Perceptions on safety climate: A case study in the Omani construction industry

© 2018 ICE Publishing. All rights reserved. Generally, a mature safety climate and a rich safety culture contribute to achieving a safe workplace. The purpose of this paper is to examine the understanding of using safety climate and to make explicit some of the main elements that have a greater impact in the construction industry in Oman. Relevant safety climate factors from literature have been identified using specific search criteria, which resulted in 62 factors spanning over a period of 37 years from 1980 to 2017. The results of face-to-face interviews with construction professionals from chosen construction companies in Oman that show a high level of safety performance are also presented. The result shows that management commitment; alignment and integration of safety as a value; accountability across the board; supervisory management; empowerment and involvement of workers; improvement of communication; and training and education are some of the main elements that significantly affect safety climate in Oman. The common safety climate factors reported in this research are based on the views of selected interviewees working in the construction industry in Oman. It is suggested that these factors may be validated further considering views of other members of the construction team, before being used for safety climate assessment

Critical analysis for big data studies in construction: significant gaps in knowledge

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the gaps and potential future research avenues in the big data research specifically in the construction industry. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts systematic literature review (SLR) approach to observe and understand trends and extant patterns/themes in the big data analytics (BDA) research area particularly in construction-specific literature. Findings A significant rise in construction big data research is identified with an increasing trend in number of yearly articles. The main themes discussed were big data as a concept, big data analytical methods/techniques, big data opportunities – challenges and big data application. The paper emphasises “the implication of big data in to overall sustainability” as a gap that needs to be addressed. These implications are categorised as social, economic and environmental aspects. Research limitations/implications The SLR is carried out for construction technology and management research for the time period of 2007–2017 in Scopus and emerald databases only. Practical implications The paper enables practitioners to explore the key themes discussed around big data research as well as the practical applicability of big data techniques. The advances in existing big data research inform practitioners the current social, economic and environmental implications of big data which would ultimately help them to incorporate into their strategies to pursue competitive advantage. Identification of knowledge gaps helps keep the academic research move forward for a continuously evolving body of knowledge. The suggested new research avenues will inform future researchers for potential trending and untouched areas for research. Social implications Identification of knowledge gaps helps keep the academic research move forward for continuous improvement while learning. The continuously evolving body of knowledge is an asset to the society in terms of revealing the truth about emerging technologies. Originality/value There is currently no comprehensive review that addresses social, economic and environmental implications of big data in construction literature. Through this paper, these gaps are identified and filled in an understandable way. This paper establishes these gaps as key issues to consider for the continuous future improvement of big data research in the context of the construction industry

Critical review of procurement method research in construction

One of the features of the construction industry over the last three decades or so, has been the use of various procurement methods for projects such as management contracting, project management and design and build. With the growth in the use of these methods, a number of researchers have investigated the criteria for their selection and their performance in terms of time, cost and quality. However, there is a lack of reporting on the association between procurement methods and the advanced related issues such as innovation and technology, supply chain, lean construction, buildability, sustainability and value management. Through selected papers from well-known academic journals in construction management, detailed coverage of these issues is systematically reviewed with the aim to investigate the state of the art and trends in procurement research. The outcome of this paper may provide a platform for both researchers and industrial practitioners to appreciate the latest developments and trends in procurement method research

A Systematic Review for The Implementation of Risk Management Within Construction of Mega Housing Projects

Recent years have seen an increase in the number of Mega housing Projects around the world. This increase was to cater for increased population growth, increased urbanisation, scarcity of land, and due to changes in the way we work and live. This trend is likely to continue for a while. Mega housing projects are characterized by their high construction budget, complexity, and their benefits to the society. Mega housing projects, however, raise a number of different challenges and complexities, which need consideration in order to successfully deliver them within cost, time and specified quality parameters. The paper addresses the main construction challenges and opportunities of mega housing projects. Furthermore, consideration is given to the human resources (HR) challenges and opportunities, as well as the efficiency of risk management processes throughout the construction of mega housing projects. Different Case studies are analysed, and a risk register for the successful delivery of mega housing projects in construction is proffered. Conclusions for the benefit of contractors, policymakers, and academics are documented, together with selected recommendations around "value-add" from effective risk management of new mega housing projects

A Conceptual Risk Management Framework in the Construction of Mega Housing Projects in Egypt

Recent years have seen an increase in the number of Mega housing Projects around the world. This increase was to cater for increased population and urbanization. Construction of mega housing projects in Egypt faced a lot of challenges during the construction phase. There is no targeted framework that allows contractors to improve their risk management practice and project success during the construction of mega housing projects in Egypt. The aim of the paper is to design a conceptual Risk Management Framework for Mega Housing Projects in Egypt to improve risk practices and project success during the construction phase. The objective of the paper is to design a conceptual risk management framework to guide contractors to an efficient risk management practice during construction of mega housing projects in Egypt. The study is to review risk standards, to recognize developed risk frameworks, and to design a conceptual risk management framework (CRMF). The framework guide contractors’ in Egypt towards successful risk management practice. The CRMF included steps of risk identification, assessment, response, and risk control. Risk identification adopted risk principles from the International Standardization (ISO31000, 2018). Principles of risk management included knowledge, risk skills, challenges, and opportunities. Interviews and NVivo analysis are used as a technique of risk identification. Qualitative risk analysis included risks obtained from the identification process as input. Technique of questionnaire can guide contractors to prioritize risks based on their significance. Contractors can use Monte Carlo simulation as a quantitative technique to obtain time and cost contingency before and after adding responses. The technique of Monte Carlo analysis is used in the risk control process to highlight new contingencies after adding responsive strategies. The literature of risk management and standards were used as a backdrop to design a CRMF. The framework recognized contractors’ recent knowledge and skills and improves risk management practices during construction of mega housing projects. Contractors can use the designed conceptual risk management framework in reporting and communicating risk activities during construction of mega housing projects in Egypt

Heat stress, a hidden cause of accidents in construction

Extreme heat stress has a deep impact on physiological reactions, which results in occupational injuries and deaths. In this paper, an attempt is made to understand the impact of heat stress on construction accidents in Oman. A literature review on heat stress is discussed in the first section followed by an analysis of 623 accidents that occurred in a highway project. The analysis of these accidents reveals that more severe accidents on this project took place from 11:00 to 17:00. The semi-structured interview held with some of the workers involved in these accidents confirmed excessive heat as one of the main reason behind these accidents. The health profile of the same workers is measured in terms of their body mass index and blood pressure. The results show that 80% of the workers from the selected sample were found to be overweight or obese and 40% of the participants were hypertensive. The safety performance of such workers is particularly discussed in relation to heat stress. The effective implementations of day time break in summer, a healthy diet, appropriate sleeping habit, scheduling physically demanding tasks during early morning and evening and adopting light colour and loose fitting uniform could reduce the impact of heat stress

Knowledge Management and BIM Practices: Towards a Conceptual BIM-Knowledge Framework

The construction industry is a knowledge-intensive and knowledge-generating industry. However, challenges exist in terms of capturing and sharing knowledge of best practices and lessons learned within projects, and from one project to another. This is mainly due to the multi-disciplinary, multiorganizational and temporary nature of construction projects, which causes valuable knowledge to remain with individuals and/or get lost with time. Therefore, it is critically important to effectively capture and share the experience-based knowledge that is generated in construction projects in order to enable improvements in decision-making based on continuous learning. Building information modelling (BIM) has emerged as a solution that could possibly help in this endeavour through effective collaboration and learning processes. However, currently, BIM practices mainly focus on digitalising traditional information exchanges among project stakeholders. Hence, there is little consideration of how experiencebased knowledge can be effectively captured in BIM-enabled projects and used for continuous improvement. This paper presents insights into this issue by drawing on the literatures on knowledge management (KM) and BIM implementation. It proposes a conceptual BIMKnowledge framework, the main contribution of the paper, which consists of a KM approach and five critical factors: individual psychosocial factors, organisational factors, economic factors, technological factors and client factors

Causes of construction accidents in Oman

Considering the costs associated with accidents in construction, a model identifying root causes of accidents is proposed for construction organisations in Oman. The model classifies the accidents in construction mainly arising from main four causes: 'equipment/materials', 'workers', 'environment' and 'management'. The model is applied to a road construction project in Oman to trace the root causes of accidents. It can also be applied to construction projects in other sectors such as building or process plant construction. Further research is recommended to extend the study to other projects in the construction sector in order to generalise the findings. Although the frequency distribution of accidents is likely to vary from project to project, understanding the underlying pattern of their causes helps to pinpoint the key areas where resources should be directed in the organisations' efforts to deliver the goal of zero accidents

A Systematic Review for the Challenges Related to the Implementation of Building Information Modelling, Big Data Analytics and Internet of Things (BBI) in the Construction Sector

Under scrutiny for the past several years, the adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM), Big Data Analytics (BDA) and Internet of Things (IoT) (together also known as BBI) is yet to grow significantly in the construction industry. The industry itself is realising the complexity and challenges which admittedly inhibit BBI implementation. The identification of these challenges is an imperative precondition for successful implementation of BBI. Even though there is a paucity of empirical data in this area, a notable body of research has reported such challenges which are the target consideration of this paper. However, no study has comprehensively reviewed, and synthesized existing research on the basis of treating BBI implementation as an integrated process and viewing these challenges as the cause for laggard manifestations, which underpins the originality and value of this study. To bridge this gap in literature, this paper primarily undertakes a critical systematic review of research around challenges related to BBI implementation. It emphasises a variety of important challenges inter-alia, skills and training needs, level of interoperability, infrastructure associated costs, data security, privacy, data ownership and supply chain concerns. This synthesis shows that BBI implementation is complex and challenging, and suggests that the industry as a whole need to take immediate actions. The need for more concerted research efforts to bridge the gaps are also identified. Finally, the paper proffers recommendations for managers and workers, which have social, technological, and economic capability and capacity dimensions

Developing a conceptual framework for assessing the socio-economic benefits of regeneration projects in the UK

Recent decades have witnessed the evolution of building assessment methods for appraising the sustainability performance of building projects. In the UK for instance, the Government has initiated a number of assessment/evaluation methods to deal with some of the environmental problems associated with regeneration programmes. But attempts aimed at implementing sustainability assessment primarily have been limited to the environmental impact of buildings, with the socio-economic aspects often neglected. The findings of an exploratory case study on a housing regeneration project, which adopted a combination of literature review and focus-group interview approach with eight key stakeholders for data collection in the UK, are presented in this paper. The emergent framework developed and presented in hierarchical order in this paper incorporates project level and wider community socio-economic sustainability indicators