Safety risk management of underground engineering in China: Progress, challenges and strategies

Underground construction in China is featured by large scale, high speed, long construction period, complex operation and frustrating situations regarding project safety. Various accidents have been reported from time to time, resulting in serious social impact and huge economic loss. This paper presents the main progress in the safety risk management of underground engineering in China over the last decade, i.e. (1) establishment of laws and regulations for safety risk management of underground engineering, (2) implementation of the safety risk management plan, (3) establishment of decision support system for risk management and early-warning based on information technology, and (4) strengthening the study on safety risk management, prediction and prevention. Based on the analysis of the typical accidents in China in the last decade, the new challenges in the safety risk management for underground engineering are identified as follows: (1) control of unsafe human behaviors; (2) technological innovation in safety risk management; and (3) design of safety risk management regulations. Finally, the strategies for safety risk management of underground engineering in China are proposed in six aspects, i.e. the safety risk management system and policy, law, administration, economy, education and technology.