scholarly journals Establishing Underlying Structures of Safety Performance Measures Using Factor Analysis of Data on Construction Workers in Gauteng, South Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-64
Author(s):  
Chioma Sylvia Okoro ◽  
Innocent Musonda
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Performance Measures ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Psychometric Evaluation ◽  
Safety Performance ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Gauteng Province

The health and safety (H&S) of site workers in the construction industry has been overwhelmingly studied for decades. However, there is scant literature which analyses underlying structures of safety performance measures especially as related to their unhealthy and unsafe eating behavior. The paper presents findings on an exploratory factor analysis of H&S performance measures. A 10-item questionnaire which was developed after an extensive literature review was used to collect empirical data on SP of construction workers in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. Findings revealed that safety performance of site workers could be reasonably measured by two constructs. The two constructs were clearly defined as trailing and prevailing. The emerged trailing measures were named lagging indicators while the prevailing ones were designated as leading indicators. The results support extant literature which advocates the use of both leading and lagging safety performance indicators for effectively assessing construction workers’ safety performance. The study provides evidence which could be beneficial in psychometric evaluation of construction workers’ safety performance and behaviours on construction sites.Keywords: construction workers, factor analysis, Gauteng, safety performance 

scholarly journals Pre-Qualification of Selecting Construction Project Contractors Using Health and Safety Criteria

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-36
Author(s):  
Patricia Omega Kukoyi ◽  
Innocent Chigozie Osuizugbo ◽  
Hosea Shemang Yohanna ◽  
Uche Emmanuel Edike ◽  
Israel Esther Ohiseghame
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Quality Assurance ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Contractor Selection ◽  
Major Factors ◽  
The Right

AbstractContractors, among other construction stakeholders, are vital in achieving the set goals of a project. Adequately engaging a capable contractor is an important task for a client. This study aims at determining the reasons for clients contending with contractors that are not committed to health and safety (H&S). The study was conducted through a literature review, a questionnaire was developed and distributed to 286 construction stakeholders in the Nigerian construction industry. Cronbach alpha was used to test the reliability of the questionnaire used for data collection. Mean scores (MSs) were adopted to determine the major factors that influence clients’ selections and factor analysis was used to cluster variables of high inter-correlations. Findings from the survey reveal that H&S is not a clients’ goal or a project value hence, H&S is not viewed as a vital pre-qualification criterion for contractor selection. This results in a poor checklist concerning contractors’ quality assurance and inadequate verification of contractors’ H&S history. Therefore, appointing non-compliant H&S contractors. The findings provide information on the influence clients have respecting H&S as a prequalification criterion and towards construction workers’ H&S. This will enable construction stakeholders to make the right decision in the pre-qualification of contractors.

scholarly journals Appraisal of the Challenges to Ensuring Occupational Health and Safety Compliance within the Nigerian Construction Industry

2019 ◽  
pp. 488-495
Author(s):  
Charles I. Arum ◽  
Temidayo O. Osunsanmi ◽  
Clinton O. Aigbavboa
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Occupational Health ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Radio Frequency Identification ◽  
Compliance Rate ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Construction Sites ◽  
Safety Requirements ◽  
Safety Regulations

The construction industry is known for the high number of accidents occurring within the industry. This is due to the hazardous working processes which have led to severe injuries, disabilities and fatalities. Towards reducing this hazards numerous health and safety regulations have been provided by construction firms in Nigeria. Despite the provision of the regulations hazards and accidents is still experienced on construction sites. Thus, this study appraised the challenges of ensuring compliance with health and safety regulations by construction workers in the Nigeria construction industry. Data were obtained from safety personnel and construction professionals using questionnaires through a convenience sampling method. One hundred and thirty-eight were used for the analysis out of one hundred and sixty-eight that was distributed to the respondents. The questionnaire was analysed using SPSS V 24 adopting Factor analysis and mean item score. The findings clearly show that construction workers compliance to health and safety requirements is below average while the factor analysis shows inadequate safety equipment, low awareness to occupational health and poor compliance to health and safety requirements are the major challenges hindering the compliance rate. The study recommends that implementation of the use of innovative measures and hi-tech devices such as radio frequency identification for effective monitoring of construction workers. It also recommends the involvement of construction workers when making the health and safety policies. This study contributes towards improving the occupational safety experienced on construction sites within the country.

scholarly journals Occupational Health (OH) Practices in South African Construction

2020 ◽  
Vol 312 ◽  
pp. 03003
Author(s):  
John Smallwood ◽  
Claire Deacon
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
South African ◽  
Mental Stress ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Repetitive Movement ◽  
Professional Category ◽  
Self Administered Questionnaire

Health hazards in construction include: ergonomic stresses such as bending, lifting and repetitive movement and vibration; environmental stresses such as heat, sun, noise, poor illumination, and wet or damp work; skin and respiratory exposure to chemicals and dust, as well as mental stress among managers, supervisors, and workers. In South Africa, these may add to the health problems experienced by construction workers because of poor community health, substance abuse, and inadequate health services. A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted among the professional category of construction health and safety (H&S) practitioners to determine OH issues in construction. Findings include: the extent to which OH aspects were identified by respondents on projects in 2017 indicates that construction entails exposure to a range of OH hazards and risk; the degree of OH knowledge and awareness is limited as opposed to extensive; the source of OH knowledge is informal; there is a need for OH to be embedded in tertiary built environment programmes, OH continuing professional development (CPD), and a construction industry OH standard, and OH practice notes.

scholarly journals Impact of Alcohol on Occupational Health and Safety in the Construction Industry at Workplaces with Scaffoldings

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (19) ◽  
pp. 6690
Author(s):  
Marek Sawicki ◽  
Mariusz Szóstak
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Alcohol Abuse ◽  
Occupational Health ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Occupational Health And Safety ◽  
Occupational Accidents ◽  
Preventive Actions ◽  
Different Sources

The value, care, and customs of workers are essential in terms of occupational health and safety. The abuse of alcohol is widely regarded as a serious threat to the lives, health, and safety of employees. The aim of the research was to identify the main problems that are associated with alcohol abuse and consumption at work among employees in the construction industry, with particular emphasis on workstations where work is carried out on construction scaffoldings. Data for the analysis were obtained from two different sources. The first one was post-accident documentation on occupational accidents. The second one was surveys collected during the research project. This study confirmed that excessive and disproportionate alcohol consumption can be the cause of an accident, and consequently death at workplaces with scaffolding. Of 219 accident reports, 17.4% indicated alcohol as a contributing factor. Analysis of accident documentations shows that in cases where alcohol was indicated as a contributing factor in an accident, the alcohol was consumed during the workday. The results obtained on the basis of the conducted research were able to constitute a justification for the directions of preventive actions carried out in order to reduce the number of occupational accidents in the construction industry caused by alcohol.

Psychometric Evaluation of the Outcome Based Performance Measures

2000 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
pp. 467-477
Author(s):  
Jeffrey M. Kern ◽  
Colleen S. Firth
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Mental Retardation ◽  
Performance Measures ◽  
Interrater Reliability ◽  
Psychometric Evaluation ◽  
Persons With Disabilities

The Outcome Based Performance Measures are widely used to evaluate and accredit organizations providing services to persons with disabilities. This study evaluated the interrater reliability, levels of difficulty for items, and factor groupings of this measure with 4–8 Nevadans with mental retardation. Results supported the measure's reliability and most of the items' levels of difficulty. Factor analysis yielded seven factors with item loadings that varied moderately from prior reports, tending to coincide with the original measure's logically-based groupings. Revisions to the measure are suggested.

scholarly journals Perceived Hindrances Experienced by Sport Coaches in South Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 233-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alliance Kubayi ◽  
Yoga Coopoo ◽  
Heather Morris-Eyton
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Exploratory Factor Analysis ◽  
Factor Structure ◽  
Support Systems ◽  
Job Security ◽  
Women Coaches ◽  
Gauteng Province ◽  
Opportunities For Promotion ◽  
Sport Coaches

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to examine perceived hindrances encountered by sport coaches in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. A total of 224 sport coaches (122 males and 102 females) were purposively recruited to participate in this study. An exploratory factor analysis was used to assess the factor structure of the Perceived Hindrance Scale. The results of this study indicated the following as major hindrances encountered by sport coaches: “Lack of support systems for women players”, “Lack of support for women coaches from superiors”, “Low salary”, “Lack of opportunities for promotion”, “Difficulties with parents/spectators” and “Lack of job security”. Recommendations on strategies to overcome these perceived hindrances are discussed.

Emerging contractor's management and planning skills to overcome business risk factors

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Amoah ◽  
Linda Bikitsha
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Financial Management ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Business Risk ◽  
Gauteng Province ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Grade One

PurposeEmerging construction companies often liquidate due to their inability to institute strategies to handle their business risks. This study investigated the skills and strategies adopted by emerging contractors to overcome business risk factors to make their businesses sustainable.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative research approach was adopted for the study. Semi-structured interview questions were used to solicit information from emerging contractors within the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) Grade one (1) to four (4) in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. The data gathered were analysed using qualitative content analysis to identify the main themes.FindingsThe study's findings indicate that emerging contractors face business risk factors that impact their project execution hugely. Thus to overcome these risk factors, they implement various strategies to curtail the risk they encounter in their businesses. These strategies include; human resource management (employing experienced and skilled labour and training of staff); communication management (with other employees about set goals); financial management (effective pricing of tender documents); procurement management (ensuring materials are available as and when necessary in their projects) and quality management (ensuring effective work supervision); among others.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the study concentrated on the emerging construction firms in the Gauteng Province of South Africa, the findings may be applicable in other provinces and beyond South Africa.Practical implicationsIn order for emerging contractors to prevent the collapse of their businesses, there is the need to be educated on effective project risk management to identify potential business risk, the mirage associated with the notion of the construction business profitability, effective tender pricing and strategic business partnership. These strategies, if well thought, will help sustain their businesses and growth in the construction industry.Originality/valueThe study has identified the management strategies used by emerging contractors to sustain their businesses in the construction industry. Thus, the finding will guide both emerging contractors who are already in the construction business and those planning to enter the construction market.

AN ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK MODEL FOR PREDICTING FATIGUE OF CONSTRUCTION WORKERS IN HUMID ENVIRONMENTS

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen Yi ◽  
Albert P. C. Chan
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Heat Waves ◽  
Heat Stroke ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
Percentage Error ◽  
Complex Data ◽  
Artificial Neural

Climate change is experienced in many countries located in tropical/ subtropical regions with generally hot/humid condition. Heat illness, particularly heat stroke, has caused a substantial increase in morbidity and mortality during heat waves. Thus, the high incidence of heat stroke is a pressing concern in the construction industry. Construction workers, being exposed to such unpleasant working environment, are at a higher risk of heat stress while undertaking physically demanding tasks. This paper aims to establish a model for predicting fatigue of construction workers in hot weather. During the period of summer months in 2010 and 2011, we conducted 39 field measurements on six construction sites in Hong Kong and collected a series of meteorological, personal, and work-related parameters. A total of 550 synchronized datasets were measured to establish the model. Artificial neural networks (ANNs), a type of artificial intelligence technology which implements more complex data-analysis features into existing applications, was applied to forecast the fatigue of construction workers. Performance measures including mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), R2, and root-mean-square deviation (RMSE) confirm that the established model is a good fitting with high accuracy. The ANN-based model presents a reliable and scientific forecast physical condition of workers which may enhance the occupational health and safety (OHS) in the construction industry.

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