Challenges for Occupational Health and Safety Enforcement in the Construction Industry in Ghana

Many previous studies have reported that the occupational health and safety (OHS) enforcement is poor in developing countries, however these studies have mainly focused on the broader enforcement problems and not fully considered the challenges confronting the institutions responsible for enforcing OHS standards at workplaces.  In this study, twelve potential challenges were identified from an extensive literature review, then an empirical investigation was carried out via a questionnaire survey from OHS inspectors and professionals in the Ghanaian construction industry. The twelve challenges were confirmed and ranked. Also, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and correlation were used to determine the statistical significance of the responses and the relationships between the challenges. Based on these findings, this study provides practical strategies for government, OHS inspectors and other professionals within the construction industry to improve the OHS enforcement. The research findings can also be adopted as a basis to assess challenges confronting OHS institutions in other developing countries

Health and Safety Integration into the Procurement Stages of Public Construction Projects in Developing Countries: A Case of Ghana

The potential to promote health and safety (H&S) through public procurement has resulted in increased expectation for public sector clients to integrate H&S matters into their procurement decisions and practices. Developing countries are however far behind in this endeavour. Using qualitative research, therefore, this study explored how public clients integrate H&S into the procurement of public works. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 20 contractors and public sector clients who have vast experience in the procurement of public works. The data was analysed using both inductive and deductive thematic analyses. The findings show that the extent of H&S integration into the procurement process depended on the funding source(s) for public projects. H&S matters are generally overlooked in the various procurement stages for public projects funded by the government, while in those funded by international development agencies, H&S matters are prioritized, and therefore, given considerable attention. The research contributes to construction H&S improvement research in developing countries by giving insight into the extent of H&S integration into public procurement. It also contributes to the understanding of the influence of funding sources on the extent to which H&S matters are integrated into public procurement in developing countries

It's all about perceptions: A DEMATEL approach to exploring user perceptions of real estate online platforms

Real Estate Online Platforms (REOPs) are used for conveying real estate and property-related information to potential users (buyers, renters, or sellers). The information leveraged through REOPs supports these users in reaching conclusive rent or buy decisions. Despite their promised utility, user perception about accepting online information through REOPs is unexplored. Using a comprehensive questionnaire and data collected from 65 users, the current study captures the users’ perception of REOPs. Risk, service, information, system, technology adoption model (RSISTAM) is proposed comprising of seven users’ perceptions: risk (PR), service quality (PSEQ), information quality (PIQ), and system quality (PSYQ) from the information systems success model, and usefulness (PU), ease of use (PEU) and behaviour to accept (BAU) from TAM. The results are analysed using the decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) approach, which shows that PIQ, PSEQ and PEU are the causes and PR, PSYQ, PU and BAU are the effects. Among the criteria, the order of prominence is PEU > PSEQ > PIQ, and for net effects, the order is PU > BAU > PSYQ > PR. For addressing the causes, the REOP managers must provide more transparent, high quality and voluminous information to the users, focus on the system, services, and information qualities, and add more enjoyable, immersive and easy-to-use content through REOPs. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by exploring user perceptions and proposing methods to improve the quality and reliability of REOPs in line with Real Estate 4.0 and industry 4.0 aims

A Safety Warning Algorithm Based on Axis Aligned Bounding Box Method to Prevent Onsite Accidents of Mobile Construction Machineries

Mobile construction machineries are accident-prone on a dynamic construction site, as the site environment is constantly changing and continuous safety monitoring by human beings is impossible. These accidents usually happen in the form of machinery overturning or collapsing into risk areas, including the foundation pit, slopes, or soft soil area. Therefore, preventing mobile construction machineries from entering risk areas is the key. However, currently, there is a lack of practical safety management techniques to achieve this. Utilizing a wireless sensor device to collect the location information of mobile construction machineries, this research develops a safety warning algorithm to prevent the machineries moving into risk area and reduces onsite overturning or collapsing accidents. A modified axis aligned bounding box method is proposed according to the movement patterns of mobile construction machineries, and the warning algorithm is developed based on the onsite safety management regulations. The algorithm is validated in a real case simulation when machinery enters the warning zone. The simulation results showed that the overall algorithm combining the location sensing technology and the modified bounding box method could detect risk and give warnings in a timely manner. This algorithm can be implemented for the safety monitoring of mobile construction machineries in daily onsite management

Development of a Framework to Support Whole-Life-Cycle Net-Zero-Carbon Buildings through Integration of Building Information Modelling and Digital Twins

Decision-making on whole-life-cycle net-zero-carbon buildings is critical for addressing carbon emission and environmental problems. However, there is a lack of a data integration framework and an open international standard approach integrating key decision variables to support scientific computations and decision-making for whole-life-cycle net-zero-carbon buildings. Building information modelling (BIM) is an open international standard representing building information. Digital Twin (DT) can capture and monitor real-time building conditions to facilitate building operation. Integrating information acquired by DT with BIM has considerable potential to enable an open international standard based computational representation of key decision variables throughout the whole-building life cycle process. This paper aims to develop a novel conceptual framework that integrates BIM and DT to support net-zero-carbon buildings. The framework is developed using an open international standard approach and the ontology-based representation method, to define key decision variables using entities, properties, and relationships, and integrates captured data via DT. The research makes significant contributions to enable net-zero-carbon buildings and paves the way for future research on an automated system to support decision-making for the whole-life-cycle net-zero-carbon buildings

An Investigation of Digital Technology Implementation in Off-Site Construction with a Focus on Efficiency Improvement

Digital technologies are supposed to be used to obtain higher efficiency and quality in off-site construction. This research is an on-going thesis project and aims to identify the challenges and expectations of digital technologies’ implementation in off-site construction, and also aims to develop a practical application for promoting one of the promising digital technologies. Mixed research methods are conducted in Chinese off-site construction projects, including a set of semi-structured interviews, observation and site experimentation. The major challenges and expectations of digital technology implementation are presented. Specifically, laser scanning technology is expected to be used to check the installation quality of prefabricated wall panels, and it has been validated as practical and efficient in a case study. Further research will be more focused on validating the robustness of using the laser scanning approach

Identifying Leadership Competencies for Construction 4.0

With the development of the times, the challenge of the construction industry entering Construction 4.0 and surviving in it is still formidable. Although many studies state the importance of effective leadership in the context of Construction 4.0, there is a need to investigate what leadership qualities can eectively provide guidance on leading construction organisations in this era. Through a focused review, this study aims to propose a series of key leadership competencies in the context of Construction 4.0 for guiding the digital transformation and the development of leaders in construction organisations, as well as complementing the existing Construction 4.0 research gap in organisational management. Through in-depth analysis of the retrieved literature, this research extracted and analysed 22 leadership competencies, classified them into four top-level themes (cognition, interpersonal communication, business, and strategy), and discussed the potential relationships among them. Theoretically, the article provides the basis and guidance for future leadership research by redefining and explaining the meaning of each competency. In practice, the paper provides construction industry practitioners with guidance on the development of effective leadership in the era of Construction 4.0

HOW BIM COMPATIBLE ESTIMATING SOFTWARE IS ADOPTED IN THE AUSTRALIAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

ABSTRACT Building Information Modeling (BIM) has been widely accepted as an advanced technique and can be applied throughout the project lifecycle including design, construction, Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S), maintenance, and demolition. Estimating software is a significant management tool for project development; and currently there are two main categories: one type is BIM compatible, and the other type is non BIM compatible. There are very few research or investigation on the currently status of using BIM compatible estimating software in the Australian construction industry, and it is not clear how the functionalities of the BIM compatible software are utilized by the estimators. Therefore in this research, an extensive literature review was firstly carried out and used as basis for further investigation. An industrial survey was then carried out to find out the current status of adopting BIM compatible software in the Australian construction industry.It is found that industrial professionals have not prepared well for the adoption of the BIM compatible estimating software, and the users' demand of BIM compatible estimating functions are very low. The factors that may affect the BIM compatible estimating software adoptions have been discussed. In practice, it is not necessary to adopt BIM compatible estimating software unless the project tenders are mainly operated on BIM models. The estimating software adoptions are more dependent on the project design and organizational development strategies than any other factors

Adoptions of prefabrication in residential sector in China: agent-based policy option exploration

Purpose This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of different prefabricated construction (PC) policies using a case study in Wuhan, considering the local context. Design/methodology/approach The effectiveness of PC policies is falling behind expectations. The main reason lies in an insufficient understanding of the policy impacts. An agent-based model was built by choosing the residential sector in a typical large city of Wuhan, China, as the study case. Different cost reduction scenarios were introduced for investigating the PC policy effectiveness. The proposed model and simulation approach can be used for other cities and generalized to the whole Chinese PC industry with the potential to include more local policies and corresponding data. Findings Simulation results show that carbon emission reduction will be between 60,000 and 80,000 tons with policy incentives, nearly double that of the no policy intervention scenario. The target of 30% PC in all new buildings by 2026 in China is achievable with the subsidy policies of linear cost reduction, or cost reduction conforms to the learning curve. Practical implications Simulation results of three kinds of policy show that subsidy policy optimization is necessary regarding reducing the level of subsidy needed. The carbon credit policy is not essential since it has little influence on PC development. Implementing the project procurement restriction policy is not recommended if the scale of development of PC is more important than achieving the development target. Originality/value This study can help the government and developers make better policy and strategic decisions on PC development and boost the sustainability transition of the construction industry