Risk compensation behaviours in construction workers’ activities

The purpose of this study was to test whether the construction workers have the tendency of engaging in risk compensation behaviours, and identify the demographic variables, which may influence the extent to which the construction workers may show risk compensation behaviours. Both quantitative (survey) and qualitative (interviews) approaches were used in this study. A questionnaire survey was conducted with all the construction workers on three building construction sites of a leading construction company in Australia. Semi-structured interviews were then conducted to validate the findings of the quantitative research. The findings indicate that workers tend to show risk compensation behaviours in the construction environment. The workers with more working experience, higher education, or having never been injured at work before have a higher tendency to show risk compensation in their activities than the others. The implication is that contractors need to assess the potential influence of workers’ risk compensation behaviours when evaluating the effect of risk control measures. It is recommended that supervisors pay more attention to the behavioural changes of those workers who have more experience, higher education, and have never been injured before after the implementation of new safety control measures on construction site

Using lean practices to improve current carbon labelling schemes for construction materials : a general framework

The construction industry has considerable environmental impacts through the process of manufacturing building materials and building construction. Many environmental labelling programs have been introduced to the construction industry to measure the environmental impacts, including building up the environmental profiles for building materials. Although absolute measurements of the environmental impacts can be obtained by these labelling programs through detailed Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies, relative measurements should not be overlooked to indicate the gap between the current and the “leanest” performance. The term “lean” is often used to describe a process with less wastes, materials, human effort, time, etc. The lean concept originates from the Toyota Production System and has been applied in the automobile industry for decades. This paper therefore aims to investigate the applicability of a relative measurement of the environmental impacts for building materials by introducing the concept of “lean score”. The research aim is narrowed down by choosing the carbon labelling program and the precast concrete products as research objectives. The results indicate that a “lean” benchmark can be built to offer relative measurements of carbon emissions for precast concrete products. The lean score obtained from the benchmarking process provides the improving potential that can help the construction industry move towards sustainability. The results are also useful for regulatory bodies to establish national standards to measure the environmental impacts for building materials

Identification of non-value adding activities in precast concrete production to achieve low-carbon production

The lean production philosophy originates from the Toyota Production System and has been applied in the construction industry for decades to eliminate wastes and improve efficiency. Many studies have been completed on the application of the lean philosophy to meet the challenges of sustainable development in precast concrete factories. Many non-value adding activities have been identified in both site layout and supply chain for precast concrete manufacturers. However, the production process should not be overlooked from a lifecycle perspective. This study adopts a weighted factor model comprising of 17 precasters in the Singapore precast concrete industry. The production process is investigated using the weighted factor model. The results indicate that there are many non-value adding activities in the production practices that contribute to an increase in the carbon emissions level. Large inventory level, wastage of raw materials and inexperienced employees seem to be the most important non-value adding activities. The analysis provides good practice guidance and can be used as a checklist for precasters to identify the non-value adding activities in the precast concrete production process to achieve low-carbon production. The results will also be useful for regulatory agencies to provide recommendations for precast concrete manufacturers to reduce carbon emissions

Lean concept and its application in precast concrete installation to achieve sustainability

The lean concept originates from the Toyota Production System and has been applied in the construction industry for decades to reduce wastes and to increase efficiency. It is until recently that its application to achieve sustainability has been realized by the construction industry. This paper aims to examine the application of the lean concept to achieve sustainability in the precast concrete installation cycle, which has many similarities with the automobile and manufacturing industry where lean has originated. Special attention is paid to the level of carbon emissions, which contributes to global climate change. A case study approach is adopted. A large condominium project using precast concrete in Singapore is chosen as the case. The results show that the lean concept is effective in bringing down the level of carbon emissions generated in the precast concrete installation cycle. Contractors should pay attention to the lean concept and may start to implement such concept to meet the pressing pressure of being sustainable

Identification and reduction of non-value adding activities in the precast concrete construction projects in Singapore

Prefabrication systems are believed to have the potential for better environmental performance and have been adopted by the construction industry to meet the challenges posed by global climate change. However, there remains many areas in the prefabrication systems that can be improved in order to reduce carbon emissions, such as site layout, work flow and inventory control. This research therefore aims to identify the non-value adding activities that can be eliminated to reduce carbon emissions in the precast concrete construction projects in Singapore. A weighted factor model comprising 30 contractors in the Singapore construction industry is adopted. Two stages in the precast concrete installation cycle are investigated using the weighted factor model, which are site layout management and delivery management. The results indicate that there are many non-value adding activities in the precast concrete installation cycle that contribute to an increase in the level of carbon emissions, such as large storage area and lack of just-in-time sourcing. The analysis provides good practice guidance and can be used as a checklist for contractors to achieve low-carbon installation. The results will also be useful for regulatory agencies to provide recommendations for the construction industry to reduce carbon emissions

The benefits and implied costs of JIT sourcing to Chinese contractors - a review of literature

The just-in-time (JIT) concept originates from the Toyota Production System (TPS) and has been adopted in the construction industry for decades to improve logistics and performance. The concept has proven to be effective in reducing inventory level, improving information exchange and supply chain performance. Many new benefits of JIT sourcing have been identified in recent years, such as the improvement in environmental performance for contractors. However, these new benefits are challenged by many academics based on the rigorous criteria that should be followed when applying the JIT sourcing concept. It is therefore necessary to re-evaluate the benefits and costs of JIT sourcing, especially to identify what the implied costs are in order to achieve the benefits. This paper aims to take the first step to re-evaluate JIT sourcing for Chinese con-tractors for better implementation. According to the research aim, this paper is split into two parts. The first section focuses on explaining the traditional and new benefits of JIT sourcing while the second section aims to investigate the implied costs of these benefits. By knowing the benefits and implied costs, the contractors can be fully prepared to apply JIT sourcing to improve their performance

Adaptive fast terminal sliding mode tracking control of robotic manipulator

Abstrac

Capability of safety climate to predict construction safety outcomes

Safety climate refers to the degree to which employees believe that true priority is given to organizational safety performance. It is thought to be measured through a set of underlying factors such as management commitment. This study aims to examine the predictive relationship between the underlying factors of safety climate and safety outcomes by correlating the factor scores against actual accident rates in construction sites. A questionnaire was distributed to companies involved in completed building projects to collect data about safety climate and actual accident rates. A link between each underlying factor of safety climate and actual accident rates was obtained. The findings indicate the relative importance of individual underlying factors of safety climate in predicting actual construction safety outcomes. This study further confirms the ability of safety climate to predict the actual safety outcomes in the construction environment. The findings are important when the construction firms use safety climate measures as diagnostic tools to identify potential areas for the improvement of their safety performance

Safety investments and safety climate in construction sites

Problem: Safety climate refers to the degree to which employees believe true priority is given to organizational safety performance. It is considered to be a reflection of actual safety culture. Safety investments refer to the expenses for all kinds of accident prevention activities. However, the links between safety investments and safety climate remain unclear. It is not known which components of safety investments are effective to construct a positive safety climate in construction environment. Objective: This study aims to examine the actual links between safety investments and safety climate in the context of building construction in Singapore. Method: face-to-face interview with a questionnaire was used to collect data for this study. Results: The results of this study show that different components of safety investments have different effects on safety climate of building projects. Implications: The findings are important because they may provide the basis for contractors to formulate the strategies for constructing a positive safety climate of their construction sites

Factors influencing workplace accident costs of building projects

Workplace accidents would incur various losses to the injured workers and their families, employers and society. This study aims to investigate the magnitude of workplace accident costs to building contractors and identify factors influencing workplace accident costs of building projects. Data were collected using multiple techniques (structured interviews, archival records and questionnaires) from 47 completed building projects in Singapore. Data were analyzed using bivariate correlation analysis and moderated regression analysis. It is found that the average direct accident costs, indirect accident costs and total accident costs of building projects account for 0.165%, 0.086% and 0.25% of contract sum, respectively. It is concluded that workplace accident costs of building projects are influenced by accident rates, project hazard level, project size, company size and the involvement of sub-contractors. The findings of this study may enhance decision makers' understanding of financial implications of workplace accidents in their building projects and motivate them to undertake accident prevention initiatives voluntarily