Factors Affecting Safety Performance on Construction Sites

The factors influencing safety on construction sites are discussed. The impacts of the historical, economical, psychological, technical, procedural, organizational and the environmental issues are considered in terms of how these factors are linked with the level of site safety. The historical factor is assessed by the background and characteristics of the individual, such as age and experience. The economic factor is determined by the monetary values which are associated with safety such as, hazard pay. The psychological factor is assessed by the safety behavior of fellow workers on site including supervisors. The technical and procedural factors are assessed by the provision of training and handling of safety equipment on site. The organizational and environmental factors are assessed by the type of policy that the management adopts to site safety. Information regarding these factors were correlated with accidents' records in a sample of 120 operatives. Results of the factor analysis suggest that variables related to the `organization policy' are the most dominant group of factors influencing safety performance in the United Kingdom Construction Industry. The top five important issues found to be associated with site safety were: (1) management talk on safety; (2) provision of safety booklets; (3) provision of safety equipment; (4) providing safety environment and (5) appointing a trained safety representative on site

Is Fragmentation of the UK Construction Industry the Main Barrier to Innovation? The Architects' View

There is much concern about the lack of innovation in the UK construction industry in comparison with other industries. According to the UK innovation surveys commissioned by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the construction industry lags behind other UK sectors in innovation. This paper reports on past and recent literature on innovation, in particular, it provides a follow up to the study of Bowley (1966) into the resistance to change in the British Building Industry. Primary research in the form of a questionnaire was carried out in conjunction with secondary research. In total, 29 architects were surveyed and analysis of the results suggests that the ‘attitude’ of the construction industry and the ‘risk’ of the new innovation were perceived to be the main barriers to innovation, more so than the ‘fragmentation’ of the industry. The perceived main driver of integration does not instantly stand out as a solution to removing these barriers

Ferrimagnetism of MnV_2O_4 spinel

The spinel MnV_2O_4 is a two-sublattice ferrimagnet, with site A occupied by the Mn^{2+} ion and site B by the V^{3+} ion. The magnon of the system, the transversal fluctuation of the total magnetization, is a complicated mixture of the sublattice A and B transversal magnetic fluctuations. As a result, the magnons' fluctuations suppress in a different way the manganese and vanadium magnetic orders and one obtains two phases. At low temperature (0,T^*) the magnetic orders of the Mn and V ions contribute to the magnetization of the system, while at the high temperature (T^*,T_N), the vanadium magnetic order is suppressed by magnon fluctuations, and only the manganese ions have non-zero spontaneous magnetization. A modified spin-wave theory is developed to describe the two phases and to calculate the magnetization as a function of temperature. The anomalous $M(T)$ curve reproduces the experimentally obtained ZFC magnetization.Comment: 4 pages, one figur

Sustainable Construction in the Recession

Sustainability emerged as a public concern at a time when the construction industry was in boom. Government legislation and peer pressure led to the growing momentum in implementing sustainable development. However, as the world enters into recession, is there still room for sustainable construction? This paper investigates whether the drivers and barriers to sustainable construction have changed during the current recession. The research consists of a literature review into the subject and recent evidence of the industry’s reaction to the recession. In-depth interviews were conducted with construction professionals who represent a cross section of industry and project roles. The key findings reveal that 60 percent of respondents consider sustainable construction would continue to increase despite the recession, with the main drivers found to be increased legislation, customer demand and energy costs. Clients are found to be more likely to focus on passive design features over renewable energy technologies as a means of delivering sustainable construction in an economical way

Is there a Correlation between Contractor’s Health and Safety Performance and their Profit Margin?

This paper analyses the relationship of on-site health and safety performance and the anticipated profit margin. It reports on the main findings of the research which includes the analysis of historical safety records of 22 construction projects and their profit margins. A scoring system was adapted to measure performance and profit. Analysis of the results indicates that the better the health and safety score of a project the more profit that project is likely to make and vice versa. In short, projects that recorded safety incidents during construction have also made a loss in their profit margins as a result of fall in productivity, disruption and penalties

Team Relationship and Knowledge Management in Construction Projects in Thailand Part 1: Network Relationship Analysis Using UCINET Software

Problematic relationship within fragmented team structures and inefficient multi-stage project development processes are the two major issues that affect project development performance in the construction industry. The problems are particularly apparent In Thailand’s developing economy. This paper focuses on the study of relationship among construction project team members at the pre-design appraisal development stage as the first step to improve the competitiveness of project development in Thailand’s construction industry. Recently completed large commercial residential projects in Bangkok’s central business district were used as case studies. For the field research, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a selection of client organisations and key project members using a standardised questionnaire to collect relevant quantitative and qualitative data. UCINET, the social network analysis software, was implemented to analyse quantitative data to reveal the relationship characteristics. The transformed aggregate scores of strength and satisfaction of relationship, as well as some of the project network characteristics like low network density (0.2045 out of 1.000) in selected case study projects, did not appear to be very accommodating to the creation of good relationship. Other network characteristics, including high reciprocity (68.75%), above average reachability (8 out of 11), relatively short (1.405) average geodesic distance and small degree centralisation (27% out degree and 37% in degree) suggested a close relationship among key project members. Moreover, supportive personal and subgroup characteristics such as low to average (1 to 6 out of 11) out and in degree centrality and a high clustering coefficients (0.725 out of 1.000) were considered as the key factors to achieving effective knowledge creation and transfer. This will be explored further in part 2 of this research

Concept and Application of UCINET Software to Study Network Relationship in Construction Projects

As extensively recognised in the reviewed literature, the fragmentation of the project development team and the multi-stage project development process are two underlying factors that significantly affect the construction industry’s unsatisfactory performance and competitiveness. The addressed problems are potentially solved by strong network relationship and effective knowledge management at the pre-design appraisal development stage. This paper focuses on the concept and application of UCINET social network software to study quantitative network relationships among appraisal development team members in selected OTL commercial residential projects in Bangkok, Thailand. Key network characteristics like network density, reciprocity, reachability, geodesic distance as well as personal and subgroup characteristics such as degree centrality, network centralisation, clustering coefficients, cliques, ego network and brokerage can be used to improve project development performance and the industry’s competitiveness based on more effective knowledge creation and transfer

Team Relationship and Knowledge Management in Construction Projects in Thailand Part 2: Network Relationship Analysis Using UCINET Software

The study of network relationship using UCINET program in part 1 was inspired by the problematic fragmented structure of a construction project development team. In this paper, the multi-stage project development process as another key factor that underlies the construction industry’s poor performance is addressed. Knowledge management is then proposed as another key solution to achieve the more effective project development in Thailand context. Based on Nonaka and Takeuchi’s 1995 knowledge conversion model, representatives from key project members’ organisations that developed recently complete large commercial residential projects in Bangkok central business area were asked in semi-structured interviews about organisational knowledge management process using a set of standardised questions. The outcomes show the moderate efficiency due to key project members’ unawareness of knowledge potentials. A three-stage framework is also proposed to identify key project members, strengthen network relationship and improve organisational knowledge management capability to achieve the better project development performance

Relationship and knowledge management among construction development project members in Thailand: the clients' perspective

The unsatisfactory performance of the construction industry in Thailand is influenced by the fragmented structure and the inefficient multi-stage project development process. Good relationships, the creation of new knowledge and effective knowledge management is crucial particularly at the development appraisal to achieve improved and sustainable performance in the construction industry. This study is an investigation of the relationships among team members and knowledge management practice in Thailand's construction industry. Semi-structured interviews conducted in the field research with a selection of large client organisations revealed that significant close or network relationship exists between clients and key project team members. However, knowledge management practices were heavily influenced by team members' self-centred nature. There is therefore a need to adopt knowledge management practices to improve project performance at the development appraisal stage as this could have significant knock on effects on subsequent stages. Failure to address relationship and knowledge issues could affect the uptake and sale of development projects

Gender in the Construction Industry: Literature Review and Comparative Survey of Men’s and Women’s Perceptions in UK Construction Consultancies

For more than two decades, construction industry leaders have made attempts to attract more women into professional roles to ease skills shortages and diversify the workforce. However, the number of women working in the industry has not improved significantly. This paper reviews previous literature on gender diversity in the construction industry and disseminates findings from a survey that investigated whether there are significant differences in self-perception between men and women in construction consultancies operating in the United Kingdom (UK). The survey questionnaire was completed by 60 men and 57 women. Analysis of the results confirmed that women tend to follow “zig-zag” career development paths and that “global self-worth” of women over the age of 40 is the lowest among all ages. However, little variation was found on initiatives to improve retention of women in construction consultancies. The results reveal that both men and women regarded improved flexible working-arrangements, transparent promotion criteria, return-to-work training, and outreach programs to schools the most crucial initiatives to retain women. This reinforces the call for organizations to introduce innovative strategic plans to change the masculine culture of the construction profession and modernize working practice away from the existing rather outdated traditional structure