Environmental risk assessment framework for industrial projects in the Malaysian construction industry / Ezyana Anyzah Marmaya

In the past decade, mankind has been manipulating the natural environment to better suit its needs of providing buildings and infrastructure for residential, commercial, business and industrial purposes. The rapid industrialisation that has taken place has generated several issues with regard to the environment. The impact to the environment can be categorised into several aspects such as ecosystem impact, natural resources impact, and public impact. Plus, the rapidly growing construction industry has contributed significantly to environmental pollution. However many construction projects suffer from mismanagement due to lack of formalized risk management procedures. The aim of this research is to develop an environmental risk assessment framework for industrial projects in Malaysia and the objectives for this study are, first to study risk assessment tool and risk management models, second to determine the risk assessment construct within environmental elements and lastly to validate the framework on environmental risk assessment focusing on industrial projects in Malaysia. This research employs the mixed method approach using cases studies and a questionnaire survey targeted at the occupants living in the surrounding areas of the case study locations and the scope of the research is to assess the environmental risk assessment for two construction projects in Malaysia by investigating Sabah Ammonia Urea (SAMUR) and Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) projects. This research focuses on the phases during and after the construction process. The findings of the research show that the two projects are perceived to have negative environmental impacts such the highest pollution for SAMUR is land pollution and for LAMPS project is greenhouse emissions. Based on the data gathered, a risk assessment framework was developed, applicable to industrial projects in Malaysia. The construction industry can utilise the framework as a guideline for environmental issues caused by industrial construction or projects. Therefore, managing environmental risks in construction projects has been recognised as a very important process in order to achieve the project objectives in terms of time, cost, quality, safety and environmental sustainability. To ensure high performance of projects, risk factors and their impact towards the environment need to be addressed during the construction phase or after project completion.