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Globally, the construction industry is regarded as one of the most dangerous where workers often face safety and health risks throughout the process of task and activities execution. Safety violations through unsafe behaviours are major contributors to these risks. This research aimed to develop a quantitative model that assesses the level of workers' safety on a construction site based on behavioural observation. A construction firm in Southwest Nigeria was identified and studied. Data on tasks performed by the workers on the number of unsafe behaviours (N) and the durations in which they lasted (D) was collected. Based on this, the level of safety adherence (LSA), the initiated and sustained number of safety violations (I-NSV and S-NSV) and the probability of unsafe acts occurrence and zero unsafe acts (PUA1 and PUA2) indicators were developed and used in assessing the safety level of the project. An evaluation of different levels of N and D was also undertaken to provide further insight into the requirements for attaining an improved systems safety level. The results obtained indicated that the LSA was 0.35. The I-NSV and S-NSV results were 41 and 118 unsafe acts respectively while the PUA1 and PUA2 values were 1.00 and 0.00 respectively. Evaluation results showed that LSA increases were directly related to S-NSV decreases caused by corresponding decreases in D, while improved project safety levels could be achieved through I-NSV mitigation. The study concluded that the safety level of the construction site was low and recommended improved safety strategy implementation for attaining improved project safety level. The model is useful for measuring construction projects' safety levels based on workers' safety violations and the study outcome could be used to set improvement targets and relay feedback for safety behaviour improvement in construction firms and related organisations.

Introducción: Los accidentes y enfermedades laborales en la industria de la construcción han ido en aumento. Existe la necesidad de establecer estrategias de prevención de riesgos y daños a la salud en las obras de construcción mediante herramientas que evalúen la salud de los trabajadores, sobre todo en países donde existe subregistro al respecto. Objetivos: Evaluar la salud laboral en una obra de construcción en México, identificar los riesgos y exigencias del proceso laboral, evaluar su probable impacto en la salud de los trabajadores y recomendar medidas preventivas. Métodos: La evaluación se llevó a cabo con el modelo PROVERIFICA, que efectúa una revisión de la salud y el medio ambiente laboral. Resultados: El proceso de trabajo evaluado implica riesgos derivados de los medios de trabajo, de la transformación de estos y los que representan en sí mismos como accidentes por uso de herramientas; también exigencias laborales derivadas de la organización y división del trabajo, así como de la actividad misma, como adoptar posiciones incómodas, esfuerzo físico intenso, ritmo y trabajo repetitivo. Los posibles daños a la salud encontrados fueron afectaciones del sistema osteomioarticular, caídas, lesiones en extremidades, daños a causa de exposición a los rayos solares y estrés. Conclusión: El proceso de trabajo evaluado es sumamente riesgoso para los operarios con consecuencias para su salud y es un reflejo de la situación precaria y flexible del mundo laboral en países subdesarrollados. Los resultados dan cuenta de la importancia del estudio de la salud laboral en la industria de la construcción Introduction. Occupational accidents and illnesses in the construction industry have been on the rise. There is a need to carry out strategies for the prevention and correction of risks and damage to health in construction sites using tools that assess health in these jobs, especially in countries where there is underreporting of damage to health in workers in this industry. Objective. To evaluate occupational health at a construction site in Mexico, to identify the risks and demands of the labor process and their probable impact on the health of workers, in order to recommend preventive measures in the case. Methods. The evaluation was carried out with the PROVERIFICA model, which carries out a review of health and the work environment. Results. The evaluated work process involves risks derived from the means of work, their transformation and those that they represent in themselves as accidents due to the use of tools; also work demands derived from the organization and division of work, as well as from the activity itself, such as adopting uncomfortable positions, intense physical effort, rhythm and repetitive work. The possible health damages found were affectations of the osteomyoarticular system, falls, limb injuries, and damage caused by exposure to sunlight and stress. In c Conclusion. The work process evaluated is seen as extremely risky for workers with consequences on their health and reflects the precarious and flexible situation of the labor market in underdeveloped countries; the results obtained show the importance of the study of occupational health in the construction industry

The environmental impact of construction activity has gained increasing importance in the last few years and become a key subject for civil engineering education. A survey of Portuguese higher education institutions shows that concern with this topic is mostly directed at the impact of large construction projects and especially focused on their operational stage. The impact of construction sites of smaller projects in urban areas tends to merit less attention, despite their importance for citizens and other economic activities taking place in the neighbourhood. Typical negative impacts include noise and dust production, traffic increase, shortage of parking space, visual impacts, etc. Site management is a typical course in most Portuguese undergraduate curricula for civil engineering, the syllabus of which should cater for the above concerns. This paper reports a survey on negative impacts of construction sites in urban areas and presents a set of related subjects that should be considered in civil engineering curricula. (Contains 2 tables.)

Introduction: The construction industry includes extension, alteration or erection of a building which is fabricated on-site as a whole or portion or a preliminary work preparation such as pile driving. It is one of the most hazardous industries in the world. Thus, prevention of such health hazards is highly recommended to be practised by all construction workers to reduce any untoward occurrences in the construction sites. Objectives: To describe the knowledge on prevention of occupational health hazards and utilization of safety measures among construction trade workers in a selected construction site in the district of Colombo Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 290 male construction trade workers from a construction site in the district of Colombo using stratified random sampling with probability proportionate to size (PPS) method considering the job categories to divide the strata. Data were collected using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. The knowledge and safety measures were assessed based on a pre-determined scoring system. Two categories of knowledge and safety measures were compared with selected socio-demographic and work-related factors using bivariate analysis. Prevalence odds ratio (prev. OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated and p value 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: The response rate was 94.5% (n=274). The mean age was 35.69 (SD=8.71) years. A majority (n=214; 78.1%) was educated up to grade 1-5. A fewer construction trade workers (n=12; 4.4%) received the training on safety practices. The majority had unsatisfactory knowledge (n=228; 83.2%) while 89.8% (n=246) had unsatisfactory safety practices. Good knowledge was seen in construction workers who received training on safety measures (OR=71.42; 95% CI=28.93-89.52; p=0.001). In contrast, satisfactory practices were seen among workers who possessed a higher level of education (Grade 6-GCE Ordinary Level) (OR=4.52; 95% CI=1.77-11.56; p=0.001). Conclusions & Recommendations: Both knowledge and safety practices were unsatisfactory among construction trade workers in the selected construction site in the district of Colombo. Less-educated workers and those who did not receive training on safety practices were more vulnerable to hazards, implying the need of regular supervision and monitoring.

The article analyses the changes occurring in accidents in the construction industry in Poland. It was analyzed the influence of the season on the number and structure of accidents. Research and analyzes were carried out on the basis of statistical data, made available by the Central Statistical Office, regarding accidents at work in construction that occurred in the period from 2010 to 2018. The total number of accidents at work in the construction sector in in these years shows a significant downward trend. A similar downward trend can also be seen in individual groups of accidents, broken down into light, serious and fatal. Based on the research carried out, the decisive impact of the season on the accident rates in construction sector was noticed. The smallest value of the accident frequency rate in most of the accident types considered can be observed in the winter season. In turn, the highest value of the light and fatal accident frequency rate can be observed in summer season (July - September). Weather conditions, for example, high temperatures and sunshine can lead to dangerous situations which can result in accidents at work. Climate conditions should therefore play an increasingly important role in assessing the risk of accidents.

Malaysia has seen the third wave of infection since the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic, with approximately 103 construction sites involving over 14,677 workers reported from April 2020 to February 2021. This has led to limited progress in construction projects or a complete halt, resulting in late project delivery. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors influencing the spread of COVID-19 and the strategies taken by the affected construction sites to mitigate the spread of the outbreak. The researchers adopted a case study approach with a multiple-case design and discusses the use of an in-depth interviewing method to collect rich data on the studied phenomenon. Data collected from three construction sites. The sites were mixed development projects in nature and provided in-depth, rigorous, and robust information. Based on the results, two categories of factors influencing the spread of COVID-19 were established. These are primary and secondary factors, such as workers' mobilisation, uncontrolled movement of workers, and the limited practice of social distancing. Furthermore, evidence suggests that the strategies adopted to control the effects of the pandemic were a combination of government enforcement and initiatives taken by construction companies. This paper concludes that an early identification of the causes of the spread will enable appropriate implementation strategies to control the outbreak. This study is an attempt to present the experiences of one developing country as an example of a means of dealing with unexpected pandemics or other intractable diseases that can affect project delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On-site management of construction sites has always been a significant problem faced by the construction industry. With the development of UAVs, their use to monitor construction safety and progress will make construction more intelligent. This paper proposes a multi-category target detection system based on UAV low-altitude remote sensing, aiming to solve the problems of relying on fixed-position cameras and a single category of established detection targets when mainstream target detection algorithms are applied to construction supervision. The experimental results show that the proposed method can accurately and efficiently detect 15 types of construction site targets. In terms of performance, the proposed method achieves the highest accuracy in each category compared to other networks, with a mean average precision (mAP) of 82.48%. Additionally, by applying it to the actual construction site, the proposed system is confirmed to have comprehensive detection capability and robustness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visual communication has long been recognized as one of the essential management tools to improve workplace safety. In contrast little or no research into visual communication and construction site worker safety behavior has been conducted in Nigeria. This study seeks to examine the extent Nigerian construction companies employ this simple safety management tool to improve site worker safety behavior. The descriptive survey method was used with quantitative data gathering using structured questionnaire and qualitative data gathering through semistructured interviews. The questionnaire was structured from health and safety (H&S) literature and administered to managers, supervisors and site workers. The questionnaire survey was complimented with walk about and interviews conducted with site managers, supervisors and site workers from five purposively selected companies: one large, two medium and two small sized construction companies within the Lagos State. SPSS package version 10 was used for the data analysis. The empirical results revealed that majority of the construction companies did not provide visual safety signages on their sites. The interviews results also indicated that none of the medium and small construction companies provided safety signages on their sites. Provision of safety signages on site is a candid demonstration of management commitment towards workers' health, safety and wellbeing (HSW). The study therefore, recommends that construction companies in respective of size should provide and maintain safety signages on site at a strategic point for easy visibility to workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vocational teachers in building and construction in upper secondary school deal with complex situations of an organisational, vocational, and social kind. Recent research has shown that the teacher is the single most important factor for students' learning in school. Teacher-student relationships and the teacher's repertoire of teaching practices can be more important for the student's learning than class size, the classroom environment, and the student's socio-economic background. Beyond passing the journeyman's test, we know little about the craft knowledge and working life experiences vocational teachers in the building and construction trades have acquired over many years in the construction industry, and thus, what knowledge and experiences they bring into the vocational teacher role. Learning in working life often takes place as an integrated part of work, and it is difficult to observe how learning happens. Craft knowledge is often tacit and personal. In this narrative, phenomenologically inspired study, learning is investigated as a bodily, internal process that simultaneously depends on the interaction with the material and social environment. Through narrative interviews with eleven vocational teachers in plumbing and carpentry, this study explores the teachers' backgrounds as vocational students and apprentices, and their extensive experience as craftsmen on different construction sites. The analysis shows that the building site drives craft-related actions and situations that generate a strong craft identity, professional working life experiences, and personal growth. Craftsmen at the construction site work under constant pressure in a social, physically, and mentally demanding work environment and consecutively solve problems. As professional craftsmen in the complex working environment, the teachers also acquired social and organisational expertise, which they intuitively transferred to their role as vocational teachers.

BACKGROUND: During the unexpected lockdown implemented in early 2020 in reaction to the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a considerable section of India's population of migrant construction-site workers were stuck. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to explore the lived experiences and consequent perceptions of migrant workers related to the COVID-19 lockdown and the consequences on their lives. METHODS: We conducted structured in-depth interviews (IDIs) with twelve migrant construction-site workers in Bhavnagar, Western India, from November to December 2020, using qualitative research methods. All IDIs were conducted with participant's consent, audio-recorded, transcribed in English, inductively coded, and thematically analyzed. RESULTS: The primary financial challenges mentioned by the migrant workers in the interviews were unemployment, monetary issues, and a difficult sustenance. The social concerns were described as anxious migrant exodus, discrimination, mistreatment, lack of social assistance, inability to fulfil their family's expectations, lack of safe transportation arrangements by the authorities during the exodus, inadequacies in the public distribution system, law and order, and apathy of their employers. The psychological repercussions were described using terms like "fear," "worry," "loneliness," "boredom," "helplessness," and "trapped." Monetary compensation, job opportunities at the native place, and a well-managed migrant exodus were reportedly their key expectations from the government. Healthcare issues mentioned during the lockdown included a lack of facilities to treat common ailments, substandard care, and repeated COVID-19 testing prior to departure. CONCLUSION: The study highlights the need to have rehabilitation mechanisms such as targeted cash transfers, ration kits, and safe transportation services for migrant workers through inter-sectoral coordination for mitigating hardship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Byline: Sajjan. Yadav, Phil. Edwards, John. Porter Background & Objectives: The construction industry is a leading contributor to occupational injuries. First Information Reports (FIRs) of Indian Police are a potential [...]

Foreign labours workforce has long been dominating the Malaysian construction industry at the operational level as numerous occupational safeties literatures have reflected most of construction accidents are caused by poor human behaviours. Undeniably, the existence of proper safety behaviour would influence good safety compliance among the construction foreign labours. The purpose of this study is to examine the key issues affecting the safety compliance behaviour enhancement of construction foreign labours in the Malaysian construction site. For the present research, nine case studies were conducted by using semi- structured interviews to obtain data from the informants who are mainly site safety personnel. These personnel were working very closely with the construction foreign labours. The findings of this research reveals that there are five key issues that would influence the safety compliances enhancement among the foreign labours: (1) Emotional evoke, (2) Leader as example, (3) Forerunner within the same ethnicity, (4) Supervision execution and (5) Safety prioritisation. Therefore, these key issues have proven that there is a significant relationship between the workers' behaviours and consequences of an act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction process is a dynamic one, and the complexity of the working conditions and the high level of uncertainty make the construction industry the third most dangerous industry after mining and agriculture. And since the construction industry is vital to the development of a country, safety during construction is of particular importance. A great deal of research, studies and practices have been conducted to reduce potential risks and improve worker efficiency during the construction process. In recent years, with the rapid development of cognitive neuroscience and the integration of medical technology, various wearable monitoring devices have been widely used in the field of building construction for real-time monitoring of workers' physical and mental conditions. Among them, the application of EEG (electroencephalogram) in the building construction process enables researchers to gain insight into the physical and mental state of construction workers while performing construction tasks. This paper introduces EEG technology and portable EEG monitoring equipment and summarizes its application in monitoring workers' adverse reactions (emotion, fatigue, psychological burden, and vigilance) and construction hazard identification during the process of construction in recent years, which provides future EEG research in the field of building construction and construction site safety management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient layout planning of a construction site is fundamental for successful project undertaking as it enhances both productivity and safety in construction sites. This task usually consists of identifying the temporary facilities needed to support construction operations, determining their size and shape, and optimally positioning them in the unoccupied areas within the site boundaries. The site layout planning problem is a complex combinatorial optimization problem involving multiple objectives and it grows significantly in size as the number of facilities and constraints increases. The existing literature includes a variety of analytical, heuristic, and meta-heuristic techniques for solving the problem but existing studies usually examine a small number of facilities and focus on travel distance minimization, ignoring generally cost related or other decision parameters. The objective of this study is to develop feasible and efficient site layout solutions in a realistic representation scheme taking into consideration not only the total distance traveled but also cost and safety parameters as well. A multi-objective optimization model is developed aiming at minimizing a generalized cost function which results from the construction cost of a facility placed at alternative locations, the transportation cost among locations, and any safety concern in the form of preferred proximity or remoteness of particular facilities to other facilities or work areas. The development integrates the required robust search objective with the optimization capabilities of the genetic algorithms (GAs). The model has been tested on several test cases and the results of a comparative study with existing methods from the literature are presented. The evaluation indicates that the proposed model provides effective and rational solutions, in response to decision parameters and problem constraints, and that it results in more robust layout planning than previous methods both qualitatively and quantitatively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction site design needs to be developed in different phases of a construction process. An early report of the research highlighted, in fact, a precise structure of contents both for pre-design (until tender) and for execution-phase design based on a systematic approach. The research is now going on applying Building Information Modeling technique to that structure, assuming the strategic role of site design in the whole design process in order to meet the safety goal as well as the time-cost requirements of a project. The actual stage issue is to identify and develop a standard design BIM-based method in order to create a proper “Construction site information model” (CoSIM). The final aim is therefore to help site designers to reach primarily the required health and safety employees’ standards. CoSIM method needs to be supported by an inventory of BIM elements, made on 3d-models, supplied with their ergo-technique information. That inventory has been therefore developed upon a precise classification made on different elements type (equipment, facilities, plants) according to their function on construction site. The research methodology for translating ergo-technique contents in a BIM has followed therefore these steps: (i) definition of elements to be contained in a CoSIM; (ii) definition of graphical level of detail of the model and its elements; (iii) definition of ergo-technique information level of development; (iv) translation of the model into proper deliverables. Some results of the first three steps of the research here presented show the development of construction site design from the pre-design to the execution-design phase in a case study through which it has been possible to asses and refine some guidelines for the creation of the postulated Construction Site Information Model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In construction technology education (CTE), construction site tours play an essential role for undergraduate students to obtain familiarity with construction environments, combine content knowledge with practice, and develop their competencies to embrace construction innovations before entering the industry. Implementing real construction site visits for education purposes faces challenges in getting access to proper construction sites and ensuring the safety of visiting students. This study combined the application of Project-based learning (PBL), game-based learning (GBL), and deeper learning theories to develop TheProjectLive ePlatform for students to experience virtual site tours. In this platform, 360-degree panoramas were utilized to present the approximate complexity of construction sites and provide an immersive learning environment. The study evaluated the effects of the proposed virtual site tour approach through two years of implementation in a tertiary course: Introductory Construction Technology and Materials. The students' knowledge acquisition and learning experience when applying the ePlatform were well measured through in-class quizzes and questionnaire surveys, respectively. Based on the descriptive and statistical sources of evidence, the developed ePlatform for conducting the virtual construction site tour demonstrated its potential to effectively improve students' transferable knowledge acquisition. The results of two in-class quizzes designed to assess students' comprehension of content knowledge and their competency to solve practical problems showed that the average scores of students who experienced the virtual site tour were higher than students who learned via lecture notes. Specifically, the average scores of the former were 13.3% and 17.8% higher than the latter in the two quizzes, respectively. According to students' feedback, this case study research also provided suggestions to further improve the proposed virtual site tour approach in tertiary CTE, emphasizing the importance of clear content presentation as well as indicating the benefits of perceived helpfulness and well-designed game elements.

Various algorithms inspired by evolutionary and physical processes have been extensively applied in solving complex construction engineering optimization problems. In this paper, Artificial Immune Systems (AIS), a computational approach inspired by the processes of human immune system, is introduced in terms of its basic mechanisms and its applications in construction engineering. Specifically, Clonal Selection Algorithm (CSA), one of main algorithms that form AIS, is based on clonal selection process of the immune system which includes the selection, hypermutation, and receptor editing processes. We discuss the CSA in detail and present its application in the classic construction optimization problem, construction site utilization planning (CSUP), which is the decision making process for identifying the most optimal layout of temporary facilities designed to support the construction process. When applied to a test case published in research literature, we found that CSA shows a robust capacity to search the solution space effectively and efficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a widely established method in the architecture, engineering, construction, and facilities management (AEC/FM) industry. Although BIM focuses on processes throughout the lifecycle of the built environment, the applications in the planning phase, e.g. the generation of construction site layouts, have not reached their full potential yet. One important example herein is the allocation and dimensioning of resources (e.g., building materials and equipment) which is typically carried out by humans according to clearly defined rules and best practices. This paper presents model-based rule checking for the planning of construction site layouts. We demonstrate that existing Business Rule Management Systems (BRMS), such as the open-source rule engine Drools, can be used. We combine Drools with the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) to retrieve data from a building information model and use the information within the rule engine. We define general model requirements and implement a sample set of prototype rules. We also introduce the concept of offset geometry for rules that, for example, demand a known safety distance between temporary construction site elements. The developed approaches are explained and evaluated in field-realistic, practical case studies. Finally, we present a discussion how the application of the developed rule-based system may assist human decision making in tasks such as safe construction sites layout planning. Highlights • BIM methods currently do not include tools for construction site layout planning. • A background review presents existing manual techniques and their shortcomings. • The process of digitalizing the construction site layout planning process is explained. • Applications of rule checking in planning temporary construction objects are shown. • An outlook presents strategies for implementation in construction projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study intends to explore the available green site management practices for construction stakeholders. Green site management practices have been introduced to the construction industry to mitigate the negative impacts of construction activities if construction stakeholders start to implement them. Therefore, green site management practices such as land control, construction site waste management, dust, noise, and vibration control, and a green and conducive environment shall be explored to promote green development in the construction industry. A qualitative method was employed since this study focused on the views of construction stakeholders on green site management practices. Five contractors were randomly selected from the construction sites in Malaysia based on the convenience sampling method. All respondents were qualified to give opinions as they hold management posts. The process collecting of opinions from the respondents stopped when no new issues were found in their feedback. The results reveal that land control, construction site waste management, dust, noise, and vibration control, and a green and conducive environment were considered green development in the construction industry. However, these practices were not systematically practised as there were no clear guidelines to lead the practitioners. The results also showed that the government has the power to enforce green practices on construction sites. Green site management practices will bring another new era to the construction industry, which is intended to protect the environment while ensuring that the practitioners can be financially sustainable. The results will shed light on green construction development, whereby these green practices can be promoted to construction sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Noise pollution from construction activities affects both workers and nearby residents. This study proposes a new method for localizing noise sources on construction sites. The method uses a radial microphone array and an algorithm based on the highest signal direction intersections. Simulations show this approach can identify noise source locations with relatively decent accuracy. The method localized noise sources within an area of about 180 m² with an average uncertainty of 6 % for single-spot sources. The uncertainties for multiple-spot sources, particularly two-spot sources, were 83.2 % and 6.1 %, depending on the size and number of sources. These results highlight the method's accuracy and its sensitivity to site conditions. Our approach offers lower computational needs compared to existing solutions. Future work will focus on the refinement of the algorithm and integration of IoT technologies for real-time monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital technologies are rapidly transforming the construction industry, offering new opportunities to improve site work performance. Traditionally, site workers take information from static construction documents such as 2D paper drawings. However, in the Nordic region, a dynamic approach known as Total BIM has gained interest. Total BIM is a model-based approach to construction where BIM replaces 2D drawings as the contractual and legally binding construction document, and site workers use production-oriented, cloud-based BIM, on mobile devices to extract construction information. By having a dynamic single source of information, site workers face new demands as they independently extract construction information directly from BIM. This paper investigates the impact of Total BIM on site work methods through four real-life case studies, site visits, workshops, seminars and semi-structured interviews. The findings indicated that Total BIM provided site workers with a more dynamic construction process where the mobile BIM-viewer software became a central communication and management platform. Key digital Total BIM features were investigated that site workers used to perform new work methods, including measuring, filtering, visualizing, communicating, checklists, and requests for information. By using Total BIM instead of static 2D drawings, site workers interacted dynamically with BIM on mobile devices, changing the process of how work was implemented on the construction site. The practical implications of these findings can be used to support the on-site implementation and strategy work of Total BIM. Furthermore, this paper contributes practical concrete examples of on-site Total BIM use and addresses issues commonly found in state-of-the-art BIM projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In India, the construction sector provides the main alternative to agricultural work - seasonal migration to and from construction work is widespread and construction work remains the second-largest employer of women in the country behind agriculture. Occupational injuries, which kill over 300,000 people annually, are a serious public health concern. However, data on construction site injuries to women are lacking, as India does not publish statistics on occupational injuries and illnesses. Our objectives were to: Estimate the number of women injured in construction site accidents in Delhi; and to estimate and compare the annual construction site injury rates per 100,000 workers of males and females in Delhi.Methods: We conducted a two-sample capture-recapture study using data for accidents reported to the Delhi Police, Employee State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), and Commissioners of Workmen Compensation (CWC) of Delhi Government. The capture-recapture method has been used in epidemiology, to estimate morbidity and mortality using multiple, overlapping, but incomplete data sources. This study is based on the injuries reported from construction site accidents in Delhi in 2017. We linked the data from each of the data sources using the name, gender, and age of each injured person, the date and place of the accident, and the name of the employer. We used the Chapman estimator to estimate the total incidence of construction injuries in Delhi.Results: We estimated that there was a total of 37 female construction site workers injured (17 fatal and 20 non-fatal) in Delhi in 2017. There was a total of 1043 male construction site workers injured (236 fatal and 807 non-fatal). FIRs ascertained two-thirds (68%) of all injuries to females but only one third (34%) of those to males. The annual construction site injury rate per 100,000 workers of females was 82.26 (95%CI: 57.92 to 113.39). The annual construction site injury rate per 100,000 workers of males was 146.5 (95%CI: 137.7 to 155.6). There was strong evidence (p = 0.001) that the overall construction site injury rate per 100,000 workers of females was about one half the rate of males [rate ratio 0.56 (95%CI: 0.40 to 0.78)]. There was no evidence (p = 0.601) that the rates of fatal injuries differed in males and females (rate ratio 1.14 (95%CI: 0.70 to 1.87).Conclusions: This study is the first to estimate the incidence of injuries to female construction site workers in India. The overall injury rate of female construction workers was over half as great as the rate of males. This implies that female construction workers face a not insignificant risk. Hence, safety measures (e.g., personal protective equipment) that are appropriate and culturally acceptable to Indian women are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study explores the areas of process need in construction site management and technology utilisation to address those needs within the construction industry. An exploratory case study was used, with a focus on process need areas that could be impacted by technology infusion. Results highlight the impact of human limitations on management performance and poor utilisation of available relevant technology in the presence of managerial lapses. Inherent limitations of case study strategy were experienced in the form of number of cases and achieving uniformity of features. Nevertheless, the cases provided rich cross-validating data. The article provides empirical insights about the possibility of construction site management benefiting from increased exploitation of technology to address management shortcomings. The article highlights the need to understand individual projects in terms of site management process needs and opportunities in recent information and communication technology (ICT) to address such need areas, by linking potential utility in technology to lapses in the management process of construction sites. The study provides a baseline understanding of relevant concepts of ICT adoption in site management. While considerable interest exists regarding technology use in construction, studies explicitly contextualised within process need areas in site management and with management-centred view remain sparse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the topic of the authorities at building sites, retracing the development of labor organization in the building sector in Dublin, the Irish capital, between 1859 and 1896. It examines the main changes brought about by work reform, revealing its impact on the life of the average worker and the reactions of employers in the larger context of cities in the nineteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction phase still presents many difficulties and contingencies related to the project documents information management between the actors involved. Different studies investigated methods and models to optimize the operational management of the construction phase. Concerning workers’ health and safety protection most of them focused on the development of on-site and in real-time control systems. Therefore, the authors identified the exigency of a prevention information system based on workers’ involvement. To reach the aim three objectives have been identified: (1) the check of workers’ training, (2) the definition of works operational procedures and (3) the schematization of the assembly/disassembly/use of site equipment and temporary structures. The developed system is characterized by a synergic application of BIM model and QR-code and it has been applied on a case study. At the same time a questionnaire has been developed and proposed to different subjects of the construction sector in order to evaluate the potential use of BIM model and QR-code. The field test has allowed to demonstrate the practical use of the tool, enhancing communication between the Client technical structure, the General contractor and sub-contractors, improving workers’ integration and participation and allowing a better availability of on-site health and safety information and documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than six months after the Shelter-in-Place executive order in the San Francisco Bay Area, this paper analyzes how an essential public works construction project put a COVID-19 safety protocol in place. It describes a four-step protocol, details challenges and successes of implementation, and provides insight for construction as well as other industries, including healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The achievement of a sustainable industry in the construction sector requires the consideration of environmental and social impacts of the operations involved, along with the traditionally imperative economic factors affecting the construction project. An implicit social and environmental factor commonly linked with construction is the noise pollution resulting from activities taking placing during the various construction stages. The levels of sound recorded at receivers positioned in the vicinity of the construction site may be considerably affected by the site layout adopted. Site layout planning with the objective of minimising the construction noise levels has not been investigated in the available literature. To ensure a balance between economic, social and environmental impacts, the planning of the site should also account for the economic factors associated with the monetary costs of material transportation between facilities, rendering the problem a multi-objective one. This paper presents a novel multi-objective mixed integer nonlinear programming model that minimises noise levels at multiple receivers surrounding the construction site, as well as on-land material transportation costs, through site layout optimisation. An improved transportation cost model accounting for several transportation modes is presented. A Pareto front, listing nondominated global optimum solutions, is obtained for a case study tested using the ε -constraint method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of the method based on the behavioural approach as the method minimizing hazardous behaviours of employees has been discussed in this article. The main focus has been laid upon one of the largest economic sectors, i.e. is the construction industry. Thereby, risks arising from an improper behaviour of construction workers, and also a factor contributing to it, have been described here. The influence of employee's age and day time have been analysed in terms of accident rates. The attention was also paid to alcohol consumed by workers during and after their work and to the influence that it has on dangerous behaviours. Different ways of approaches to the worker to improve safety and hygiene at work, as well as the manner in which the approach to employee should change depending on the situation, have been presented too. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Abstract: Construction site layout planning has been recognized as a critical step in construction planning. The basic function of this process is to find the best arrangement of the temporary facilities according to multiple objectives that may conflict with each other and subjected to logical and resource constraints. The formulation of the construction site layout planning problem as an optimization problem turns out to be a nonlinear programming problem where there are conflicting multi-objectives to be achieved. It is shown that the swarm intelligence based meta-heuristic algorithms are quite powerful in obtaining the solution of such hard to solve type of optimization problems. In this study a multi objective artificial bee colony (MOABC) via Levy flights algorithm is proposed to determine the optimum construction site layout. The model is intended to optimize the dynamic layout of unequal-area under two objective functions. The performance of MOABC with Levy flights is demonstrated on a real benchmark construction engineering of construction site layout planning problem and the optimum solution obtained is compared with the one determined by the ant colony algorithm. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The "New View" of occupational safety is gaining increased attention within both the construction industry and its associated academe. With the potential to overcome the current plateau in accident rates and support the further enhancement of occupational safety on sites, the "New View" offers an alternative approach to more traditional command driven safety management and instead takes a sociotechnical perspective, valorising the workers and acknowledging their contributions to the system in the form of adaptability and resilience. Yet empirical research of "New View" thinking and practice within construction is lacking. Meaningful research in this space demands non-positivistic approaches able to reveal nuanced and local insights able to inform and illuminate "New View" practices and the contexts in which they could potentially be implemented on sites. Here, we make a methodological contribution with the aim to advance empirical research in this space. Social practice theory is employed and evaluated as an approach able to make such a useful contribution. Through the exploration and explication of the block of "site safety practice," we demonstrate the utility of this theoretical approach for "New View" researchers, whilst also making a fundamental contribution to knowledge in the form of insights of the local and situated contexts, in which "New View" thinking could be practically applied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Site investigation is an important step in estimating and planning new construction projects. Surface and subsurface conditions influence construction methods and choice of equipment, which, in turn, affect the cost and scheduling of projects. Therefore it is important that site conditions be properly assessed. This paper explains a database for the storage of descriptive soil data, a geographic information system (GIS) to relate this data to a display of corresponding locations of boreholes, and a graphical user interface (GUI) to facilitate the input, query, and output of data, in addition to drawing bore logs. A GIS can relate descriptive project information to graphical displays showing geographic locations on digital maps on a computer screen. GISs currently available concentrate on planar/surface applications. However, there is a need to show soil variation as a function of depth. This paper is particularly useful for design-build organizations, which could benefit from a single database for foundations analysis and design, and construction planning, and resulting design-construction integration.

The evolution of technology has changed the way how humans communicate in the current time. With the advancement of technology, instructions and messages could be delivered in a split second. Even though life is made easy with technology, some information and details should be delivered face-to-face in order to avoid communication breakdown. This study was carried out to determine the language needs by foreign workers working at construction sectors in Malaysia. The study created an overview on how communication affects productivity in completing tasks on time. The results from this study led to a development of language modules for foreign workers training. An online survey was carried out through social media on construction site supervisors around Malaysia in getting their feedback related to the origin of their co-workers and the importance of English language as medium of instruction for task fulfilment. Results indicated that language barriers had affected productivity in the sector of construction in Malaysia. Besides, results also noted that cross-cultural differences had put foreign workers at risk and caused wastage to time and manpower.

More than 20% of all reported occupational accidents in Europe in 2015 occurred within the construction industry. Leadership is an imperative antecedent to occupational safety. Transformational leadership is considered a central aspect of safety-promoting leadership and passive/avoidant leadership is considered a central aspect of poor safety leadership. This study aimed to comprehensively elucidate concrete, real-life transformational and passive/avoidant leadership behaviours through context-specific descriptions of day-to-day interactions between construction site managers and employees. A mixed method design was applied, combining structured observations of construction site managers, with questionnaire responses from construction employees. With this design, common method bias was eliminated. The results provide context-specific examples of transformational and passive/avoidant leadership behaviour. High proportions of observed transformational leadership was found to predict high construction site safety. High proportions of observed passive/avoidant leadership was found to predict low construction site safety. The proportion of transformational leadership behaviour was higher among site managers in Sweden than in Denmark, indicating that national cultural context may be an antecedent to safety leadership among construction site managers. Applying less passive/avoidant leadership and more transformational leadership appears to be an effective way for construction site managers to improve occupational safety in the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, a step change has been seen in the rate of adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies by manufacturers and industrial organizations alike. This article discusses the current state of the art in the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies within the construction industry. Increasing complexity in onsite construction projects coupled with the need for higher productivity is leading to increased interest in the potential use of Industry 4.0 technologies. This article discusses the relevance of the following key Industry 4.0 technologies to construction: data analytics and artificial intelligence, robotics and automation, building information management, sensors and wearables, digital twin, and industrial connectivity. Industrial connectivity is a key aspect as it ensures that all Industry 4.0 technologies are interconnected allowing the full benefits to be realized. This article also presents a research agenda for the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies within the construction sector, a three-phase use of intelligent assets from the point of manufacture up to after build, and a four-staged R&D process for the implementation of smart wearables in a digital enhanced construction site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nigeria's construction sector is a key to the development of national economy, especially its contribution to employment creation and value addition to the national gross domestic product. The mode of workforce recruitment, job retention and disengagement are largely informal with an attendant high rate of construction site accidents often resulting in injuries and fatalities to persons and properties. This study examines the social and economic effects of site accidents on Nigerian economy. Descriptive survey research was employed with structured questionnaire as research design and administered to twenty major construction companies operating within southern Nigeria. Interviews were also conducted with owners/directors, contract managers, construction project managers, health and safety officers, site managers, affected workers and families alike to validate study results. Data obtained from field survey were analyzed. The study revealed loss of company productivity, reduction in living standards as having the most economic impacts on construction companies and their affected workers/families respectively. Additionally, loss of customers' confidence and loss of the family bread winner represents the highest social impacts on the construction companies and affected workers/ families. The study concludes that there is existence of low commitment towards workers' health, safety and general wellbeing by Nigerian construction firms. The study therefore, recommends that government at all levels should enact and strictly enforce Construction Industry Health and Safety Laws, and sanction firms that contravene Health and Safety Regulations. Furthermore, construction firms irrespective of size should demonstrate visible leadership towards workers' health and safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Engineering Management / Gongcheng Guanli Xuebao is the property of Journal of Engineering Management Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Engineering Management / Gongcheng Guanli Xuebao is the property of Journal of Engineering Management Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Introduction: Tunnel boring machine (TBM) is used for constructing a tunnel. Worn out cutting tools have to be changed under difficult working conditions. Temperature is high and the work is strenuous. Work is often carried out under increased atmospheric pressure to ward off water ingress. Workers are at a very high risk. Aim: To evaluate heat stress during hyperbaric intervention on TBM during Chennai Metro Rail construction. Methodology: One hundred and eighty-eight miners after a thorough medical examination worked under increased atmospheric pressure for more than 45,000 man hours. Mitigating actions to protect workers by reducing temperature and increasing ventilation. Medical monitoring was done to identify and treat potential victims. Results: 52° C was the highest temperature recorded. Most times work was carried out at a temperature range of 34-45° C. Conclusions: Motivations of monetary gains, reduced working hours, and food supplements played a major role in work execution without any untoward incidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Construction site supervisors are exposed to many chemicals, dusts, and metals including asbestos. Asbestos is a hazardous chemical that is carcinogenic. Laryngeal cancer is not a rare disease in Korea. The most common causes of this disease are tobacco and alcohol, and representative occupational cause is asbestos. However, up to now, no case of laryngeal cancer induced by asbestos has been reported in Korea. In this study, we report such a case in a construction site supervisor. Case presentation: A 60-year-old man who had been experiencing hoarseness for 2 months was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer. The pathologic diagnosis was squamous cell carcinoma in situ, based on examination of a biopsy specimen obtained by resection of the lesion. The patient had been exposed to asbestos for 38 years at construction sites where he worked until diagnosed with laryngeal cancer. He had been exposed to asbestos when demolishing buildings and inspecting materials. Conclusion: The patient in this case worked with construction materials including asbestos and supervised construction for 38 years, and was thus exposed to asbestos at construction sites. Much of the asbestos was highly concentrated especially during demolition processes. We therefore consider the laryngeal cancer of this patient to be a work-related disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current safety education and training system has a number of problems, namely that the actual risks in the field are not reflected and that workers cannot be engaged in safety education. Therefore, we conducted a study to build a VR-based safety education system that reflects the problems actually occurring in the field. The risk points of the electrical construction sites were derived through in-depth interviews with various stakeholders such as field workers, safety managers, and management. A risk scenario was also constructed by analyzing the causes and effects of existing accident cases. A safety education system was constructed to which the established risk scenario was applied. In the virtual construction site, the site's own model, safety equipment, and members were implemented in a 3D model to form a virtual reality environment. This environment is intended to provide an educational environment wherein workers can immerse themselves in safety, specifically because this VR-based environment can induce active participation by providing safety information through various experiences. In addition, in this study, a VR-based safety education system that reflects the field conditions was designed to prepare basic data for the modernization and activation of safety education.

Purpose The future construction site will be pervasive, context aware and embedded with intelligence. The purpose of this paper is to explore and define the concept of the digital skin of the future smart construction site.Design/methodology/approach The paper provides a systematic and hierarchical classification of 114 articles from both industry and academia on the digital skin concept and evaluates them. The hierarchical classification is based on application areas relevant to construction, such as augmented reality, building information model-based visualisation, labour tracking, supply chain tracking, safety management, mobile equipment tracking and schedule and progress monitoring. Evaluations of the research papers were conducted based on three pillars: validation of technological feasibility, onsite application and user acceptance testing.Findings Technologies learned about in the literature review enabled the envisaging of the pervasive construction site of the future. The paper presents scenarios for the future context-aware construction site, including the construction worker, construction procurement management and future real-time safety management systems.Originality/value Based on the gaps identified by the review in the body of knowledge and on a broader analysis of technology diffusion, the paper highlights the research challenges to be overcome in the advent of digital skin. The paper recommends that researchers follow a coherent process for smart technology design, development and implementation in order to achieve this vision for the construction industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Building information modeling (BIM) and lean construction are two practices that are developed in order to increase productivity, efficiency and quality in construction by implementing various procedures. However, the practical execution of both BIM and lean is mostly limited with the tasks performed in the office environments in the design phase. The purpose of this paper is to examine the benefit realizations in terms of lean interactions resulting from mobile BIM processes through a framework by focusing on digital transformations performed on the construction site.Design/methodology/approach This paper examines the benefit realizations in terms of lean interactions resulting from mobile BIM processes through a framework by focusing on digital transformations performed on the construction site. To describe the case, BIM project management processes during construction phase have been explained by a participatory research. With a comprehensive literature review, interactions between site BIM processes and lean principles have been defined and the case has been evaluated accordingly.Findings By focusing on the mobile BIM delivery of project information via tablets to construction site, it has been identified that through the use of technology enabled by BIM practices, lean construction principles are also simultaneously accomplished. This achievement is not only realized with technology but also with the strategic implementation and transformation of organization with the proper BIM practices.Research limitations/implications The research is focused on mobile BIM processes applied on-site to enhance traditional project management processes. With the findings of this paper, practitioners may identify research questions to resolve real-life implementation challenges.Practical implications This research will enlighten construction practitioners regarding site BIM application capabilities and lean achievements with the utilization of improved project management processes enabled by BIM.Originality/value Through the implementation of project management processes enabled by BIM practices on construction site, lean principles are achieved and bottlenecks are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, the construction industry is regarded as one of the most dangerous where workers often face safety and health risks throughout the process of task and activities execution. Safety violations through unsafe behaviours are major contributors to these risks. This research aimed to develop a quantitative model that assesses the level of workers' safety on a construction site based on behavioural observation. A construction firm in Southwest Nigeria was identified and studied. Data on tasks performed by the workers on the number of unsafe behaviours (N) and the durations in which they lasted (D) was collected. Based on this, the level of safety adherence (LSA), the initiated and sustained number of safety violations (I-NSV and S-NSV) and the probability of unsafe acts occurrence and zero unsafe acts (PUA1 and PUA2) indicators were developed and used in assessing the safety level of the project. An evaluation of different levels of N and D was also undertaken to provide further insight into the requirements for attaining an improved systems safety level. The results obtained indicated that the LSA was 0.35. The I-NSV and S-NSV results were 41 and 118 unsafe acts respectively while the PUA1 and PUA2 values were 1.00 and 0.00 respectively. Evaluation results showed that LSA increases were directly related to S-NSV decreases caused by corresponding decreases in D, while improved project safety levels could be achieved through I-NSV mitigation. The study concluded that the safety level of the construction site was low and recommended improved safety strategy implementation for attaining improved project safety level. The model is useful for measuring construction projects' safety levels based on workers' safety violations and the study outcome could be used to set improvement targets and relay feedback for safety behaviour improvement in construction firms and related organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction Vehicle route planning forms a significant component of Construction Site Layout Planning (SLP). At present, the construction industry has no standard method of planning vehicle routes resulting in chaotic situations on sites. The study proposes an integration of optimization techniques with Building Information Modeling (BIM) to generate feasible routes taking into account the dynamic nature of construction projects. A systematic workflow is developed for the integration of these platforms. The steps involved in the process are presented through a case study highlighting a decision support system for project planners. The advantages of sensitivity analysis alongside a visual interpretation of the construction routing schedule are achieved through the integrated workflow. Thus, the developed workflow provides an approach to enhance the efficiency of daily equipment movements at the site by reducing the possible conflicts and enhancing accessibility. Though the study limits itself in handling the internal vehicular movements, the developed workflow could be extended to manage the project supply chain; moreover, the site personnel movements could be integrated to provide a safer work environment at the construction site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Our research is aimed at studying the relationship between risk level and organizational complexity and resources on constructions sites. Our general hypothesis is that site complexity increases risk, whereas more resources of the structure decrease risk. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) approach was adopted to validate our theoretical model. Method To develop our study, 957 building sites in Spain were visited and assessed in 2003–2009. All needed data were obtained using a specific tool developed by the authors to assess site risk, structure and resources (Construction Sites Risk Assessment Tool, or CONSRAT). This tool operationalizes the variables to fit our model, specifically, via a site risk index (SRI) and 10 organizational variables. Our random sample is composed largely of small building sites with general high levels of risk, moderate complexity, and low resources on site. Conclusions The model obtained adequate fit, and results showed empirical evidence that the factors of complexity and resources can be considered predictors of site risk level. Practical Applications Consequently, these results can help companies, managers of construction and regulators to identify which organizational aspects should be improved to prevent risks on sites and consequently accidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main goal of this study is to examine the relationships between determinants of safety performance of construction sites. To achieve this goal, 168 observable variables and 16 latent dimensions that affect safety performance of construction sites were collected through extensive literature reviews, expert opinions, and face-to-face interviews. A questionnaire form was developed and administered to construction professionals as a data-collection tool about the observable variables and latent dimensions. A total of 180 responses were achieved through data collection. Relationships between observable variables and latent dimensions of the safety performance of construction sites were studied and a multidimensional safety performance model was proposed. The proposed multidimensional safety performance model was supported by structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis. Moreover, 16 latent dimensions with respect to their relative weights and recommendations for construction safety professionals are provided to improve the safety performance of construction sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]