Construction of the Panama Canal
Essay Preview: Construction of the Panama Canal
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Construction of the Panama Canal
Project Risk Management
Table of contents
VIII.
Introduction
The Panama Canal is seen as one of the worlds major achievements (Summs & Kelley, 1988). The Panama Canal waterway across the Isthmus of Panama, connecting the Atlantic (by way of the Caribbean Sea) and Pacific oceans, built by the United States (1904-14) on territory leased from the republic of Panama (Summs & Kelley, 1988).
According to Summs & Kelley, 1988, the reasoning behind this is that before the canal was built, their was only one-way to get around South America and this was to travel around the entire continent. Now, Going around the entire continent was too time consuming and implausible for many travelers and cargo ships. Constructing the canal has proved to be a good idea but a horrific project that had, what seemed to be, an abundance of major problems that almost prevented its completion.
The U.S purchased the canal project when Frances Ferdinand Marie De Lesseps and a team of engineers could not construct the canal through Panama, due to disease-carrying mosquitoes and the inefficiency of the machines they were using in1899 (Meditz, & Hanratty, 1987). The French upon their departure from the construction had laid some starting points and foundation for the U.S to continue. However, one downfall is that the French was using inefficient and outdated equipment the infestation of mosquito has brought about the problems of Malaria and Yellow fever, which to construct the canal one would have to kill of the infestation of mosquitos. The workforce in Panama also did not have the knowledge like the U.S top engineers had. Workforce standard of living was below standard and the housing supplies, building supplies along with the actual workforce had to ship to Panama from the U.S (Meditz, & Hanratty, 1987). Their should have been a lot of planning to get this project on track and feasible to complete.
Event tree 1
The Risk associated with the construction events of the Canal, once the U.S has greed to the purchase. The Risk: Environment, health, culture, along with General contract terms risk (Cooper, Grey, Raymond, & Walker, 2005).
Environmental risk: The possible contamination of the land whether it is deliberate or accident. Fumigation of one bug can lead to a much needed or protected species being killed off. The risk of Machine leaking or spilling hazardous materials is always important. With inefficient machinery left by the French, this could be a certainty. The materials used for the construction may be tainted with rust, corrosion or just weathered from being in the elements and you run the risk of using substandard material that could hinder the project to fall behind schedule or overrun in cost by way of rework
Health risk: For this project if the sanitation event does not, take the risk of catching deadly disease and dying is a possibility. Fumigation to help control or kill off the infected mosquitos is a good way to start. Putting in a working running water system eliminates the yellow fever infected mosquitos from having a place to nest and breed in the contaminated water containers that was around.
Communication risk: The communication barrier can always cause a concern on most projects as clear and defined statements and work instructions has to be communicated.
Culture risk: When operating on foreign soil the risk of work hours for the locals may be different from what the company may be used to, and may have to be negotiated. Standard of living could very well be a risk under culture risk as if the living conditions are not up to all standards (whether U.s or local). Then this could be seen as favoritism towards one and not the other due to the fact making the standards equal for all parties wasnt even discussed, and this could lead to arguments , strike walk offs.
General contract term risk: the risk under contract terms will affect he entire project in some way of form such as Scope.
Is the project scope clearly defined?
Is the project working within the scope limits? If you are using bad supplies then you are out of scope and jeopardizing the project. Are their safety issues, warranty, contractor issues, are all terms and completion dates defined (understood and agreed upon). This could hinder the construction disabled if not done correctly. Will Variations be many or few, that can be anticipated as too many can slow down construction.
Systems to address construction project risk
Contractors on the Panama Canal will have a Reliability and maintainability program in place that will help avoid the listed risk. The reliability and maintainability (RAM) will contain the following major elements:
Reliability