This two-page flyer is for the general public. Approximately 14,000 dams in the United States are classified as high-hazard potential, meaning that their failure could result in loss of life. The most important steps you can take to protect yourself from dam failure are to know your risk. Dams present risks, but they also provide many benefits.
Geohazards comprise a subgroup of natural hazards associated with geotechnical, hydrotechnical, tectonic, snow and ice, and geochemical processes that can pose a threat to worker and public safety, asset integrity, and asset management lifecycle cost. Like for most types of threats, the risks from geohazards can be assessed qualitatively or quantitatively and used to inform a geohazard management program. Most mining companies use risk matrices to aid in the assessment, prioritisation, communication and management of corporate risks. These matrices use standardised descriptions of likelihood and consequence to help users assess risks of negative outcomes to health, safety, the environment, assets, and reputation, and are tailored to each organisations types of risk exposure and level of risk tolerance. Geohazards and related geotechnical failures can represent low-probability, high-consequence events that plot in the highest risk zones of most corporate risk matrices. Variability in spatial and temporal probabilities for people and infrastructure exposed to geohazards can have a large influence on risk exposure, and this can be challenging to assess and communicate effectively with some risk matrices. Risk is scale-dependent: the business risk due to rockfall from a single slope along a mine access road is vastly different than the total risk due to rockfalls from all slopes along that road, yet guidance is often missing on how the risks from these scenarios should be plotted on a risk matrix. These and other pitfalls associated with use of corporate risk matrices for informed geohazard management are explored.
Examples of the successful use of notification methods for dam emergencies that occurred during Hurricane Matthew in 2016 to help stakeholders better understand notification methods that can be used during a dam-related incident. This Fact Sheet also provides information on coordinating notification messages.
Examples of proactive actions taken in response to individual dam emergencies that occurred during Hurricane Matthew in 2016 so stakeholders can better understand actions they might take to reduce risks related to dam emergencies.
Risk communication can help increase knowledge, understanding, and awareness of dams and the risks they pose. While dams can serve many purposes, such as flood risk reduction, hydropower generation, water supply, and recreation, many people in communities near dams are unprepared to deal with the impacts of a dam failure or dam-related flooding. It is important to be aware that risk can come from many modes of failure, or even from conditions in which the dam has not failed at all.
Geotechnical data is frequently analysed by highly qualified engineers, but often a challenge is relaying what the data means to other project stakeholders for them to make informed decisions. From equipment operators, to corporate leaders, to the general public, it is an engineers responsibility to be able to communicate in an effective manner the meaningful information about risk that is applicable to each group/person. As datasets grow larger, monitoring technology advances, and the input from stakeholders becomes increasingly important. Integrated monitoring platforms must allow engineers to interpret technical information into an understandable form for logical decision-making as it relates to design, safety, environmental management, operations, and regulations. Summarising key metrics, filtering out noise, and aggregating data types for a simplified view of a project are all necessary to effectively allow an engineer to communicate risk and uncertainty with a broad audience. This paper will examine how integrated monitoring platforms assist in bridging the transferring of information about risk to the different types of technical and non-technical stakeholders involved in geotechnical projects; specifically in mining operations.