*2.2.2 Minimizing the disturbance of maintenance operations*

Many maintenance measures can potentially create a lot of dust, noise, road closure, traffic congestion, odor, power outage, vibration, light pollution, and other problems to the community. It is essential to ensure that such disturbances are minimized. Some suggested policies are listed in **Figure 5**.

## **2.3 Sustainable leadership and management of infrastructures' maintenance**

A large number of factors are involved in sustainability [13]. Examples are people and their health, well-being, and vitality; planet and the impacts of pollutions, energy consumption, and depleting resources on wildlife and habitat; and the economy with its connections to industrialization, and growing demand for more raw materials and disturbances in nature [14, 15]. This means that a great deal of interdisciplinary knowledge and expertise are required to make a sustainable decision. Additionally, every decision has its tradeoffs that need to be evaluated, and it can be challenging to decide what to compromise in the hope of gaining something that is more crucial to the public. The term public in this context is not only the people who might be impacted by that decision; it also spans to future generations [16]. The pressure of profitability almost always amplifies this complexity as it is a powerful incentive for decision-makers to accept the downfalls of a decision in the hope of economic growth.

While the concept of sustainability seems to be a straightforward approach for most people, due to its comprehensiveness and the conflicts of interests which it

**Figure 5.**

*Best practices to minimize the disturbance of maintenance operations for the neighbors.*

inherits, it requires a lot of leadership and management. Some of the best practices of sustainable management of infrastructure are discussed in this section.

### *2.3.1 Involving all stakeholders from Early Stages*

While the need for the collaboration of stakeholders in decisions seems to be obvious, the significance of their early collaboration might not be sufficiently noticed. People, particularly, must be involved before decisions are made to ensure the concerns of the community are adequately considered in the decision making process [17]. This can be done through the managers' determination to integrate the public's demand and concerns in the decisions and involve experts from different disciplines to come up with optimized decisions. It is crucial to keep in mind that maintenance provides an opportunity to adjust and change an existing infrastructure based on the actual issues observed during its operation.

The public's engagement should not be considered an additional challenge for the project. Reflecting the public's input in the project is an essential factor in coming up with the decisions in which the public's concerns are considered, and negative impacts on the hosting community are minimized. This requires building a relationship with the key stakeholders. Although in some regions there are regulations that enforce the involvement of the public, the sustainability goals go beyond fulfilling the minimum required standards and seek for active engagement, transparency in notifying the public about potential impacts and incorporating them in the process of decision making.

Managers must facilitate communications using all the possible tools. While many maintenance projects are composed of the involvement of multiple independent entities who are primarily focused on delivering their portion of work, managers must minimize isolated thinking and establish a collaborative approach in which impacts on sustainability can be easily communicated between different project players. Similar to integrated project delivery in construction, the maintenance operations should also attempt to reach to an optimized collaborative environment from the start point. This approach is in contrast with the traditional methods in which project parties prefer to work separately. The managers' determination and attempt to change the independent work environment to a collaborative work environment is essential in the success of sustainability plans in an infrastructure maintenance project.

#### *2.3.2 Motivating innovation*

The maintenance management team must promote any changes in the existing maintenance strategies that can potentially improve sustainability. An effective change is utilizing new technologies for data collection. The amount and quality of data about infrastructure are closely linked with the quality of maintenance. Management must establish a culture of "change for the better" in the maintenance team to seek for any modifications in the existing maintenance policies that can lead to improvement. This improvement can be about cutting the maintenance costs, improving the quality of the infrastructure serviceability, or enhancing the sustainability of maintenance operations to name a few.

## *2.3.3 Instilling a commitment to sustainability throughout the maintenance operations*

The management's commitment to sustainability is pivotal in promoting or discouraging sustainable approaches among all team members [18]. The

**21**

**Figure 6.**

*Maintaining the Sustainability of Critical Infrastructure DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85915*

sustainability among the maintenance team.

sustainability that is beyond the original plans.

briefly explained in the following.

*2.3.4 Material, waste, and by-product management*

material procurement is shown in **Figure 6** [20].

*Advantages of shipping the material to the facility Just-In-Time.*

sustainability.

managers must make sure that the team has a sufficient understanding of the threats of all the maintenance operations to sustainability and work effectively with them to minimize these threats. This commitment must be observable in the design, schedule, field activities, and inspections. The team must be aware that the management has no willingness in compromising sustainability for less critical goals such as performing the operations more quickly, or cutting the costs unless they can be justified in a sustainable-thinking context. Sustainability workshops before beginning the maintenance operations are often needed to transfer the determination of the company to contribute to sustainability to the project players as well as teaching them the best practices that trigger

Commitment to sustainability must be established as a subject that is as important as safety. While this may seem exaggerated for some contractors, they can understand it better considering that unsustainable methods can potentially impact the health or well-being of communities at local, national, or even international levels, while unsafe operations mostly pose risks to the staff on the job site or the neighbors only. Moreover, since protecting the health of human beings is an indispensable element of sustainable development [14], improving the job site safety perfectly lines up with the goals of sustainability [19]. Combining safety and sustainability workshops are expected to contribute to instilling a crucial need for

Some of the potential impacts of the maintenance operations on the hosting environment can only be noticed during the operations. Therefore, throughout the operations, the management team is responsible for supporting any decision or activity that can enhance the sustainability of the operations and achieve a level of

Although material, waste and by-product handling is a team effort, the management role in leading the team is substantial. Material handling aims at maximizing the efficiency of the construction and maintenance materials. There are various methods and best practices to implement it. Some highly recommended tools are

1.Just-in-time (JIT) procurement of materials which attempts to minimize the need for storing materials and bringing them to the site when they can be almost immediately used in the maintenance operations. The advantages of JIT *Infrastructure Management and Construction*

the process of decision making.

maintenance project.

*operations*

*2.3.2 Motivating innovation*

ability of maintenance operations to name a few.

*2.3.3 Instilling a commitment to sustainability throughout the maintenance* 

The management's commitment to sustainability is pivotal in promoting or discouraging sustainable approaches among all team members [18]. The

*2.3.1 Involving all stakeholders from Early Stages*

ture based on the actual issues observed during its operation.

inherits, it requires a lot of leadership and management. Some of the best practices

While the need for the collaboration of stakeholders in decisions seems to be obvious, the significance of their early collaboration might not be sufficiently noticed. People, particularly, must be involved before decisions are made to ensure the concerns of the community are adequately considered in the decision making process [17]. This can be done through the managers' determination to integrate the public's demand and concerns in the decisions and involve experts from different disciplines to come up with optimized decisions. It is crucial to keep in mind that maintenance provides an opportunity to adjust and change an existing infrastruc-

The public's engagement should not be considered an additional challenge for the project. Reflecting the public's input in the project is an essential factor in coming up with the decisions in which the public's concerns are considered, and negative impacts on the hosting community are minimized. This requires building a relationship with the key stakeholders. Although in some regions there are regulations that enforce the involvement of the public, the sustainability goals go beyond fulfilling the minimum required standards and seek for active engagement, transparency in notifying the public about potential impacts and incorporating them in

Managers must facilitate communications using all the possible tools. While many maintenance projects are composed of the involvement of multiple independent entities who are primarily focused on delivering their portion of work, managers must minimize isolated thinking and establish a collaborative approach in which impacts on sustainability can be easily communicated between different project players. Similar to integrated project delivery in construction, the maintenance operations should also attempt to reach to an optimized collaborative environment from the start point. This approach is in contrast with the traditional methods in which project parties prefer to work separately. The managers' determination and attempt to change the independent work environment to a collaborative work environment is essential in the success of sustainability plans in an infrastructure

The maintenance management team must promote any changes in the existing maintenance strategies that can potentially improve sustainability. An effective change is utilizing new technologies for data collection. The amount and quality of data about infrastructure are closely linked with the quality of maintenance. Management must establish a culture of "change for the better" in the maintenance team to seek for any modifications in the existing maintenance policies that can lead to improvement. This improvement can be about cutting the maintenance costs, improving the quality of the infrastructure serviceability, or enhancing the sustain-

of sustainable management of infrastructure are discussed in this section.

**20**

managers must make sure that the team has a sufficient understanding of the threats of all the maintenance operations to sustainability and work effectively with them to minimize these threats. This commitment must be observable in the design, schedule, field activities, and inspections. The team must be aware that the management has no willingness in compromising sustainability for less critical goals such as performing the operations more quickly, or cutting the costs unless they can be justified in a sustainable-thinking context. Sustainability workshops before beginning the maintenance operations are often needed to transfer the determination of the company to contribute to sustainability to the project players as well as teaching them the best practices that trigger sustainability.

Commitment to sustainability must be established as a subject that is as important as safety. While this may seem exaggerated for some contractors, they can understand it better considering that unsustainable methods can potentially impact the health or well-being of communities at local, national, or even international levels, while unsafe operations mostly pose risks to the staff on the job site or the neighbors only. Moreover, since protecting the health of human beings is an indispensable element of sustainable development [14], improving the job site safety perfectly lines up with the goals of sustainability [19]. Combining safety and sustainability workshops are expected to contribute to instilling a crucial need for sustainability among the maintenance team.

Some of the potential impacts of the maintenance operations on the hosting environment can only be noticed during the operations. Therefore, throughout the operations, the management team is responsible for supporting any decision or activity that can enhance the sustainability of the operations and achieve a level of sustainability that is beyond the original plans.
