Hazard and Risk of Highway Maintenance Works: Case Study of PLUS Expressways

Abstract

The North-South Expressway (NSE) (Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan) is the longest expressway in Malaysia with the total length of about 772 km (482 miles) running from Bukit Kayu Hitam in to Johor Bahru. It is known named after the highway's concessionaire, Projek Lebuhraya Utara Selatan Berhad (North South Expressway Project) abbreviated as PLUS Expressway. A study on the occupational safety among maintenance workers of PLUS Expressway was conducted. The aim for this research is to identify the hazards and determine the risk level of highway maintenance works. This research has identified the hazards occupies during highway maintenance works. Subsequently, the levels of risk for hazards during highway maintenance works are determined. The scope of this study is along the northern PLUS Expressway specified from Southern Ipoh to Bukit Kayu Hitam and focused on the maintenance workers of Projek Penyelenggaraan Lebuhraya Berhad (PROPEL). Eighty (80) sets of questionnaires survey on likelihood and severity of highway maintenance hazards have been distributed to highway maintenance workers. The data were analysed by using Excel to compose weightage average index (WAI) in order to compute the risk level of those hazards. The result concluded that the extreme level of hazard that occurred during maintenance of highway are hazards related to electricity, hazards that engage with scaffolding, hazards while using crane and hazards involve fire and explosion.