by the predicted settlement/movement and assess the
vulnerability of buildings and other structures to damage.
Identify buildings and other structures at risk and requiring extended monitoring
and/or protection or other mitigation measures.
Design the appropriate mitigation measures to ensure that building damage as defined
under the terms of the EIA will not occur.
Reassess the impact to buildings and other structures as well as installations in the
ground, taking into account mitigation measures to be implemented.
Document that damage as defined under the terms of the EIA will not occur.
Design and implement appropriate monitoring systems.
Develop secondary mitigation measures to be implemented if movement thresholds
are reached.

3.1 Contractual Requirements

The contractor shall integrate the real time monitoring with other project information so that
the works are tightly controlled, any behaviour outside the predicted range is immediately
observed and the appropriate remedial measures are taken. The sensitivity of ground
movement estimates and the consequent structural damage assessments shall be considered as
part of the building assessments. The assessments shall take into account potential variations
in the ground conditions together with a range of parameters for the soil and for the volume
loss from the tunnelling. These assessments shall incorporate sensitivity analyses covering the
worst credible parameters together with the most likely parameters.

3.2 Building Conditions Survey

The information obtained during the building condition surveys including, drawings, building
construction and condition, photographs foundation information and building assessment
3

reports shall be entered into the database system and be accessible via the GIS system. The
assessment process shall include a detailed documentation, indicating that damage will not
occur, taking into account both the mitigation measures to be implemented, and the worst
credible parameters. During the execution of the works the building assessments shall be
updated in accordance with the experience gained and amended as necessary. In that respect,
trigger levels shall be identified which indicate that critical conditions (which may lead to
potential damage) are reached.

3.3 Control of Residual Risks

The basic concepts and objectives employed by environmental risk management are in close
agreement with the objectives of the observational method of geotechnical design and
monitoring of the construction process, (CIRIA, 1989). When applying the Observational
Method, emphasis is placed on prototype testing, field monitoring and on-going analysis of
obtained information regarding the construction process and ground response, (EN 1997-1,
2004).
The contractor shall for each station and shaft and for each section of the tunnel drives
(between adjacent stations or shafts) and for each underground structure through application
of the Observational Method (active design) collect all relevant information for that part of
the works.

3.4 Full-scale Test

Full-scale tests are an important part of any design based on the Observational Method and
should be specified in the construction process. Full-scale tests shall be employed to
determine geotechnical and other construction risks as well as risks related to vibrations and
groundborne noise. Such full-scale tests shall be carried out at the initial phase of sensitive
works and carefully monitored (e.g. ground movements, groundwater, vibrations and
groundborne noise etc.). Based on the results of initial construction monitoring or information
obtained from ground and building response measurements, the construction method and
equipment to be employed may have to be altered or adapted to the prevailing environmental
conditions in order to control and minimise residual environmental risks.

4 References
CIRIA (1989). The observational method in ground engineering: principles and applications.
CIRIA Report 185.
EN 1997-1 (2004). Eurocode 7 Part 1, General Rules CEN/TC 250/SC7. European
Committee for Standardization, Brussels.
ITIG. (2006). A Code of Practice for Risk Management of Tunnel works. Prepared by the The
International Tunnelling Insurance Group. 28 p.