Leadership Initiatives for Health and Safety Risk Management Systems in a Small Construction Company: A Case Study

The need for leadership in the construction industry has been greater due to the fact that health and safety has become an important business tool to reduce accidents to save lives and minimise injuries. This chapter demonstrates the importance and role of leadership for manging risks associated with health and safety aspects in small construction companies. A case study of an Italian family run small construction company is investigated and reported. A diagnostic tool Leadership and Worker Involvement toolkit was administrated in the company. The toolkit had assessment levels (walking, running and sprinting). Analysis showed the company was at walking and running stages in various aspects. But the leadership aspiration of the company was to reach the ?sprinting? stage as a long-term target and sustain it to minimise health and safety risk. A holistic approach was developed to achieve the leadership aspirations of the company. In conclusion, the role of leadership in small companies is to understand the importance of H&S aspects and develop strategies which are then embedded in the processes of the companies to minimise H&S risks for their sustainability and competitiveness. This chapter is beneficial for professional at site, project and programme level and for leadership team

Pervasive Augmented Reality in the Construction Industry: Barriers, Drivers and Possible Applications

Augmented Reality (AR) represents a viable and efficient approach for combining Virtual Reality with the real world. It also augments user’s perception of a real‐world entity by inserting relevant digital information into the real environment and creating an environment where computer generated information is superimposed onto the user’s view of a real‐world scene. The idea of Pervasive AR (PAR) adds context‐awareness and continuity to the typical AR technology, thus providing continued assistance to the users. This paper is aimed at main drivers and barriers for the implementation of PAR within the field of Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC). A review of the literature was performed highlighting the main barriers and drivers for the implementation of PAR in the AEC sector, as well as possible applications of this technology. The literature review showed cost of technology, hardware issues and development of applications as the main barriers for implementing PAR. Whereas, error and cost reduction; and continued assistance were the main drivers of implementation. Although there are some barriers to overcome, the future implementation of PAR in the construction sector looks promising with possible applications of this technology in the AEC sector such as visualisation of spatial, drawing or technical information for designers, the jobsite workforce or marketing purposes

Key knowledge management strategies implemented in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia construction industry: an empirical study

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) construction sector is an important industry and contributes approximately 20% of the gross domestic product (GDP). However, uncertainty, complexity, sustainability and Saudi Arabia National Policy Plan 2030 are among the most important features of the current construction business environment in the KSA. Therefore, for the KSA construction organisations, the creation of economic value by addressing the above issues now increasingly poses real profound strategic challenges. This paper focuses on key knowledge management (KM) strategies that the KSA construction organisations implemented en route to organisational competitiveness. The findings are in the main, based on semi-structured interviews with 46 professionals from 30 construction organisations. The data analysis revealed that, the key initiatives implemented broadly under the umbrella of KM are knowledge sharing initiatives, knowledge capturing initiatives and knowledge mapping initiatives. The scarcity of knowledge and expertise is, and will continue to be, a huge challenge for many construction organisations in the KSA

Evaluating Critical Success Factors for Implementing Renewable Energy Strategies in the Dominican Republic

Global awareness and commitment, in regards to climate change, access to water and renewable energy deployment has risen in the last decade. However, many countries are still locked in unsustainable practices, specifically in regards to energy, this results in damaging consequences not just for the country but the world. Case in point of the Dominican Republic (DR), an island with an immense renewable energy potential, a growing economy and the financial aid of many international entities. Regardless of all this, “the business as usual” decision for the energy strategies is based on fossil foil. As a result, thousands of people are still without energy, the infrastructure itself is unreliable, and the cost of fossil fuel is 8% of the country’s GDP. In addition to, blackouts, the expensive tariff for users and unstable energy grid. Therefore, this paper discusses and critically evaluate critical success factors for implementing renewable energy strategies in the DR. For this purpose, an extensive literature review was done, along with interviews with the key actors in the renewable energy market of the DR. This resulted in the evaluation of the energy infrastructure by obtaining a clear view of the situation. Future work will involve creating a framework for implementation of renewables

Factors Affecting the Equality and Diversity of Ethnic Minority Women in the UK Construction Industry: An Empirical Study

The construction industry has been notoriously known for being a male dominated industry with no room for change. As years have passed by, the industry has sparked a revolution of an increase of women joining the ranks. However, the industry is still known for its inequality and lack of diversity. The aim of this research was to investigate equality amongst ethnic minorities (EM’s) in the construction industry, in particular female EM’s, and establish the root causes of the lack of diversity. The sample of respondents consisted of construction professionals from all levels, comprising of 15 UK companies ranging from public to private sector firms, large, medium, and small companies. The findings showed 15 challenges and barriers faced by EM women in the UK. The main challenges were personal perceptions of negative treatment but a positive view on the collective of EM’s women, EM’s still believe that they are not treated equally in comparison to their white colleagues, the ingrained stigma of construction still being considered as a ‘man’s world’ and cultural pressure and opposition from families that still exists in ethnic communities. It was also found that EM’s have differing views on treatment and perceptions of the industry. Nevertheless, it was found that the construction industry has made changes. However, it needs to continually improve in order to open up the way for a more diverse workforce that is inclusive and fair for women from all walks of life

Drivers for embedding sustainability strategies within the Abu Dhabi public sector organisation: an empirical study

Public sector organisations are being encouraged to embed sustainably strategies, to reduce their environmental footprint and improve social responsibility. A critical review of literature indicate that there is no empirical research reported on the key drivers for implementing sustainability initiatives in Abu Dhabi public sector organisations, which is the core objective of this paper. Given the relatively new and unexplored nature of the research problem, the qualitative research methodology was adopted. In total, 60 semistructured interviews were conducted to collect data, which was then analysed using content analysis for inference and conclusion. The data analysis revealed five key drivers that have fuelled the need for implementing sustainability initiatives. A complex mix of political, economic, social and environmental forces drives the Abu Dhabi public sector organisations to embed sustainability initiatives. Therefore, before organisations imbed sustainability initiatives they need to understand and recognise key drivers, which are pushing them towards implementation in order for them to be competitive

Athena SWAN in Higher Education Sector - a Built Environment Perspective

Higher education tends to recognise gender equality in terms of representation, progression and success for students and staff. Athena SWAN is a Charter which addresses gender equality. This paper is based on critical review of literature and secondary data analysis. A thorough literature review explores the best practices adopted by Universities in UK who were awarded Gold, Silver and Bronze. In doing so, 39 Universities were identified from the CHOBE members (Council of Heads of the Built Environment Heads of Department of Construction, Property and Surveying) in the year 2017 who have built environment students and staff. The results revealed that none of the Universities had gold award of Athena SWAN whereas 26 Universities had bronze awards. From the secondary data analysis of three years data from Equality in higher education, statistical reports on student and staff shows areas of concern for built environment where the female percent of student and staff are in the lower end of the spectrum. Therefore, initiatives and lessons learnt from other successful awarded Universities will be discussed in this paper so that awareness and adoption of the best practices by the built environment sector is encouraged

Drivers for managing sustainability-related knowledge

As organisations try to meet sustainability challenges, they need to be innovative. This often calls for the creation, use and exploitation of new knowledge. Therefore, knowledge resources must be properly managed to enable well-informed decisions. There is, however, little empirical research on the key drivers for managing sustainability-related knowledge in the UK industrial sectors – which is the core aspect of this paper. For this study, four industry sectors: energy and utilities, transportation, construction and not-for-profit organisations were considered, based on the environmental, social and economic impact on UK society. A semi-structured interview method was used to collect industry perception, which was then analysed at both aggregate and sector levels using content analysis for inference and conclusion. The data analysis revealed four key drivers that have fuelled the need for managing sustainability-related knowledge. They are: to improve access to knowledge associated with sustainability initiatives, to identify knowledge assets associated with sustainability initiatives, to improve the flow of knowledge associated with sustainability initiatives and to capture key knowledge associated with sustainability initiatives. The paper concludes that identifying and understanding the key drivers for managing knowledge within the context of sustainability is a complex process. Before embarking on a knowledge management journey, decision makers have to understand what they would like to achieve with their knowledge management programme and what value it needs to add to their organisation in the context of sustainability

Impact of Knowledge Management On Construction Projects

The implementation of knowledge management strategies on construction projects can accrue benefits such as improved performance and continuous improvement. However, many projects are still not utilising knowledge management fully and are thus plagued with inefficiencies, repetition of mistakes and lack of lessons learnt. Poor skills, design changes, errors and omissions contribute to the internal failure cost element of the overall cost of poor quality on construction projects. This study aimed to investigate the extent of the impact that knowledge management has in reducing the cost of poor quality and used a mixed-methods approach. In-depth interviews were conducted with 25 construction industry experts on knowledge management across the UK, followed up by a questionnaire survey of 114 respondents. The data obtained were analysed using thematic analysis and descriptive statistics. It was found that knowledge management had a positive impact in reducing the cost of poor quality, in particular in the area of knowledge transfer through apprenticeships and mentoring. This implies the importance of managing the tacit knowledge of employees through ‘socialisation’ initiatives. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by providing a knowledge management framework for reducing the cost of poor quality on construction projects