Fall Protection Training: A Case Study Using Cbt for Latino Construction Workers

Latino construction workers are at an increased risk of worksite injuries and fatalities due to language, cultural barriers, and ineffective training. This case-study investigated computer-based video training (CBT) for scaffold safety. The CBT training was developed using a participatory approach involving direct input from Latino roofers and framers. This paper focuses on evaluation-improvement of training that combined workers’ ideas of a safe work environment with OSHA standards. Researchers investigated the appropriateness and effectiveness of a brief CBT presentation addressing fall protection and scaffold use among Latino roofers. The results indicated that Latino construction workers at a roofing company in Colorado gained knowledge (p-value \u3c0.05) and liked the use of a culturally appropriate educational video as a method of training. The positive reactions to the training intervention are encouraging and support information and communication technologies (ICTs) for training Latino construction workers with lessons learned for follow-up training and evaluation

A Framework for Objectively Determining Alternative Contracting Method Best Practices

Alternative Contracting Methods (ACM) usage has grown to the point where the industry has sufficient experience to provide a definitive set of best practices to both promote consistency in the nation’s procurement system and to leverage the lessons learned by early ACM adopters. The barrier to achieving this goal is that there is no uniform agreement on the definition of what constitutes a best practice. This paper proposes both an objective definition and a framework for identifying and analyzing ACM practices that have been found to be effective by peer-reviewed research to determine if a given practice deserves to be termed as best practice. The framework is based on the series of indexes that are used to rank candidate practices in order of their importance and their effectiveness. The 24 ACM practices evaluated were identified from 6 National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis reports on ACM topics. The paper finds that only 4 of the 24 candidates meet the objective criteria to be termed a best practice. These were 1) Formalizing and institutionalizing agency ACM procedures, 2) Use of 2-step best-value award procedures, 3) Appointing an agency ACM champion, and 4) Offering stipends for unsuccessful competitors

Emergency Megaproject Case Study Protest: The Interstate Highway 35 West Bridge

When a disaster destroys a vital piece of infrastructure, such as an interstate highway or a large bridge, the procurement must be developed in a manner that expedites the restoration of services with the shortest schedule practical. Expediting an emergency restoration of services project event makes the selection of the appropriate procurement procedure complicated by the need to emphasize schedule over cost and quality. The need to waive or limit statutory rules for open competition increases the risk of protests. This paper presents the results of the case study of the emergency restoration of services award protest for the Interstate Highway 35 West in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The paper concludes that the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) successfully defended itself against an award protest because it published the details of the project’s proposal evaluation plan, making it transparent, and strictly followed the plan throughout the procurement and award process

Organizational Best Practices for Transportation Projects Delivered Using Alternative Contracting Methods

The use of Alternative Contracting Methods (ACM) to deliver US transportation projects has reached a point where a definitive set of best practices can be identified to leverage the lessons learned by early ACM adopters. The most pressing need is for guidance on how public agencies organize to implement ACMs in a budget-constrained environment where the possibility of increasing the number of public agency engineers is nil. This paper is based on mining the survey response data from 6 National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) synthesis reports on ACM topics and proposes a framework for analyzing ACM practices deemed effective by peer-reviewed research to determine if each practice can be classified as a best practice. Importance index theory provides the analytical foundation for the framework and provides a ranking of candidate best practices in order of each practice’s importance and effectiveness. Nine effective ACM practices were identified and evaluated with only one, “appointing an agency ACM champion,” meeting the objective criteria for a best practice. The paper’s major contribution is to provide the suite of 1 best and 8 effective practices that can be employed when developing the organization for an agency that has decided to implement ACM project delivery.Keywords: Alternative contracting methods, best practices, organizational structure, index number theory

Analysis of the difficulties in reconstructing the infrastructure damaged by natural disasters in New Zealand and Puerto Rico

Once a natural disaster damages essential infrastructure services, such as roads, bridges, electric power and potable water, the priority is to restore these services as soon as possible. Under normal circumstances, the planning, design and construction of complex infrastructure projects requires an extended period of time that in many cases lasts for years. The reconstruction of essential services after a disaster is complex not only because the amount of time that can be devoted to planning is extremely limited, but also because government agencies and their officials are under public scrutiny. The press and political institutions frequently criticize thereaction time and decisions of public officials, which increases the complexity of the projects. This article uses a five-dimensional project management model (5DPM) to identify and manage the sources of complexity in emergency projects. The article describes the sources of complexity in reconstruction projects after natural disasters hit the islands of New Zealand and Puerto Rico causing great devastation. The natural disasters analyzed in this article are the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 in New Zealand and the hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 in Puerto Rico. The islands, due to their geographical location, faced similar challenges in terms of the shortage of workers, and materials and equipment for reconstruction, which had to be imported. The shortage negatively impacted the response time to the emergency, the perception of the press, and public opinion about the proper handling of the emergencies. The article analyzes the sources of complexity in the reconstruction of the damaged infrastructure and concludes that the sociopolitical context is often the most complex dimension when reconstruction projects are carried out in an expeditious manner

Identifying the sources of complexity in the Urban Train project in Puerto Rico

The metropolitan area of San Juan in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has the highest concentration of vehicles per mile of paved road in the world. In order to improve the public transit system and decrease automobile dependency, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico decided to embark on a major infrastructure project, which consisted on the design and construction of a heavy rail train to serve the Metropolitan Area of San Juan. The first phase of the project consisted of a 10.69 mile segment with 16 stations. This paper uses a five dimensional project management (5DPM) model and develops a complexity map to identify the sources of complexity in the project. The 5DPM model includes the following dimensions: cost, schedule, technical, context and finance. The results indicate that the major source of complexity in this project was the technical dimension which was complex due to variable site conditions and the owner’s the lack of experience managing a project of this magnitude. Due to its scope and significance, the Urban Train project (Tren Urbano) provided an opportunity to train a group of young professionals who would later assume leadership positions in public projects in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. A structured professional development program was created in a partnership between the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The professional development program consisted of 6 key elements: (1) MIT short course in public transportation in Boston, (2) UPR Winter short course on the Urban Train and Transportation in Puerto Rico, (3) Student research project, (4) Professional Practicum (summer work internship) (5) Site visit to an operating transit system, and (6) Possible employment opportunities with contractor or consultant. The paper concludes that including a professional development component in the project benefited the students and faculty who were involved. It also concludes that the professional development program contributed to managing complexity in the technical dimension for future projects and in the context dimension for this project by increasing public support to the project through marketing and dissemination efforts. This paper contributes to the body of knowledge by increasing our understanding on how to manage complexity in large transit projects and how to develop and implement a professional development program that contributes to project success.Non UBCUnreviewedFacultyOthe

A Framework for Objectively Determining Alternative Contracting Method Best Practices

Alternative Contracting Methods (ACM) usage has grown to the point where the industry has sufficient experience to provide a definitive set of best practices to both promote consistency in the nation’s procurement system and to leverage the lessons learned by early ACM adopters. The barrier to achieving this goal is that there is no uniform agreement on the definition of what constitutes a best practice. This paper proposes both an objective definition and a framework for identifying and analyzing ACM practices that have been found to be effective by peer-reviewed research to determine if a given practice deserves to be termed as best practice. The framework is based on the series of indexes that are used to rank candidate practices in order of their importance and their effectiveness. The 24 ACM practices evaluated were identified from 6 National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis reports on ACM topics. The paper finds that only 4 of the 24 candidates meet the objective criteria to be termed a best practice. These were 1) Formalizing and institutionalizing agency ACM procedures, 2) Use of 2-step best-value award procedures, 3) Appointing an agency ACM champion, and 4) Offering stipends for unsuccessful competitors.This is a manuscript of an article from Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board 2630 (2017): doi: 10.3141/2630-07. Posted with permission.</p