scholarly journals PRACTICAL VALIDATION MEASUREMENTS OF A PHYSIOLOGICAL STATUS MONITORING SENSOR IN REAL CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ammar S.M. Moohialdin ◽  
Bambang T. Suhariadi ◽  
Mohsin K. Siddiqui
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
Physiological Status ◽  
Physiological Monitoring ◽  
Status Monitoring ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Parametric Statistical Test ◽  
The Impact

The construction industry is one of the most hazardous industry and construction worker's health and safety in hot and humid weather conditions become a topic of a great interest for researchers and practitioners. Various physiological monitoring sensors have been employed to measure the physiological impacts of such weather conditions. However, the ability of these sensors to deal with the dynamic nature of the construction industry still under controversial arguments and there is a need to justify their applicability in real working conditions. This paper aims to investigate the accuracy of an off-the-shelf physiological monitoring sensor (Zephyr BioHarnessTM 3) in a real working environment when considering the impact of hot and humid weather conditions. Fifteen different construction workers participated in three site measurements, with monitoring two physiological parameters heart rate (HR) and breathing rate (BR). A non-parametric statistical test (Mann-Whitney) was applied to identify whether there is a significant difference between the medians of live data in the remote monitoring station and saved data of the sensor internal memories. The results showed that there are significant differences between live data and saved data. These differences were highly noticed in the third site measurements, as it included working in confined areas and trenches. The accuracy of live data is highly affected by types of activities and appropriate positions of the wireless connection devices (ECHO gate and repeater).

scholarly journals Modern challenges in health and safety at construction industry

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 262-271
Author(s):  
R. Nurimbetov ◽  
A. Zikriyoev
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Production Efficiency ◽  
Occupational Safety ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
Construction Companies ◽  
Risk Of Injury ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Impact

A part of the research on the impact and interrelation between human factors and the safety of the working environment in the construction sector is presented. Labor in construction companies is often associated with a high risk of injury and, therefore, occupational safety is an important element of production efficiency in this area. The injured workers lost working days and financial costs affect the social and economic efficiency of the construction industry. Statistics indicate that occupational health and safety for modern research are current issues. Economic reforms in Uzbekistan envisage the creation of favourable and safe working conditions. From this point of view, ILO standards (Health & Safety) are really relevant for research and implementation in the construction industry of Uzbekistan. The purpose of this article is to analyze the implementation of best practices in the construction industry of Uzbekistan.

scholarly journals Lessons learned from the impact of COVID-19 on the global construction industry

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mercy Ogunnusi ◽  
Temitope Omotayo ◽  
Mansur Hamma-Adama ◽  
Bankole Osita Awuzie ◽  
Temitope Egbelakin
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Public Projects ◽  
Survey Interviews ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The construction industry represents most of every country’s finances and vital to continued economic growth and activities, especially in developing countries. The impact of the severe acute respiratory syndrome-2 disease (COVID19) on the government’s income resulted in the expectation of many public projects being cancelled or delayed providing little opportunity for the emergence of new public projects. This study collated a global qualitative perspective (survey interviews) on the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic and the positive and negative impacts for future-proofing the construction sector. Design/methodology/approach In total, 76 respondents from five continents excluding South America responded to the online open-ended structured questionnaire. Data collected were analysed through artificial inteligence analytics tool – Zoho analytics. Findings The themes indicating the positive impact obtained from the interview were overhead cost reduction, remote working environment, focus on health and safety, improved productivity and sustainability goals while the themes signifying the negative impact were low business turnover, delays in construction payment and output, difficulties working from home and job losses. Supply chain management, construction project management improvement, concentration on health and safety and effective virtual working environment were collated as themes on lessons learned. Social implications The major findings of this study emphasise on the need to improve the occupational health and safety and onsite safety measures for future proofing of the construction industry. Originality/value The findings from the analyses made clear the imperativeness of the built environment research, with a focus on novel framework and strategies for future proofing the construction industry.

Antecedents And Outcomes Of Qwl Among Employees In Banks

2019 ◽  
Vol 118 (7) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Geethanjali N ◽  
Parveen Roja M ◽  
Lavanya D
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Climate ◽  
Job Stress ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
Quality Of Work Life ◽  
Quality Of Work ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Service Productivity ◽  
The Impact

Quality of work life is the major factor to be considered in working environment of any organization. The performance of employees and the organization lies on the ability of the employees based on working environment. The QWL leads to better working environment which improves the performance of organization. The present study has made an attempt to find the level of factors causing QWL and the impact of outcome of QWL in banks. Since the profile of the banks may be associated with the level of outcomes of QWL, the present study has made an attempt to examine it with the help of one way analysis of variance and t-test. The included outcomes of QWL are job satisfaction, job stress, organizational climate, organizational commitment, employees retention behaviour, service quality employees and service productivity of employees. The highly associated determinants of QWL and the significant difference among the PUSBs and PRSBs have been noticed. The significantly associating important profiles of the banks regarding the existence of outcome of QWL are identified.

scholarly journals Construction worker productivity in hot and humid weather conditions

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-108
Author(s):  
Ammar Saeed Mohammed Moohialdin ◽  
Fiona Lamari ◽  
Marc Miska ◽  
Bambang Trigunarsyah
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Productivity Loss ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Worker Productivity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper shows the effect of hot and humid weather conditions (HHWCs) on workers that has resulted in considerable loss in the construction industry, especially during the hottest periods due to decline in worker productivity (WP). Until the last few decades, there is very limited research on construction WP in HHWCs. Nevertheless, these studies have sparked interests on seeking for the most appropriate methods to assess the impact of HHWCs on construction workers. Design/methodology/approach This paper begins by reviewing the current measuring methods on WP in HHWCs, follows by presenting the potential impact of HHWCs on WP. The paper highlights the methodological deficiencies, which consequently provides a platform for scholars and practitioners to direct future research to resolve the significant productivity loss due to global warming. This paper highlights the need to identify the limitations and advantages of the current methods to formulate a framework of new approaches to measure the WP in HHWCs. Findings Results show that the methods used in providing real-time response on the effects of HHWCs on WP in construction at project, task and crew levels are limited. An integration of nonintrusive real-time monitoring system and local weather measurement with real-time data synchronisation and analysis is required to produce suitable information to determine worker health- and safety-related decisions in HHWCs. Originality/value The comprehensive literature review makes an original contribution to WP measurements filed in HHWCs in the construction industry. Results of this review provide researchers and practitioners with an insight into challenges associated with the measurements methods and solving practical site measurements issues. The findings will also enable the researchers and practitioners to bridge the identified research gaps in this research field and enhance the ability to provide accurate measures in HHWCs. The proposed research framework may promote potential improvements in the productivity measurements methods, which support researchers and practitioners in developing new innovative methods in HHWCs with the integration of the most recent monitoring technologies.

scholarly journals A Safety Climate Framework for Improving Health and Safety in the Indonesian Construction Industry

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (20) ◽  
pp. 7462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatma Lestari ◽  
Riza Yosia Sunindijo ◽  
Martin Loosemore ◽  
Yuni Kusminanti ◽  
Baiduri Widanarko
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Safety Climate ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Occupational Injuries ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Safety Communication ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Safety Research

The Indonesian construction industry is the second largest in Asia and accounts for over 30% of all occupational injuries in the country. Despite the size of the industry, there is a lack of safety research in this context. This research, therefore, aims to assess safety climate and develop a framework to improve safety in the Indonesian construction industry. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 311 construction workers. The results show a moderately healthy safety climate but reflect numerous problems, particularly around perceived conflicts between production and safety logics, cost trade-offs being made against other competing project priorities, poor safety communication, poor working conditions, acceptance of poor safety as the norm, poor reporting and monitoring practices, poor training and a risky and unsupportive working environment which prevents workers from operating safely. Two new safety climate paradoxes are also revealed: contradictions between management communications and management practices; contradictions between worker concern for safety and their low sense of personal accountability and empowerment for acting to reduce these risks. A low locus of control over safety is also identified as a significant problem which is related to prevailing Indonesian cultural norms and poor safety policy implementation and potential conflicts between formal and informal safety norms, practices and procedures. Drawing on these findings, a new integrated framework of safety climate is presented to improve safety performance in the Indonesian construction industry.

Antecedents and Outcomes of Quality of Work Life Among Employees in Banks

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 1963-1968
Author(s):  
N. Geethanjali ◽  
R. Sindhya ◽  
A. Sabarirajan
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Climate ◽  
Job Stress ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
Quality Of Work Life ◽  
Quality Of Work ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Service Productivity ◽  
The Impact

Quality of work life is the major factor to be considered in working environment of any organization. The performance of employees and the organization lies on the ability of the employees based on working environment. The QWL leads to better working environment which improves the performance of organization. The present study has made an attempt to find the level of factors causing QWL and the impact of outcome of QWL in banks. Since the profile of the banks may be associated with the level of outcomes of QWL, the present study has made an attempt to examine it with the help of one way analysis of variance and t-test. The included outcomes of QWL are job satisfaction, job stress, organizational climate, organizational commitment, employees retention behaviour, service quality employees and service productivity of employees. The highly associated determinants of QWL and the significant difference among the PUSBs and PRSBs have been noticed. The significantly associating important profiles of the banks regarding the existence of outcome of QWL are identified.

scholarly journals Construction Activities as Onset for Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders in Construction Workers: Contractor’s Perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (Issue 1) ◽  
Author(s):  
O.O Ajayi
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Musculoskeletal Disorders ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
High Prevalence ◽  
Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders ◽  
Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorder ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Range Test

The study assesses the impact of construction activities as a contributor for the onset of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in construction workers. There is high prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorder (WMDs) which are associated with various construction actions. The paper identified nineteen various actions pertaining to unfavourable ergonomic practice as it results in the identified WMDs. A total of 140 copies of questionnaire were administered on randomly selected contractors out of which 83 was retrieved and found valid for this study and this constituted 59.3% of the sample size. The various activities were measured on a five-point Likert scale. Based on the percentage responses on a scale 1(minor) to 5(major) the overall mean scores were calculated. The actions were further subjected to Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT) with performance (P) at 0.05 level of confidence to measure the significance difference in the rate of occurrence of various activities for the onset of WMDs. It was observed from the analysis that the actions are challenges to the construction industry as it results in WMDs which affects the productivity of workers and promote early retirement of construction workers. The study concluded that there is significant difference in the rate of occurrence of various actions as they result in WMDs. The study therefore recommends the need for awareness and amplifies the value of improving knowledge for ergonomics in construction and promotes the concept of design for construction ergonomics.

scholarly journals ANALISIS DAMPAK REMUNERASI DAN LINGKUNGAN KERJA TERHADAP KINERJA DOKTER SPESIALIS DENGAN MOTIVASI KERJA SEBAGAI VARIABEL MEDIASI

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 48
Author(s):  
Hartati Hartati ◽  
Rima Semiarty ◽  
Verinita Verinita
Keyword(s):  
Work Motivation ◽  
Partial Least Square ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
P Value ◽  
Hospital Organization ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Motivation To Work

Performance specialists is something that is very important in order to achieve the objectives Hospital Organization for specialists is the frontline in the service of clients in the hospital so important to know the factors that influence it. The purpose of this study is to describe the impact / influence of the system of remuneration and working environment on the performance and motivation as an intervening or mediating variable in the installation department of obstetrics and child XYZ Hospital Padang. This study uses a quantitative approach to research explanatori. Sampling in the Census, ie as many as 36 people obstetricians and children. Data analysis technique used in this study using the approach Partial Least Square (PLS). The results showed that there was no significant effect between remuneration and the performance of the T statistics amounted to 0.549 (less than 1.96) and the p value 0.002 (greater than 0.05) so the hypothesis is rejected. No significant difference between the work environment and performance statisticsT is smaller than TTable and p value is greater than alpha so the hypothesis is rejected. No significant difference between the motivation to work on performance because the hypothesis is rejected. A significant difference between the remuneration and motivation to work as much as 2.8%. No significant difference between the working environment on work motivation for the hypothesis is rejected. While remuneration on performance mediated by labor motivation does not have a significant effect.

scholarly journals Misconceptions in NFL Injuries: A Study on the Achilles

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 2473011419S0035
Author(s):  
Lauren V. Ready ◽  
Neill Y. Li ◽  
Samantha J. Worobey ◽  
Nicholas J. Lemme ◽  
JaeWon Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
National Football League ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Analysis Data ◽  
American Football ◽  
Injury Incidence ◽  
Field Representation ◽  
Career Length ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Impact

Category: Sports, Trauma, Ankle, Achilles Introduction/Purpose: Injuries are an ever-present entity in the National Football League, with recent research highlighting American football with the highest injury incidence among all major sports. A torn Achilles can sideline a player for six to twelve months and reduce their power rankings by over fifty percent. Within Achilles tears, there was a focus on comparing rookie rates to the rest of the players, examining tear rates for different game conditions and studying the day of the week the injury occurred. Due to the impact of the injury and limited research, we sought to examine Achilles tears in the NFL from 2009-2016 to identify trends correlating tears with game and player demographics. Methods: NFL players with a diagnosed Achilles tear between 2009 and 2016 were selected as the study population for this retrospective analysis. Data on NFL injury was collected from an established database, previously comprised of publicly available athlete information. NFL player profiles were then employed to determine position, team and game statistics at time of injury. Injury rates were calculated as a percentage of total league games on Thursdays and Sundays. The proportion of rookies in the NFL was approximated by summing the number of draft picks and the number of signed, undrafted free agents and measured against the total number of roster spots before the commencement of the season. Game surface was discerned at time of injury by consulting a timeline of the field surfaces and cross referencing the date of the game. Game conditions, such as weather and temperature, were discerned from the game logs published on the NFL website. Results: There were 101 documented Achilles tears. Sixty-four percent (65/101) occurred before the official season, in training or pre-season games. Only 1% (1/101) of tears occurring during post-season play-offs. Twenty-nine percent (19/65) of the pre- season tears occurred in rookies and 97% (35/36) of the in-season game tears affected non-rookies. Thirty-six percent (36/101) of all documented tears occurred in undrafted free agents. Of players with Achilles tear, 58.41% (59/101) returned to play in the NFL after injury. Despite an average age of 26.7 years, the tear distribution was bimodal with players, ages 24 and 36, exhibited the highest rates of tear. With regard to tears during games, 43.18% occurred on grass and 56.82% occurred on turf. These values mirror their field representation in games. The average game temperature was 67.04 degrees Fahrenheit with wide stratification (range: 1-91 degrees). When examining rate of tears for players during away versus home games, there was not a significant difference of note; of the 45 in-game tears, 21 (46.67%) occurred in home games and 24 (53.33%) during away games. Conclusion: In our focused analysis of the Achilles in NFL athletes, we show no significant difference in tear rates when comparing grass and artificial turf surfaces and in comparing Thursday and Sunday games. When reviewing experience level, a large percent of the tears occurred in rookie players, especially during the pre-season, despite these players making up less than a quarter of the athletes. We also show that tears were not restricted to certain weather conditions. When analyzing career length post tear, most players that returned to play continued to perform at a high level. This challenges the perception of AT tear as a career-ending injury.

An overview of BIM adoption barriers in the Middle East and North Africa developing countries

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudette El Hajj ◽  
Germán Martínez Montes ◽  
Dima Jawad
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Information Modeling ◽  
Financial Barriers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Impact

PurposeIn an attempt to attain a better understanding of the research work on building information modeling (BIM) adoption, this study aims to examine the criticality of BIM adoption barriers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) developing countries from the lens of the sociotechnical theory. Further, the study investigates the differences in the perceptions of various constructions players (owners, contractors and designers) to BIM barriers, as well as possible discrepancies in the perception of BIM users and non-BIM users to the significance of the perceived constraints.Design/methodology/approachTo reach this aim, the study starts with a systematic evaluation and a critical review of the literature on BIM barriers. A set of 22 BIM adoption limitations was drawn from the literature which was used to design the survey. To capture a broad perception, a mixed approach was used, and data were collected through an interview study and a survey involving Architecture, Engineering and Construction professionals in the MENA construction sector. The collected data were analyzed using the mean score, standard deviation and nonparametric tests. The further principal component analysis (PCA) grouped the barriers to uncover the latent factors of BIM barriers.FindingsThe actors ranked the barriers as follows: lack of knowledge and BIM awareness, commercial issues and investment cost, lack of skills and BIM specialist, interoperability and lack of client demand. The examination of the PCA resulted in four underlying BIM limitation factors namely: human, technological, structural and financial. The analysis of the ranking indicated that 16 of the 22 barriers are considered critical in the MENA area. The results of the Mann–Whitney test indicated that there is a statistically significant difference in perceptions of BIM users and nonuser for seven barriers, pointing out that users care most about the financial barriers; however, nonusers are mostly concerned with structural and technological barriers. However, the results of the Kruskal–Wallis test indicated that there is no statistically significant difference in the perceptions of the three categories of stakeholders in ranking all BIM barriers.Practical implicationsThe outcomes will back policymakers and construction participants with the knowledge to develop policy propositions that can positively affect BIM adoption in the construction industry. The significance of this study lies in being one of the very first explorative investigations that comparatively and empirically explored BIM adoption barriers across the whole MENA developing countries.Originality/valueWhile several research studies have examined BIM adoption barriers in various countries, none to the best of the authors' knowledge have attempted to study the whole MENA region as one entity, and none highlighted the impact of user's roles on their perception of adoption barriers within their community. The results contribute to the discussion of the relationship among practitioners' level of involvement in BIM projects and their perception of adoption barriers which is underrepresented in extant studies. The above can assist with prioritizing the barriers that are considered to be more significant given the characteristics of the community under study. The result revealed the value of the structural and human attributes in prioritizing BIM adoption barriers within the MENA construction industry.

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