Developing a Risk Assessment Process in Underground Construction

The construction industry is complicated because each project is unique. As a result of containing many uncertain factors, underground construction items are highly specialized. In Vietnam, only some contractors are qualified to participate in underground construction packages. Contractors are hesitant to join these packages because they have limited abilities in managing risks during the construction period. Currently, there is a lack of detailed procedures to serve contractors specializing in these packages. Although some organizations adopted risk management processes in underground construction packages, risk factors in the whole construction phase have a big difference in the underground construction phase. Therefore, this paper identifies a list of common risks in the underground construction phase to contractors by conducting literature reviews and a questionnaire survey. The paper proposes a process of risk assessment in the bidding phase of the underground construction package. Currently, most risk assessment efforts at this stage are fragmented, local and completely dependent on project managers. Based on the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) theory, the proposed process is developed to utilize the power of an organization, in which many individuals are involved. The proposed process is then evaluated in terms of both content and execution. Finally, an actual package is used to evaluate the proposed procedure’s applicability.