CIRCULAR

OPERATION SAFETY EVALUATION PROCEDURES

Pursuant to the Law on Construction dated June 18, 2014; the Law on amendments to the Law on Construction dated June 17, 2020;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 06/2021/ND-CP dated January 26, 2021 on elaboration of several regulations on quality management, construction and maintenance of construction works amended by the Government’s Decree No. 35/2023/ND-CP dated June 20, 2023.

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 175/2024/ND-CP dated December 30, 2024 on elaboration of certain articles and enforcement of the Law on Construction regarding management of construction operations;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 52/2022/ND-CP dated August 08, 2022 on functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Construction;

At the request of the Director of State Agency for Construction Quality Appraisal;

The Minister of Construction promulgates Circular on operation safety evaluation procedures.

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Article 2. Effect

This Circular takes effect from February 19, 2025.

Article 3. Implementation

1.  Construction owners, managers and users, operation safety evaluating-organizations, regulatory bodies and relevant organizations and individuals shall be responsible for implementation of this Circular.

2. Difficulties that arise during the implementation of this Circular should be promptly reported to the Ministry of Construction of Vietnam for guidance and settlement./.

PP. MINISTER
DEPUTY MINISTER




Pham Minh Ha

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OPERATION SAFETY EVALUATION PROCEDURES

(Enclosed with the Circular No. 14/2024/TT-BXD dated December 30, 2024 of the Minister of Construction)

Article 1. Scope

1. Operation safety evaluation procedures are applied to constructions specified in the Appendix XI of the Government’s Decree No. 175/2024/ND-CP dated December 30, 2024 and managed by the Ministry of Construction.

2. These procedures are aimed at inspecting and evaluating working capacities of main load-bearing structures and construction constituents potentially causing unsafety risks and conditions for assurance of normal operation and exploitation of constructions in accordance with clause 1 and clause 2 Article 37 of the Government’s Decree No. 06/2021/ND-CP dated January 26, 2021.

3. These procedures will not be applied in the following cases:

a) Construction incidents;

b) Impossibility of collecting full information necessary for inspection and evaluation of safety for constructions;

c) Determination of the remaining service life of construction.

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1. Construction owners, managers and users.

2. Operation safety evaluating-organizations

3. Regulatory bodies and relevant organizations and individuals.

Article 3. Definition of terms

In these procedures, the terms below are construed as follows:

1. ”Evaluation of safety of construction structures” means that an operation safety evaluating-organization (hereinafter referred to as “evaluator”) inspects and evaluates working capacities (load-bearing capacity and conditions for normal operation) of load-bearing structures and construction constituents potentially causing unsafety risks

2. ”Level 1 evaluation” means that the evaluator periodically inspects and evaluates safety of construction structures by the visual inspection.

3. ”Level 2 evaluation” means that the evaluator evaluates safety of construction structures by the methods of analysing and inspecting structures on the basis of construction design documentation, as-built drawings and construction condition survey data.

Article 4. Safety evaluation purposes

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Article 5. General regulations

1. Evaluation of safety of construction structures shall comply with applicable technical regulations and standards at the time of evaluation and use physical natural and climatic data for construction in Vietnam.

2. Documentation and documents used for evaluation of safety of construction shall be legal as per by law.

3. Evaluators shall collect full information necessary for evaluation of safety of construction according to regulations mentioned in procedures.

4. Repair and reinforcement of new construction structures (if any) during inspection and evaluation of safety of constructions shall comply with the law on construction.

5. If any legislative documents referred to in such procedures are amended, supplemented or superseded, the new ones shall apply.

Article 6. Inspection and evaluation of conditions for assurance of normal operation and exploitation of constructions

1. Inspection and evaluation of conditions for assurance of normal operation and exploitation of constructions shall be evaluated by the methods of reviewing and evaluating results of inspection, measurement, experiment, and testing for these conditions according to regulations of relevant specialized laws.

2. Results of inspection and evaluation of conditions for assurance of normal operation and exploitation of constructions shall be made into a report and this report constitutes the construction safety evaluation dossier.

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Level 1 evaluation

Level 2 evaluation

Article 8. Level 1 evaluation

1. Procedures for level 1 evaluation shall be followed as follows:

a) Preparation of documentation, dossiers and documents;

b) Study of documentation, dossiers and documents;

c) Visual inspection;

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2. Before the evaluation, the evaluator shall prepare documents and records specified in point b clause 1 Article 38 of the Decree No. 06/2021/ND-CP.

3. The study of documentation, dossiers and documents is aimed at:

a) Determining structural systems and functional zones of constructions;

b) Determining important zones to be inspected;

c) Determining important, special and statically determinate structures (transfer beam, cantilever beam, slender columns, long-span structures, prestressed cables, cushion, etc.) to be inspected;

d) Determining loads to evaluate whether constructions are used for their intended purposes or overloaded.

dd) Determining impacts of renovation and repair of constructions on their structures.

4. Visual inspection is regulated as follows:

a) Visual inspection includes inspection of current conditions of construction structures; inspection of structural loads; inspection of impacts of renovation and repair of constructions on their structures.

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c) The inspection of structural load includes inspection of actual load compared to design load; inspection of actual uses compared to design uses; inspection of actual load compared to design load.

d) The inspection of renovation/repair of the construction is aimed at determining and evaluating adverse impacts of such renovation and repair on the construction structure.

5. A construction safety evaluation result report is regulated as follows:

a) The construction safety evaluation result report shall show actual inspection tasks performed and clearly indicate evaluation, conclusions and recommendations (if any).

b) The construction safety evaluation result report shall contain main contents, including general information about the construction; information about the evaluator; items to be evaluated, evaluation time; list of records and documents serving the evaluation; results of surveys, inspection and evaluation carried out; conclusions and recommendations (if any); full name and signature of the individual in charge of conducting the evaluation; full name, signature, position of the legal representative and legal seal of the evaluator.

Article 9. Level 2 evaluation

1. The level 2 evaluation shall be carried out in the following cases:

a) There is any doubt about safety of construction structures through the level 1 evaluation;

b) During the exploitation and use of the construction structure, there is any sign of abnormality that may cause unsafety risks.

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Article 10. Preliminary evaluation

1. Procedures for preliminary evaluation shall be followed as follows:

a) Study of documentation, dossiers and documents and other signs;

b) Survey into current conditions of the construction;

c) Preliminary evaluation;

d) Formulation of a construction safety evaluation result report.

2. Documentation, dossiers and documents and other signs to be studied at the preliminary evaluation stage include:

a) Documentation, dossiers and documents specified in clause 2 Article 8 of such Procedures;

b) Other signs (e.g. change in foundation soil conditions, corrosion, etc).

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4. At the preliminary evaluation stage, according to results of the study of documentation, dossiers and documents and other signs and the survey into current conditions of the construction, the evaluator shall determine severity of defects, damage, deformation, structural changes, and deterioration of structural materials that affect load-bearing safety and conditions for normal use of the structure in order to focus resources on these elements in the subsequent evaluation. According to preliminary evaluation results, the evaluator shall propose that it is necessary or unnecessary for additional surveys. 

5. In case these preliminary evaluation results show that the construction structure is at risk of being unsafe, the evaluator shall promptly notify the owner, manager, or user of the construction to take remedial measures (if necessary) to prevent or minimize the danger to the public safety.

6. On the basis of evaluation and survey results in accordance with regulations in point b and point c clause 1 of this Article, the evaluator shall propose that it is necessary or unnecessary for the detailed evaluation.  The detailed evaluation is unnecessary if it is concluded that the construction structure is safe or unsafe through the preliminary evaluation.  If it is not concluded that the construction structure is safe or unsafe through the preliminary evaluation, the detailed evaluation shall be proposed according to regulations in Article 11 of such Procedures.

7. A construction safety evaluation result report is regulated as follows:

a) The construction safety evaluation result report shall show actual inspection tasks performed and clearly indicate evaluation, conclusions and recommendations (if any).

b) The construction safety evaluation result report shall contain main contents, including general information about the construction; information about the evaluator; items to be evaluated, evaluation time; list of records and documents serving the evaluation; results of surveys, inspection and evaluation carried out; conclusions and recommendations (if any); full name and signature of the individual in charge of conducting the evaluation; full name, signature, position of the legal representative and legal seal of the evaluator.

Article 11. Detailed evaluation

1. Procedures for detailed evaluation shall be followed as follows:

a) Detailed review of documentation, dossiers and documents;

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c) Determination of characteristics of structural materials;

d) Engineering geological survey;

dd) Determination of loads and impacts;

e) Structural analysis;

g) Structural inspection;

h) Formulation of a detailed construction safety evaluation result report.

2. The detailed review of documentation, dossiers and documents shall be conducted as follows:

a) Documentation, dossiers and documents specified in clause 2 Article 8 of such Procedures at the detailed evaluation stage shall be studied and reviewed in a detailed manner.

b) Upon study of these documentation, dossiers and documents, attention shall be paid to differences in structure inspection methods, and structural requirements according to regulations of design standards applied during design and evaluation.

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a) Size and structural details of the structure shall be determined on the basis of the construction design documentation and as-built drawings. If the size and structural details of the structure cannot be determined on the basis of the construction design documentation and as-built drawings, they shall be determined by surveying and measuring current conditions of the construction.

b) Geometrical defects of the structure (e.g. initial curvature of columns, random eccentricity, etc.) shall be determined during survey and measurement of current conditions of the construction. If the measurements of geometrical defects of the structure are smaller than the tolerances according to regulations of standards applied during evaluation, such measurements shall be determined according to such standards.

4. Characteristics of structural materials shall be determined as follows:

a) Characteristics of structural materials shall be determined on the basis of the construction design documentation and as-built drawings. If characteristics of structural materials cannot be determined on the basis of the construction design documentation and as-built drawings, they shall be determined by the destructive or non-destructive testing.

b) Upon determination of characteristics of structural materials by testing, the influence of the shape and size of each testing sample, the influence of temperature, humidity or effects due to the loading time and the influence of the environment on the structure shall be taken into account.

c) The methods of taking samples and testing for determination of characteristics of structural materials shall be consistent with relevant regulations of the standards applied during evaluation.

d) Testing results shall be analyzed and statistically processed.

5. Engineering geological survey shall be conducted as follows:

a) Engineering geological survey data used to evaluation construction safety shall be determined on the basis of the construction survey result report.

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6. Loads and impacts shall be determined as follows:

a) Loads and impacts shall be determined according to technical regulations and standards applied to the evaluation. Changes in uses or renovation and repair of the construction that affect its structure shall be taken into account.

b) Load reliability factors for permanent load and variable load used for the structural analysis during evaluation shall be determined according to regulations of the standards applied to evaluation.

7. Structural analysis shall be carried out as follows:

a) Structural analysis methods shall be selected on the basis of type and materials of the structure.

b) The structural calculation modelling applied to the structural analysis shall closely reflect the structural behaviour and can be applied to the entire structural system or separate structures.

c) Effects of defects, damage, deformation of the structure, and deterioration of structural materials shall be taken into account in the structural calculation modelling.

8. Structural inspection shall be carried out as follows:

a) Structural inspection includes inspection of bearing capacity and inspection of conditions for normal operation of the structure.

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c) Inspection of bearing capacity includes inspection of the bearing capacity of the cross section and the bearing capacity of the connection according to regulations of the structural design standards applied to the evaluation.

d) Conditions for normal operation of the structure shall be considered to be met if values including deformation, transposition, cracks, etc. do not exceed the limits specified in structural design standards applied to the evaluation.

9. A construction safety evaluation result report is regulated as follows:

a) The construction safety evaluation result report shall show actual tasks performed and clearly indicate evaluation, conclusions and recommendations (if any).

b) The construction safety evaluation result report shall contain main contents, including general information about the construction; information about the evaluator; items to be evaluated, evaluation time; list of records and documents serving the evaluation; preliminary and detailed evaluation results, structural inspection and analysis results, etc.; conclusions and recommendations (if any); full name and signature of the individual in charge of conducting the evaluation; full name, signature, position of the legal representative and legal seal of the evaluator.

Article 12. Construction safety evaluation dossier

1. A construction safety evaluation dossier prepared by the evaluator includes construction safety evaluation result report and relevant records and documents (evaluation outline; drawings, photos of current conditions of the construction; results survey and measurement of current conditions of the construction; results of testing of structural materials of current conditions of the construction; structural inspection and analysis results, etc.).

2. The construction safety evaluation dossier shall be handed over to the owner or the manager/user of the construction in order to include it in the construction maintenance dossier and serve the subsequent evaluation.

Thông tư 14/2024/TT-BXD về Quy trình đánh giá an toàn công trình trong quá trình khai thác, sử dụng do Bộ trưởng Bộ Xây dựng ban hành