Enhancing the construction projects safety performance level to confront the civil engineering trades-related hazards

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Yousry Akal ◽  
Amr Metwally El-Kholy
Keyword(s):  
Construction Projects ◽  
Civil Engineering ◽  
Safety Management ◽  
Hazard Analysis ◽  
Performance Level ◽  
Safety Performance ◽  
Safety Level ◽  
Level Indicator ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Safety Indicator

PurposeThis work affords a practical checklist that specifies the civil engineering trades-related hazards and offers a safety indicator to identify the safety level of a construction project concerning the hazards of the civil engineering trades.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology depends on reviewing the archival works, visiting the construction sites, utilizing the direct observation and preliminary hazard analysis methods and conducting semistructured interviews to pinpoint and validate the checklist of the civil engineering trades-related hazards. Additionally, a questionnaire-based survey with the rank sum weight technique has been employed to assemble and analyze the data required to build the safety indicator.FindingsRelying upon the used methodology, 70 hazards under the trades of general environment, earth, demolition, excavation, concrete, dewatering, waterproofing insulation and scaffolding have been pinpointed and validated. This is in addition to the safety level indicator of the civil engineering trades-related hazards (SLICETH), which indicates high viability during its validation in five national and international projects.Originality/valueThe value of this work lies in its ability to tackle the gap existing in the safety management knowledge regarding the notion of the hazards of the civil engineering trades and their influences on the safety performance of the construction projects. As a result, it offers a complete knowledge to the academics and the practitioners for confronting the negative impacts of the civil engineering trades-related hazards. Consequently, it helps in enhancing the safety performance level in the sites of the construction projects.

Quantitative analysis of the impact of craft worker availability on construction project safety performance

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hossein Karimi ◽  
Timothy R.B. Taylor ◽  
Paul M. Goodrum ◽  
Cidambi Srinivasan
Keyword(s):  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Poisson Regression ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
Construction Project ◽  
Safety Performance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Poisson Regression Analysis ◽  
Incident Cases ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Craft Worker

Purpose This paper aims to quantify the impact of craft worker shortage on construction project safety performance. Design/methodology/approach A database of 50 North American construction projects completed between 2001 and 2014 was compiled by taking information from a research project survey and the Construction Industry Institute Benchmarking and Metrics Database. The t-test and Mann-Whitney test were used to determine whether there was a significant difference in construction project safety performance on projects with craft worker recruiting difficulty. Poisson regression analysis was then used to examine the relationship between craft worker recruiting difficulty and Occupational Safety and Health Administration Total Number of Recordable Incident Cases per 200,000 Actual Direct Work Hours (TRIR) on construction projects. Findings The result showed that the TRIR distribution of a group of projects that reported craft worker recruiting difficulty tended to be higher than the TRIR distribution of a group of projects with no craft worker recruiting difficulty (p-value = 0.004). Moreover, the average TRIR of the projects that reported craft worker recruiting difficulty was more than two times the average TRIR of projects that experienced no craft recruiting difficulty (p-value = 0.035). Furthermore, the Poisson regression analysis demonstrated that there was a positive exponential relationship between craft worker recruiting difficulty and TRIR in construction projects (p-value = 0.004). Research limitations/implications The projects used to construct the database are heavily weighted towards industrial construction. Practical implications There have been significant long-term gains in construction safety within the USA. However, if recent craft shortages continue, the quantitative analyses presented herein indicate a strong possibility that more safety incidents will occur unless the shortages are reversed. Innovative construction means and methods should be developed and adopted to work in a safe manner with a less qualified workforce. Originality/value The Poisson regression model is the first model that quantifiably links project craft worker availability to construction project safety performance.

Causal ascription of rework in building and civil engineering projects

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Palaneeswaran Ekambaram ◽  
Peter E.D. Love ◽  
Mohan M. Kumaraswamy ◽  
Thomas S.T. Ng
Keyword(s):  
Construction Projects ◽  
Civil Engineering ◽  
Small Data ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Management Measures ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Quantitative Impact ◽  
Engineering Projects

Purpose – Rework is an endemic problem in construction projects and has been identified as being a significant factor contributing cost and schedule overruns. Causal ascription is necessary to obtain knowledge about the underlying nature of rework so that appropriate prevention mechanisms can be put in place. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Using a supervised questionnaire survey and case-study interviews, data from 112 building and engineering projects about the sources and causes of rework in projects were obtained. A multivariate exploration was conducted to examine the underlying relationships between rework variables. Findings – The analysis revealed that there was a significant difference between rework causes for building and civil engineering projects. The set of associations explored in the analyses will be useful to develop a generic causal model to examine the quantitative impact of rework on project performance so that appropriate prevention strategies can be identified and developed. Research limitations/implications – The limitations include: small data set (112 projects), which include 75 from building and 37 from civil engineering projects. Practical implications – Meaningful insights into the rework occurrences in construction projects will pave pathways for rational mitigation and effective management measures. Originality/value – To date there has been limited empirical research that has sought to determine the causal ascription of rework, particularly in Hong Kong.

Multilevel safety culture affecting organization safety performance: a system dynamic approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (10) ◽  
pp. 2326-2346
Author(s):  
Abdul Qayoom ◽  
Bonaventura H.W. Hadikusumo
Keyword(s):  
Safety Culture ◽  
Management System ◽  
Safety Management ◽  
Middle Management ◽  
Safety Performance ◽  
Top Management ◽  
Group Model ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Safety Management System ◽  
Content Type

Purpose Previous research studies have testified that safety culture positively affects safety performance. However, the progression by which safety culture affects safety performance has not yet been examined. Also, how safety culture affects the overall safety performance at different levels of the organization is yet to be explored. In order to address this issue, the purpose of this paper is to study the effect of multilevel safety culture upon safety performance over time. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual causal-loop diagram is constructed using the group model building approach to establish the relationship between safety culture components (e.g. psychological, behavioral and situational) and the factors associated with safety performance (e.g. risk level, safety behavior, unsafe conditions, unsafe acts and incident rate). Considering the dynamic nature and intricacy of the safety management system, the system dynamics approach has been employed to develop the model. Findings The results indicate that the safety culture at the tactical level (middle management) and operational level is much more effective than strategic level (top management) in ameliorating the safety performance of the organization. Research limitations/implications The scope of this study is limited to the effect of multilevel safety culture on safety performance. The focus is on the dynamics of personal, behavioral and situational factors of top management, middle management and workers to reinforce the safety performance of the organization. Future research can be protracted to build other models of safety. Practical implications First and foremost, the findings summarized in this paper can be implemented by organizations to achieve the total safety culture to upgrade safety performance. Originality/value This paper presents the holistic view of multilevel safety culture in an organization’s hierarchy. It shows how multilevel level safety culture in an organization interacts with the safety management system to enhance the safety performance of the organization.

Safety management practices and safety compliance in small medium enterprises

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 226-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chandrakantan Subramaniam ◽  
Faridahwati Mohd. Shamsudin ◽  
Md. Lazim Mohd Zin ◽  
Subramaniam Sri Ramalu ◽  
Zuraida Hassan
Keyword(s):  
Management Practices ◽  
Safety Management ◽  
Safety Training ◽  
Safety Performance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Safe Work ◽  
Safety Compliance ◽  
Management Commitment ◽  
Medium Enterprises

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of safety participation as a mediator in the relationship between the six facets of safety management practices (i.e. management commitment, safety training, worker’s involvement, safety communication and feedback, safety rules and procedures, and safety promotion policies) and safety compliance. Design/methodology/approach A survey of 74 employees of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the northern region of Peninsular Malaysia was carried out. Self-reported measures were used to obtain data on workplace safety dimensions and safety behavior. The partial least square structural model analysis was used to ascertain the proposed relationships. Findings The present study found that only three dimensions of safety management practices (management commitment, safety training, and safety rules and procedures) were significantly related to safety compliance. Of these, safety participation mediated the link between management commitment and safety training and safety compliance. Research limitations/implications The small sample size may limit the generalizability of the findings. Second, the correlational nature of the study did not permit causation to be implied. However, despite these limitations, while safety performance can be theorized to trigger the establishment of safety management practices, such theoretical perspective tends to connote reactivity rather than proactivity of the decision-making process. Practical implications The study highlights the role of the voluntary behavior of employees in promoting a safe work environment. Business owners are recommended to provide safety training in which the employees are stressed on their crucial role in safety and use this knowledge to educate and convince their co-workers to work safely. Originality/value Literature indicates the lack of studies on safety research in SMEs. Furthermore, such studies are justified because SMEs are likely to have more risks of occupational accidents and injuries. More importantly, this research highlights the importance of the voluntary behaviors of employees (i.e. safety participation) in promoting a safe work environment. As SMEs tend to have limited resources to implement a comprehensive OSH management system, using the employees as the safety agents at work can be an effective way toward accomplishing safety performance.

CONTRACTOR SAFETY

1997 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 682
Author(s):  
M.A. Thackray
Keyword(s):  
Performance Indicators ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Safety Management ◽  
Hazard Analysis ◽  
Business Plan ◽  
Safety Performance ◽  
Communication Links ◽  
The Status ◽  
And Performance

This paper deals with the efforts and results of a Management driven campaign to improve contractor safety performance in WAPET's operations.WAPET Management identified Contractor safety performance as one of four key safety focus areas in their 1995 Business Plan. The other focus areas were Hazard Analysis, Training and Audit and Review.Strategies adopted for achieving improvements in contractor safety included:aligning Contractor Goals and Objectives with WAPET's by involving major contractors in 'Best Practices' workshops. The workshops specifically addressed the Business Plan focus areas and the identification and measurement of performance indicators. The workshops provided contractors with an open forum to express their views and efforts in these areas;holding follow-up meetings with individual contractors and contractor groups with common areas of work. Both contractors and WAPET management detailed the status and efforts being put into these areas. These meetings identified improvement opportunities and opened up communication links both with WAPET personnel and between contractors; andimplementing the results of the workshop and meetings by upgrading WAPET's Safety Management System particularly in the areas of pre-qualification, contracting philosophies and contractor management philosophies.Feedback on each stage of the 1995 program was used to determine the strategies for the 1996 program. The workshops and meetings highlighted process improvement opportunities particularly in areas of industry standardisation, development of contractor Safety Management Systems, lines of communication/accountability, employee involvement and performance indicators. These opportunities were documented in a 'Contractor Best Practice* manual of which over 350 have been distributed.Conventional safety measures indicate a 50 per cent improvement in both LTI and Total Reportable frequency rates for WAPET's contractors in the past 12 months. The success of the program was also demonstrated by other indicators such as greater openness in communications, greater participation in safety meetings and a closer working relationship with WAPET.

scholarly journals Evaluating Fatigue, Stress, Workload and Situation Awareness Among Electrical Substation Construction Workers

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Ahmed Ali Bayounis ◽  
Abdulrahman Basahel
Keyword(s):  
Situation Awareness ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
Safety Management ◽  
Safety Performance ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
Western Area ◽  
Job Levels ◽  
Electrical Substation ◽  
Performance Results ◽  
Stress Fatigue

Many accidents occur due to various factors when undertaking construction projects. One of the most important achievements when undertaking a construction project is to accomplish the project without major accidents. This paper studies the effect of stress, fatigue and workload on construction contract worker in term of their safety performance results using the Situation Awareness Rating Technique (SART), with reference to how it relates to the root causes of accidents. Investigating the factors associated with accidents helps to identify and minimize the associated mistakes or causes and reduce or avoid accidents and improve safety performance in construction projects. Data were collected using a SART survey of employee of 18 contractors working on construction of electrical substations in the western area of Saudi Arabia. It was found that most accidents occurred at the worker level because of their lack of awareness and training. It is apparent that SART affects the safety performance of contractors and it varies with the position, age and experience of workers. To implement a safe working environment free of accidents, it is necessary to improve all job levels according to their insufficient area and activate a full safety management system with periodic reviews to improve it and make it more effective.

Development of waste occurrence level indicator in Vietnam construction industry

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 715-731 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ha Duy Khanh ◽  
Soo Yong Kim
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
Quantitative Information ◽  
Mean Value ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Level Indicator ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Analysis Technique ◽  
Significant Difference

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the waste occurrence level in the construction industry. It includes: first, identifying the mean value of frequency of waste occurrence according to respondents’ characteristics; second, identifying the main predictive factors for waste occurrence based on latent relationships between initial waste factors; and third, identifying the waste occurrence-level indicator (WOLI) for the construction industry based on the main waste measurement factors. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 19 waste factors were sorted from the literature review. A structured questionnaire was adopted to carry out the survey. The respondents are professionals who have much experience in construction and management of project. Shapiro-Wilk test of normality, Levene’s test, ANOVA test, and factor analysis technique were used to analyze the collected data. Findings – Frequency of waste occurrence in construction projects is quite high. There was no statistically and practically significant difference in means for waste occurrence between selected population categories. Based on factor analysis technique, there were five principal components extracted with 56.7 percent of total variance. The WOLI in the construction industry was found as 61.55 per the scale of 100. Research limitations/implications – The non-probability sampling was applied to collect data because of several certain limitations and difficulties. The number of data sets is relatively small. This study has only examined the frequency of waste occurrence without quantitative information. Practical implications – This is another study of waste factors in the construction industry, which is different from traditional waste studies. Originality/value – The contribution of this study to the practical project management is that a proposed evaluation sheet for WOLI could be applied for any construction firm.

Facilities maintenance employees’ priority of safety management practices

Facilities ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (5/6) ◽  
pp. 319-334
Author(s):  
Saharani bin Jaafar ◽  
Weng Wai Choong ◽  
Abdul Hakim bin Mohamed
Keyword(s):  
Management Practices ◽  
Safety Management ◽  
Pearson Correlation ◽  
Safety Performance ◽  
Safety Communication ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Management Level ◽  
Promotion Policies ◽  
Level Of Satisfaction

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the facilities maintenance employees’ priority on safety management practices and relationship to safety performance. The study aims to increase the safety performance among the facilities maintenance contractor by implementing safety management practices. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected by distributing questionnaire forms to the employees of selected facilities maintenance contractors representing general workers, technicians and executive- and the management-level employees. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson correlation and multiple regressions. Findings The descriptive results revealed that the employee priority on safety management practices is fairly “low”. The correlation and regression analyses tested and satisfied that management commitment, workers involvement in safety, safety training, safety communication and feedback, safety rules and procedures, and safety promotion policies significantly and strongly correlate with the degree and level of satisfaction to the safety performance. Research limitations/implications This research focuses only on facilities maintenance contractors working in the Klang Valley, Malaysia. It is possible that respondents from other areas or states may allow comparisons across different locations. Practical implications There are many factors affecting safety performance. By implementing safety management practices, high safety performance can be achieved in the facilities maintenance organisations in Malaysia. Originality/value This paper presents empirical findings on the relationship between employee priority on safety management practices elements and safety performance.

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