Emina, Franklin

Hare, Billy

Lawani, Kenneth

Tong, Michael

English

The challenge of improving productivity and worker safety within construction is always a daunting task as workers feel they are squeezed with an ever dwindling resource pool. However, improving productivity and safety using OSM with crane-erect requires workers to have appropriate expertise. The potential benefits of Off-Site Manufacturing and the integration of timber kit crane-erect homes is considered as one of the most viable options in terms of delivering homes that are affordable, and minimising many of the safety hazards associated with the build process. This paper adopts an action research approach to evaluate the challenges regarding improving site productivity and safety through the implementation of OSM using crane-erect. The data collection involved assessing the labour uptime and downtime to install the wall panels, floor cassettes and the roof truss for six plots including labour and crane utilization. The findings suggest that the implementation of crane-erect requires adequate planning to avoid disruptions for other plants and tradesmen. Incorporating the delivery of the roof truss together with the timber kit will simplify the roof truss installation and also minimise the exposure time for the joiners to work at height. The operatives involved in loading of plasterboards to plot floor decks experienced significant increase in manual handling. However, it takes three days to complete the fittings of the shell, make it water tight with the internal kit, fire stop and installation of external fixtures (fascia &amp; soffits). This is considered to significantly reduce time, health and safety risks, and productivity. Overall, the average percentage uptime for the six plots was 83%, but the housebuilder is keen to further improve and maximise efficiency above 90% per plot as this could lead to more plots erected per day using the crane erect

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Improving productivity and worker safety: an action research using OSM with crane erect

https://researchonline.gcu.ac.uk/files/27536634/IMPROVING_PRODUCTIVITY_AND_WORKER_SAFETY_SUBMISSION_FINAL.pdf

Improving productivity and worker safety: an action research using OSM with crane erect

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