Study of Relationship between Time Overrun and Productivity on Construction Sites

The history of the construction industry worldwide is full of projects that were completed with significant time and cost overruns. In an attempt to reverse this trend, this study aims at establishing the relationship between time overrun and labour productivity on construction sites in Lagos, Nigeria. 43 technical and management staff of some medium and large construction firms based in Lagos, Nigeria were sampled and administered a questionnaire survey. The questionnaire contained 18 causes of project time overrun and 14 causes of low labour productivity which had been identified from the literature reviewed. With these a relationship between project time overrun and low labour productivity was established. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in analyzing the data. Results indicate that inadequate funds for the project, inadequate planning before project takeoff, inadequate tools and equipment and delay in delivery of material top the list of major causes of time overrun while the use of wrong construction methods, inadequate construction materials and inaccurate drawing/specification are the key factors causing low labour productivity on construction sites. Significant negative relationship was found between time overrun and labour productivity in construction sites in Nigeria. The study concludes by recommending that early appointment of project managers could ensure proper management of both the human and material resources that could guarantee improved productivity and ultimately save projects from time overrun

Professionals’ views of material wastage on construction sites and cost overruns

It is believed that building material wastage on construction sites account for cost overruns and any improvement in building materials management on construction sites has the potential to enhance the construction industry’s performance with cost-saving benefits. The purpose of this study is to identify the most wasteful building material during construction operation. It also sets out to assess the level of material wastage with various subcontracting options, the percentage contribution of material wastage to project cost overrun, identify factors contributing to material waste on building sites and to examine the relationship between subcontracting options, project cost overrun and the level of waste generated from building material. A survey research design was employed. Responses from 56 site based professionals representing 70% of the respondents were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Results indicate that the most wasteful building material during construction operation is mortar from plastering/rendering; labour-only subcontracting options have high contribution to material wastage. Furthermore, the study revealed that the average percentage contribution of building material wastage to project cost overrun is between 21-30%; Poor supervision, re-work, and poor material handling were identified as dominant factors that have high contribution to material wastage on sites. Finally, the result also shows that there is a relationship between subcontracting options, cost overrun and waste generated from building material during construction. Measures to reduce material wastage on construction sites were proposed.Improvement in building materials management on construction sites has the potential to enhance the construction industry’s performance with cost-saving benefits

Timing of death at National Trauma Center, Abuja, Nigeria

Background: We aimed to analyse the burden and timing of trauma deaths over a 1-year period at a trauma centre in Nigeria.Methods: This was a retrospective review of in-hospital trauma deaths during the period of January to December 2015. Sociodemographic data, cause of injury, mode of presentation, time interval between presentation and death, injury diagnoses, treatment, and place of death were analysed.Results: There were 2230 trauma consultations during the study period; 85 were brought in dead from the scene. We analysed data from 103 of 121 in-hospital deaths. Patient ages ranged from 0 to 90 years, with a mean age of 31.1. The male-to-female ratio was 5:1. Following injury, 46.6% of the victims presented directly to our tertiary centre, while 53.4% were referred from other hospitals. Most of the injuries were from RTA. Isolated head injury was the predominant diagnosis (44.7%), followed by polytrauma (29%). Immediate deaths (exclusive of those brought in already dead) comprised 5.8% of cases; 37.9% were early deaths and 56.3% were late deaths.Conclusions: The timing of trauma deaths closely approximated the original trimodal description in North America about half a century ago even though advances in trauma care have resulted in changes from this pattern in developed countries. Regionalised integrated care including prehospital trauma services are recommended.Keywords: trauma; mortality; timin

Sustainable synthesis of BEA zeolite from fly ash-based amorphous silica

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDPower generation in South Africa depends majorly on the combustion of coal and the increasing demand for energy due to industrialisation and population growth signifies the continuous consumption of coal. During this process, a by-product known as coal fly ash (CFA) is generated which poses several environmental issues. The common management of the waste involves the disposal of CFA in landfills or the direct disposal to open uncultured lands, thus contaminating water bodies by the leaching of constituent CFA metals and salts that render arable land uncultivable

Economic Analysis of Children's Surgical Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Analysis.

BackgroundUnderstanding the economic value of health interventions is essential for policy makers to make informed resource allocation decisions. The objective of this systematic review was to summarize available information on the economic impact of children's surgical care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).MethodsWe searched MEDLINE (Pubmed), Embase, and Web of Science for relevant articles published between Jan. 1996 and Jan. 2015. We summarized reported cost information for individual interventions by country, including all costs, disability weights, health outcome measurements (most commonly disability-adjusted life years [DALYs] averted) and cost-effectiveness ratios (CERs). We calculated median CER as well as societal economic benefits (using a human capital approach) by procedure group across all studies. The methodological quality of each article was assessed using the Drummond checklist and the overall quality of evidence was summarized using a scale adapted from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.FindingsWe identified 86 articles that met inclusion criteria, spanning 36 groups of surgical interventions. The procedure group with the lowest median CER was inguinal hernia repair ($15/DALY). The procedure group with the highest median societal economic benefit was neurosurgical procedures ($58,977). We found a wide range of study quality, with only 35% of studies having a Drummond score ≥ 7.InterpretationOur findings show that many areas of children's surgical care are extremely cost-effective in LMICs, provide substantial societal benefits, and are an appropriate target for enhanced investment. Several areas, including inguinal hernia repair, trichiasis surgery, cleft lip and palate repair, circumcision, congenital heart surgery and orthopedic procedures, should be considered "Essential Pediatric Surgical Procedures" as they offer considerable economic value. However, there are major gaps in existing research quality and methodology which limit our current understanding of the economic value of surgical care

Human resource management in the Nigerian construction firms: practices and challenges.

© 2017 The Authors. Published by University of Cape Town. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://journals.uct.ac.za/index.php/jcbm/article/view/54Improvement of human resource management is critical to overall productivity and cost effectiveness in the construction industry. This study assesses the current human resource management practices in the Nigeria construction organisation and the challenges confronting it. Questionnaire survey was adopted using purposive sampling technique. Ninety eight human resource managers and construction professionals in two categories of construction organisations (client organisations involved in real estate development and contractor organisations) were sampled. The results reveal that prevailing recruitment practices are placement of the right staff in the right department for the achievement of company general goals, and screening of candidates for vacant positions. Most common training and development practices involve inducting, orienting and training newly recruited employee on software and use of tools, and assigning staff based on their skill and expertise.Provision of appropriate/modern working tools and equipment and provision of incentives and benefits to staff are prevailing motivation and labour union practices. The study further identified:competition for global mobile talents, labour turnover, recruiting the right person for a specific position, wages and compensation as some of the challenges facing HRM practice in Nigeria.The study concludes that recruitment and selection practices in the construction organisation are distinctly different from those of the manufacturing and banking industry and it centres on selection of skilled and technically competent personnel for organisation’s general goal. The study recommends that future study should assess the impact of the identified human resource practices on productivity and project performance

An Evaluation of the Impact of Fluctuating Oil Revenue and the Performance of the Nigerian Economy: An Econometric Analysis

The up and down movement in  the price of crude oil in recent years  has led to increasing concern about its macroeconomic implications for the Nigerian economy as economic planning has become very uncertain given the fact that the economy is highly vulnerable to oil price fluctuations. It is with this view in mind that this paper empirically analyses the impact of fluctuating oil revenue and the performance of the Nigerian economy between 1999 to 2016 (a seventeen years period of democratic governance), using secondary data sourced from Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin and World Bank Development Indicators with VAR econometric tools of analysis. After appropriate stationary and robustness checks, the study finds out that oil price shocks (proxy for oil revenue) retards economic growth as it has a negative relationship with economic growth. An interesting outcome from the VAR Block Exogeneity Test is the unidirectional causality running from Oil Revenue to Real Gross Domestic Product (economic growth) which reveals the fact that during the years under reference, proceeds from oil export were mainly responsible for the level of astronomical growth recorded in the economy.  The study concludes that oil price fluctuation paints an unstable future for the Nigerian economy because macroeconomic variables like employment, interest rate and price stability become victims. Both fiscal and monetary tools are frequently revised to keep the system afloat during price shocks. Nigeria remains a victim of these policy shocks because of overdependence on oil export earnings. A major policy recommendation is the need for policy makers to concentrate on policies that will strengthen and stabilize the macroeconomic structure of the Nigerian economy with specific focus on alternative sources of government revenue (reduction of dependence on oil proceeds) and reduction in monetization of crude oil receipts (fiscal discipline). &nbsp

History and development of trauma registry: lessons from developed to developing countries

BACKGROUND: A trauma registry is an integral component of modern comprehensive trauma care systems. Trauma registries have not been established in most developing countries, and where they exist are often rudimentary and incomplete. This review describes the role of trauma registries in the care of the injured, and discusses how lessons from developed countries can be applied toward their design and implementation in developing countries. METHODS: A detailed review of English-language articles on trauma registry was performed using MEDLINE and CINAHL. In addition, relevant articles from non-indexed journals were identified with Google Scholar. RESULTS: The history and development of trauma registries and their role in modern trauma care are discussed. Drawing from past and current experience, guidelines for the design and implementation of trauma registries are given, with emphasis on technical and logistic factors peculiar to developing countries. CONCLUSION: Improvement in trauma care depends on the establishment of functioning trauma care systems, of which a trauma registry is a crucial component. Hospitals and governments in developing countries should be encouraged to establish trauma registries using proven cost-effective strategies

Hepatitis B Virus Knowledge and Vaccination Status among Health‐care Workers in Calabar, Nigeria

Background and Objectives: The World Health Organization estimates that 2 million health‐care workers (HCWs) are at risk of occupational exposure to hepatitis B virus (HBV), with the majority (90%) of such infections arising in sub-Saharan Africa. This study aimed to determine HBV knowledge and vaccination uptake among HCWs. Materials and Method: This was a cross sectional analytical study conducted among 392 HCWs from two major health institutions in Calabar i.e. the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) and the General Hospital Calabar (GHC), Cross river State. Multi-staged sampling method comprising of two stages was used to recruit participants into the study. The study population comprised of doctors, nurses, laboratory scientists/technologist, and other categories of HCWs such as pharmacists, ward orderlies, and mortuary attendants. A semi-structured self-administered questionnaire was used to obtain data on the socio-demographic characteristics of HCWs, the knowledge of HCWs regarding HBV and vaccine. The analysis of data was done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20. Study Design: This was a cross-sectional, study of HCWs in Calabar. Sampling Method: Multi-staged sampling method was used to select participants from two major health institutions in Calabar, i.e., the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) and the General Hospital Calabar (GHC). Thereafter, through balloting, simple random sampling technique was used to recruit the participants. Study Population: Three hundred and ninety-two HCWs were recruited from UCTH and GHC under the following categories: doctors, nurses, laboratory scientists/technologist, and other categories of HCWs such as pharmacists, ward orderlies, and mortuary attendants. Data Management: A semi-structured self-administered questionnaire was used to obtain data on the socio-demographic characteristics of HCWs, the knowledge of HCWs regarding HBV and vaccine. The analysis of data was done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20. Results: Overall, 67.9% of the respondents were found to have adequate knowledge of HBV vaccination and infection. Less than half (43.4%) of HCWs admitted receiving three doses (i.e., full coverage) of the vaccine. Difficulty in accessing the vaccine (48, 23.4%) was identified as the major reason given for suboptimal vaccination. Conclusion: The knowledge of HBV infection and vaccination is quite modest among HCWs in Calabar. Despite this observation, the vaccination status among HCWs is unsatisfactory. The implication of the findings of our study for health policy and practice is to prevent further occupational exposure of HCWs to HBV infection through mandatory vaccination

Understanding Etiologies of Road Traffiffic Crashes, Injuries, and Death for Patients at National Hospital Abuja: A Qualitative Content Analysis Using Haddon\u27s Matrix

Road traffic crashes and sequelae are reaching pandemic proportions globally and have currently achieved disproportionately high levels in Nigeria. Quantitative studies are accumulating in the peer-reviewed literature, but there is a paucity of qualitative research in Nigeria. Data for this study of structural and behavioral factors of road traffic crashes and injuries in Federal Capital Territory were collected in semi-structured interviews with crash survivors at National Hospital Abuja. Interviews were analyzed via qualitative content analysis, revealing crash location and participant beliefs about crash etiologies. Units of analysis were developed from participant statements and were structured within four a priori etiologic categories using Haddon\u27s (1980) matrix: human-, vehicle-, physical environment-, and socioeconomic environment-related. Subcategories were generated. Human-related subcategories included reckless behavior and drivers, limited technical knowledge and skill. Vehicle-related subcategories included vehicular disrepair and lack of safety equipment. Physical environment-related subcategories included road disrepair, infrastructural inadequacy, and weather. Socioeconomic environment-related subcategories included government, prehospital care, money, and prayer. Subcategories were organized temporally by pre-event, event, and post-event phases, with most units of analysis allocated in the preevent phase. These qualitative results can be utilized to guide future research along community-aligned priorities, and to structure community-engaged preventative and interventional efforts