RESILIENCE STRATEGIES FOR
PLANT OWNERS
ROADS & INFRASTRUCTURE TALKS TO ZURICH RESILIENCE SOLUTIONS’ PRINCIPAL RISK ENGINEER, EVAN BLACKBURN, ON IDENTIFYING AND MITIGATING RISK AREAS FOR HEAVY EQUIPMENT AND MOBILE PLANT OWNERS.
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ith 25 years of experience in the insurance industry, including 20 years in risk assessment, Evan Blackburn has a deep knowledge of key risk areas across multiple industries. As the Principal Risk Engineer at Zurich Resilience Solutions, Blackburn specialises in mining insurance risk assessments, advising heavy equipment and mobile plant owners on potential risk areas within the industry, and helping to moderate these risks. When it comes to heavy equipment and 84
ROADS APRIL 2022
mobile plans, Blackburn says a number of risk areas remain dominant in the civil construction industry. Topping that list is natural hazards. As proven by the devastating floods in Queensland and New South Wales in March, natural hazards such as cyclones, floods and fires can pose a serious threat and considerable financial loss to asset owners. Blackburn says that such risks within the civil construction industry can be alleviated by following the correct processes.
“An example would be a site-specific risk assessment to understand natural hazard exposure from flooding, storm water and catchment water and adopting management plans for these hazards. Having trigger action response plans for storm events means a mobile plant can be moved to higher ground to prevent damages,” he says. Similarly, Blackburn says risk engineers can assess the state of equipment maintenance to help asset owners with better fire protection for their stationary and mobile equipment.
