Mission: Keep man-made slopes & retaining walls safe (II)

Routine maintenance works may be carried out in accordance with the findings of routine maintenance inspections of the slopes/retaining walls.

Routine Maintenance Works

Most of the routine maintenance works can be carried out by general building or civil engineering maintenance contractors.
A list of Registered Contractors who have indicated their willingness to carry out slope maintenance works is available for your reference at the Buildings Department.

Typical routine maintenance works for man-made items include:

Surface Drainage Channels, Catchpits and Sand Traps

Weepholes and Drainage Pipes

Impermeable Surface Cover (e.g. chunam and shotcrete)

Vegetated Surface Cover

Rock Slopes and Boulders

Facing

Records of Routine Maintenance

As a good practice, a record sheet should be completed upon completion of both routine maintenance inspection and maintenance works. The records should be:

－　kept in duplicate copies and stored in separate locations
－    comprehensive and accurate
－    kept in electronic format for effective record management

You may refer to pages 26-30 on the Layman's Guide to Slope Maintenanceissued by the Civil Engineering and Development Department for the record sheets of routine maintenance inspection and routine maintenance works.

Is it true that we can have peace of mind after the completion of routine maintenance inspections and works?

Although proper routine maintenance of a slope or retaining wall can greatly reduce the probability of a landslide, the slope may still not be sufficiently safe for various reasons, such as inherent design or construction deficiencies, or changes that have taken place in the vicinity. Therefore, we should appoint a qualified Geotechnical Engineer to carry out inspection at least once every five years to look for all slope safety problems.

A Geotechnical Engineer will advise on the maintenance of the slope and any required improvement works. The engineer will also advise on the need for a Stability Assessment to check the slope’s overall safety. Need to seek assistance from a Geotechnical Engineer? You may obtain the list of Registered Professional Engineers (Geotechnical) from the Engineers Registration Board Website (Choose "Search R.P.E.", then select "GEL (Geotechnical)" under the "Discipline" category and clicking the "Submit" button).

Want to get more information about slope maintenance? Please refer to the Layman's Guide to Slope Maintenance issued by the Civil Engineering and Development Department.

For more details: Hong Kong Slope Safety website