Guest Editorial

This section contains upgraded papers originally published at The CIB W099 International Conference on "Modelling and Building Health and Safety”, which was organised and hosted by the Department of Building, National University of Singapore (NUS). It was held on 10 -11 September 2012 at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Center, Singapore.  The focal objectives of this section are to explore the integration and application of new techniques, technologies and strategies towards attaining verifiable improvements in occupational safety and health in construction

Design for safety: theoretical framework of the safety aspect of BIM system to determine the safety index

Despite the safety improvement drive that has been implemented in the construction industry in Singapore for many years, the industry continues to report the highest number of workplace fatalities, compared to other industries. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the theoretical framework of the safety aspect of a proposed BIM System to determine a Safety Index. An online questionnaire survey was conducted to ascertain the current workplace safety and health situation in the construction industry and explore how BIM can be used to improve safety performance in the industry. A safety hazard library was developed based on the main contributors to fatal accidents in the construction industry, determined from the formal records and existing literature, and a series of discussions with representatives from the Workplace Safety and Health Institute (WSH Institute) in Singapore. The results from the survey suggested that the majority of the firms have implemented the necessary policies, programmes and procedures on Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) practices. However, BIM is still not widely applied or explored beyond the mandatory requirement that building plans should be submitted to the authorities for approval in BIM format. This paper presents a discussion of the safety aspect of the Intelligent Productivity and Safety System (IPASS) developed in the study. IPASS is an intelligent system incorporating the buildable design concept, theory on the detection, prevention and control of hazards, and the Construction Safety Audit Scoring System (ConSASS). The system is based on the premise that safety should be considered at the design stage, and BIM can be an effective tool to facilitate the efforts to enhance safety performance. IPASS allows users to analyse and monitor key aspects of the safety performance of the project before the project starts and as the project progresses

Reducing critical hindrances to building information modeling implementation: The case of the Singapore construction industry

10.3390/app9183833Applied Sciences (Switzerland)918383

A project management framework for enhanced productivity performance using building information modelling

Although the Singapore government has mandated submissions of building plans in building information modelling (BIM) format since July 2013, this does not yet seem to lead to enhanced productivity performance. BIM collaboration between designers and downstream contractors appears to remain inadequate. While many studies have been conducted on using BIM for better project outcomes, studies that relate BIM with the identification of non-value adding activities in the project lifecycle and the reduction of the resulting wastes are at infancy stage. This paper aims to propose a project management framework for enhancing the productivity of building projects in Singapore, which forms Phase I of an ongoing research project. A two-pronged approach is presented. Firstly, non-value adding activities in the current project delivery process that uses BIM partially in Singapore are identified by comparing the typical current process with full BIM-based processes; such activities are cut down after process transformation in terms of people, process, and technology. Secondly, time savings derived from reducing the wastes caused by these activities are quantified. The proposed framework was validated by a case study of a local residential project. It was concluded that this framework provides a valuable tool for project teams to enhance productivity performance

A quantitative model for efficient maintenance of plastered and painted facades

Building owners are faced with increasing maintenance costs incurred to rectify defects on different building elements and systems. With a significant proportion of maintenance costs spent on upkeep of building facades, there is a need for cost-effective approaches for facade maintenance. A quantitative model is developed for effective evaluation, optimization and management of costs of maintenance of plastered and painted facades. Visual surveys were used to collect information about defects on the external plaster and paint finish for public housing apartment blocks in Singapore. The data were used to develop 'defect index models' for each type of defect to predict its onset and propagation. The output from these models was incorporated into a life cycle cost model that can be used to predict and optimise the timing and magnitude of maintenance/repair costs incurred on plastered and painted facades during their intended lifetime.External finish, facade, life cycle cost, maintenance, service life,

Costs of construction accidents to Singapore contractors

Occupational accidents may incur considerable financial losses for companies. The purpose of this study was to investigate the financial losses incurred by building contractors in Singapore due to construction accidents. A questionnaire survey was used to collect data for this study. The results show that the average insured accident costs, average uninsured accident costs and average total accident costs account for 0.15%, 0.1% and 0.25% of the contract sum of a project, respectively. The ratio between insured and uninsured accident costs for building projects was found to be 1.5:1. Furthermore, company size, project size, and percentage of work completed by subcontractors were found to have impact on the size of uninsured costs of accidents. In light of this study, Singapore contractors may be more conscious about the financial implications of construction accidents, which would in turn motivate contractors to prevent construction accidents

The moderated effect of safety investment on safety performance for building projects

Safety investments are aimed at protecting the health and physical integrity of workers and the material assets of a contractor. A popular assumption holds that increased investment in safety improves safety performance. However, close examination of previous studies on safety investments reveals that the relationship between the level of safety investment and safety performance remains debatable. The purposes of this study are therefore to (1) test the relationship between safety investment and safety performance, and (2) identify factors influencing their relationship. The research approach for collecting the data is by means of structured interviews. The findings indicate that safety performance is positively related to safety investments when the influence of project hazard level is removed. The effect of safety investments on safety performance was found to be more significant for projects with high hazard levels than those with low hazard levels. The interactive effects of safety investments and project hazard levels on safety performance imply that in order to achieve good safety performance under different project conditions, different investment decisions in workplace safety need to be made

Safety investment and safety performance of building projects in Singapore

Safety investment is aimed at protecting the health and physical integrity of workers and the material assets of a contractor. A popular assumption holds that increased investment in safety produces improved safety performance. However, close examination of previous studies on safety investment reveals that the relationship between the level of safety investment and safety performance remains debatable. The purposes of this study are therefore to: (1) investigate the relationship between safety investment and safety performance in the context of building construction in Singapore; and (2) identify factors influencing the relationship between safety investment and safety performance of building projects. Data were collected by means of conducting a survey. The population of the survey consists of all building contractors in Singapore and the sampling frame is a list of 234 large and medium general registered building contractors with the Building Construction Authority (BCA) of Singapore. Moderated regression is used to analyze the data and describe the relationship between safety investment and safety performance. The findings indicate that the strength /or direction of the relationship between safety investment and safety performance may be influenced by factors, such as safety culture, hazard level, and complexity of a project. Additionally, their relationship might vary under different project conditions. With the establishment of the relationship between safety investment and safety performance, the research can be used as a basis for assisting building contractors to determine a budget for safety management of a building project

Construction health and safety performance in developing and developed countries : a parallel study in South Africa and Singapore

According to relevant literature, the difference in accident rates between developed and developing countries is remarkable. This disparity of construction health and safety performance between developing and developed countries prompted the research team to examine the underlying causes for such a disparity. This study was initiated by the Southern African Built Environment Research Center to examine (1) the construction health and safety practices adopted by construction practitioners in both developing and developed countries, and (2) the sources of the disparity of construction health and safety performance between developing and developed countries. To achieve these aims, parallel surveys were conducted in South Africa (SA) and Singapore. Singapore was chosen because of its improved health and safety performance and the recent review of its health and safety regulatory framework. The results show that there are significant differences both in people’s perceptions of construction site health and safety and in the frequency of various types of accidents between the two nations. The findings of this study have practical impacts on enhancing health and safety performances for developing countries. It is timely to ascertain the disparity of construction health and safety performance between SA and Singapore given that the construction regulations of SA are currently under review so as to achieve improved health and safety performances

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