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Cost overruns are a common problem for public works projects, often due to modifications to the original design. While the causes of these modifications have been studied, the legal framework's impact and limitations on these modifications have received extensive treatment, with no specific case studies from different countries. This paper explores the relationship between modifications in Spanish public works projects and their compliance with legal limits, investigating the alignment between base bidding prices and eventual costs after adjustments. The study also delves into the strategic behaviour of construction companies in Spain, which frequently involves manipulating project costs to match the initially proposed bidding price. Statistical methods, such as the Spearman correlation test and graphical analysis, confirm a nearly exact relationship between base bid price and final price. Also, a modification costs comparison for two different legal periods highlights the legal framework's influence, as a less restrictive framework leads into higher average cost overruns. It provides valuable information to avoid malpractice for tendering institutions, practitioners, and legal developers, as well as those interested in the Spanish public works sector, and opens the door for future research on solving this problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This paper examines the relationships between the reported accidents of workers in construction firms and the probability of those firms' survival., Method: Between 2004 and 2010, a sample of 344 Spanish construction firms from Majorca were selected. The study built panel data with the reported official accidents from the Labor Authority records and the firm survival or mortality from the Bureau van Dijḱs Iberian Balance Sheet Analysis System database. The hypothesis is that a higher number of accidents directly affects the probability of the company surviving in the sector. By using a probit regression model with panel data, the relationship between these two variables were explored to test the hypothesis., Results: The study found evidence that an increment in accidents decreases the probability of the company continuing to operate, or worse, going bankrupt. The results can be useful to highlight the importance of defining policies to control those accidents effectively, since this may be a key factor in the sustainability, competitiveness, and growth of the construction sector for the economy of a region., Competing Interests: Declaration of interest statement The authors declare that they have not any conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Labour exploitation has long been considered from two opposing perspectives, either as an omnipresent feature in the employment market or as an extreme occurrence in labour relationships. Recent studies, however, claim that exploitation can be better understood as a continuum of heterogeneous practices. Our paper contributes to this debate by focusing on the case of migrant workers in Spain. The main objective is to access and bring to the surface the 'hidden voices' of migrant workers employed in four sectors: agriculture, construction, domestic service and hospitality. Using in-depth interviews and focus groups has allowed us to go beyond the dominant narratives on the phenomenon by embracing the privileged perspective of migrant workers on labour exploitation. This paper shows that labour exploitation cannot be fully understood without considering the relation that exists between two factors: the first operates at the structural level and relates to the extent to which discrimination, harm and exploitation of specific groups are intrinsic in the legitimate legal-economic system; whilst, the second factor revolves around migrant workers' wilful agentive capacity for being recruited into exploitative situations and simultaneously their capacity for coping with exploitative practices and for working towards solutions aimed at improving their quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The weak preventive culture among workers in the construction sector leads to the underestimation of risks posed by the presence or handling of chemical agents on-site and, consequently, harms workers' health. OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this paper are to classify exposure to chemical agents present or used on-site, determine workers' perception of said agents and establish the influence that socio-demographic variables have on chemical agent exposure and the perception of such exposure. METHODS: A total of 490 workers in the Spanish construction sector participated in this study. The data were gathered through a self-administered questionnaire that explored socio-demographic characteristics, the degree of exposure to chemical agents, attitudes toward exposure and the prevention of consequences. The underlying dimensions of perception were researched using an adapted version of the questionnaire used by the Paul Slovic group to apply the psychometric paradigm. RESULTS: The levels of exposure to and handling of chemical agents found in the sample were high and moderate, respectively. The participants were found to have advanced knowledge about the effects of exposure, with the majority of the workers considering the probability of suffering a serious disease to be low. Statistically significant associations were found between the socio-demographic variables identified in the sample and the various exposure characteristics. A factor analysis performed on the underlying dimensions of perception provided a final version of the instrument comprising two factors. CONCLUSION: Measures are needed to improve the preventive culture among workers in the construction sector and reinforce on-site preventive measures aimed at preventing or minimising the consequences of exposure to chemical agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to examine the degree of productivity change in the construction industry and relate these changes to variations in the business cycle. The activity of Spanish firms engaged in the construction of buildings, civil engineering, and specialized activities during the 2000s is used as a case study. Productivity change is estimated by creating a bilateral index using data envelopment analysis, complemented with bootstrapping. The results showed that Spanish firms in building construction experienced a fall in productivity because of a decline in technical and scale efficiencies, despite improvements in technology. The productivity change in civil engineering and specialized construction also was negative; however, the source of this decline was technical regress and negative scale efficiency change, although efficiency change and technology scale change contributed positively. The results further revealed that the firms reacted to the financial crisis of the late 2000s by introducing technological change, although the productive, technical, and scale efficiency changes all were negatively impacted during the economic downturn, suggesting an underuse of resources. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by being the first to analyze the impact of fluctuations in business cycles caused by the 2008 economic crisis on the productivity growth of construction firms representing three construction sectors, and by measuring productivity growth from a multidimensional perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows the prevalence of psychosocial risks for workers in the greenhouse construction industry in south-eastern Spain. Method : The assessment of the workers' psychosocial risks was carried out through simple random sampling, which uses a questionnaire containing 13 variables characterizing the companies, 14 variables characterizing the workers, and 15 questions proposed by the Mini Psychosocial Factors (MPFs) risk assessment method. A descriptive analysis and multiple correspondence analysis were performed on the sample data. Results : Greenhouse construction businesses in south-eastern Spain can generally be classified as small companies with an average annual turnover below EUR 2.0 million (69.3%), an average of 22.8 workers with an average age of 39.84 years old, most of whom are married, with an average of 1.76 children. The prevalence of workers at high risk was 2.9%, while 45.1% were at medium-high risk. Of the 12 psychosocial factors assessed using the MPF method, 7 of them presented a high level of worker risk: Mobbing (3.2%), Relationships (1.6%), Recognition (1.6%), Autonomy (12.9%), Emotional (8.0%), Control (4.8%), and Demands (3.2%). Lastly, the variables were grouped into four clusters, showing that larger companies are correlated with a medium (workers over 40 years of age or less than 25 years of age) to high (workers under 25 years of age) risk level in several of the psychosocial factors assessed for workers who are Spanish nationals, while in smaller companies, the workers are usually middle aged (between 25 and 40 years old) and from Eastern Europe or Africa, presenting either a low or high level of risk depending on the psychosocial factors and tasks performed. Impact of the results : The study reveals a lack of prevention management regarding psychosocial risks. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out new prevention programmes that optimise the psychosocial conditions of the workers, involving the workers, employers, and other social agents.

Purpose: The construction industry has traditionally been a male-dominated economic sector. Barely 10% of managers are women. On the other hand, this sector is considered an engine of the economy. For these reasons, it is important to examine the influence of women CEOs on financial variables of firms in the construction industry. Design/methodology/approach: The empirical study is carried out using a sample from the Iberian Balance Sheet Analysis System record ("Sistema de Análisis de Balances Ibérico", SABI). The sample includes 8,492 Spanish companies from the construction sector. The methodology employed is a three-stage least squares (3SLS) analysis. This methodology controls for the endogeneity of explanatory variables. It is employed in accordance with the peculiar characteristics of the sample, which includes data for only one year. Findings: The results show that firms with a woman CEO have a lower level of debt, whatever the terms of the maturity of the debt are. In contrast to most previous evidence, firms managed by women are found to be less profitable. Originality/value: The paper gives evidence of the influence of the CEO's gender on the performance (return and risk) of a firm. It provides original empirical evidence for the male-dominated construction sector. An extensive search identified no literature in which the researchers had focused on the construction industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the beginning of 2006, the regional government of Madrid decided to expand the subway network to the new Terminal T-4 in Madrid-Barajas International Airport using a public-private partnership (PPP) approach. Owing to the peculiar characteristics of this new access as the enlargement of an existing subway line, the PPP approach was based on separating infrastructure management from transportation service operation. The PPP contractor was entrusted with the infrastructure construction and maintenance while Madrid’s public subway company remained in charge of operating the trains. This paper examines the theoretical foundation that justifies the implementation of different PPP approaches to deal with urban rail projects. The paper then explains the reasons why a nonintegrated PPP approach was ultimately adopted for the expansion of Madrid’s subway network to the airport. From the outcome of the tender and the present operation performance, we find that nonintegrated PPP contracts have important advantages for urban rail PPPs, particularly for conventional subway networks. These advantages are notable in terms of encouraging economies of scale and density, boosting competition, and reducing the financial costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper evaluates for the first time the embodied impact in CDW during the buildings life cycle by means of the bill of quantities of construction projects. The main objective is to be able to predict the future CDW to be generated by a project in the design stage, by means of the bill of quantities of the urbanization, construction, renovation, rehabilitation and demolition projects. The tools already in place for cost control can be used as an instrument for the introduction of sustainability considerations in construction projects. The methodology proposes a connection between the different stages of a building's life cycle, more precisely its budget. The latter is linked to other future budgets for building renovations or retrofitting projects. The result shows that urbanization and demolition generate 90% of CDW, the former is caused by earthworks and the latter is due to the elimination of all building materials. The building is removed 1.3 times, in terms of material weight, energy and water. Finally, traditional models for economic control and waste management in construction projects can be the vector which introduce environmental assessment through the building life cycle., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The aim of this paper is to analyze the reality of risk prevention in construction sector companies in Spain, from the perspective of training, management, and risk prevention, as well as the amount of resources that are allocated to those budget headings. An in-depth comparative review has been conducted, using the data obtained from two focus groups that were expressly created for the study, in conjunction with the Second European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emergent Risks (ESENER-2) and its Spanish counterpart (ESENER-2 Spain). The focus groups were formed with agents and entrepreneurs involved in the construction sector, from both the public and the private sector, in order to provide greater impartiality to the resulting data. The principal strategic indicators that served as a guideline for the moderators of the different focus groups were analyzed. The results obtained show great similarity between the data from the focus groups and the data from ESENER-2 and ESENER-2 Spain; which demonstrates the idiosyncrasies that surround this productive sector in the European setting, so badly treated by the economic crisis. All of these points highlight the imperative need to professionalize the construction sector, implementing a " risk prevention culture " among all of the agents involved in the constructive-preventive processes that surround construction activities.

Private toll roads have experienced a notable worldwide expansion in the last two decades. In the early 1990s, many countries began to offer motorway concessions to private investors, most notably in Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe. In the late 1990s and 2000s, the innovation spread to countries in Asia, North America and Western Europe. The Spanish construction companies have been awarded many more concessions than their main rivals together, and they have become prominent in many of the countries with the most significant toll road programs. This paper analyses the competitive advantages that the Spanish companies have enjoyed in the international toll road industry in the last two decades. We argue that they have benefited from the fact that their home country was a pioneer in offering motorway concessions; from a cultural advantage in dealing with Latin America; and from their decision to integrate construction, concession, and investor functions in a single company. The paper also analyses to what extent the road concessions the Spaniards have won are generally profitable. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The secondary circuit is a central element in the processes of capital accumulation, and its relevance has become more acute in recent years as urban planning, housing, and real estate have become privileged arenas of the territoriality 'variegated' processes of neoliberalisation. This paper explores three theoretical concepts, all closely associated with neoliberalisation: the rescaling of the state, urban entrepreneurialism and financialisation. The paper uses these three theoretical concepts to explain, on the one hand, the increasing relevance of housing and real estate and, on the other hand, their connection with two of the major manifestations of the current financial crisis: excessive private indebtedness and the credit crunch. Analysing the Spanish case is particularly revealing because of the intensity of construction work until 2007, the severity of the subsequent economic crisis, and the wide range of agents involved in the growth of a neoliberalised and financialised secondary circuit of capital in Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reduction in construction waste is a pressing need in many countries. The design of building elements is considered a pivotal process to achieve waste reduction at source, which enables an informed prediction of their wastage reduction levels. However the lack of quantitative methods linking design strategies to waste reduction hinders designing out waste practice in building projects. Therefore, this paper addresses this knowledge gap through the design and validation of a Building Design Waste Reduction Strategies (Waste ReSt) model that aims to investigate the relationships between design variables and their impact on onsite waste reduction. The Waste ReSt model was validated in a real-world case study involving 20 residential buildings in Spain. The validation process comprises three stages. Firstly, design waste causes were analyzed. Secondly, design strategies were applied leading to several alternative low waste building elements. Finally, their potential source reduction levels were quantified and discussed within the context of the literature. The Waste ReSt model could serve as an instrumental tool to simulate designing out strategies in building projects. The knowledge provided by the model could help project stakeholders to better understand the correlation between the design process and waste sources and subsequently implement design practices for low-waste buildings., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

ABSTRACT: Labour Societies and Cooperatives are both Social Economy enterprises, but with noticeable differences, some of which are imposed by legislation in Spain. The aim of this paper is to study whether such differences affect their management capacity and, in particular, efficiency. In doing so, Data Envelopment Analysis techniques and the metafrontier approach proposed by O'Donnell et al. (2008) are used on a sample of Spanish Labour Societies and Cooperatives belonging to the building industry. Scores of technical efficiency and metafrontier ratios are computed at firm level and, as a novel contribution to existing literature in this field of research, at input-specific level. The main finding shows that Cooperatives enjoy some technological advantages over Labour Societies, particularly in regard to the management of labour, fixed assets and current assets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth experienced by the city of Pamplona in the last 20 years has resulted in the Arga River, which has historically bordered the city, being transformed into a riverbed that is fully embedded into the urban weave. However, successive urban development plans have preserved important areas of a rural nature surrounding the river and kept them free of construction. The connection of a purely urban realm with natural environments where landscape and ecosystems are to be preserved and strengthened requires the design of specific structures following mainly aesthetic and even historic and social criteria. The project of a pedestrian footbridge described in this paper has sought a design that minimizes its effects on the riverbed and the immediate environment and that also constitutes a reference point in a newly developed area that lacks landmarks to characterize it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to discuss findings from an analysis of accidents in concrete construction companies in Spain and to compare the accident rates of qualified and non-qualified workers. A total of 125,021 accidents between 2003 and 2008 involving both blue-collar and white-collar workers were analysed, comparing the variables of occupation, age, company staff, length of service, location of the accident, together with the severity of the accidents. Results showed that lack of experience in the first month is more significant in non-qualified workers and experienced supervisors and that head injuries are more likely to lead to fatalities. The most remarkable similarity was that fatal accidents to and from the worksite are a problem common to both groups of workers.

This paper assesses technical efficiency and its determinants in the Spanish construction sector from a comparative perspective for the period 2000 to 2010 by using different parametric approaches in the form of stochastic frontier models. The main results reveal similar (no) influential factors on efficiency. For all models, the determinants found were capital intensity, prefinancial and postfinancial crisis periods, and workers' skills. There was no difference in terms of sign and statistical significance. Firm age was positively related to efficiency in two of the three models. Firm size was not significant in any model. Finally, the average efficiency values obtained by the models are 55.3, 69.2, and 91.0%, suggesting the possibility of significant improvements in resource management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the extent to which engineers can influence the competitive behavior of bidders in best value or multiattribute construction auctions, in which both the (dollar) bid and technical nonprice criteria are scored according to a scoring rule. From a sample of Spanish construction auctions with a variety of bid scoring rules, it is found that bidders are influenced by the auction rules in significant and predictable ways. The bid score weighting, bid scoring formula, and abnormally low bids criterion are variables likely to influence the competitiveness of bidders in terms of both their aggressive/conservative bidding and concentration/dispersion of bids. Revealing the influence of the bid scoring rules and their magnitude on bidders' competitive behavior opens the door for the engineer to condition bidder competitive behavior in such a way as to provide the balance needed to achieve the owner's desired strategic outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Estimating health and safety costs in the construction industry presents various difficulties, including the complexity of cost allocation, the inadequacy of data available to managers and the absence of an accounting model designed specifically for safety cost management. Very often, the costs arising from accidents in the workplace are not fully identifiable due to the hidden costs involved. OBJECTIVE: This paper reviews some studies of occupational health and safety cost management and proposes a means of classifying these costs. METHODS:We conducted an empirical study in which the health and safety costs of 40 constructionworksites are estimated. RESULTS: A new classification of the health and safety cost and its categories is proposed: Safety and non-safety costs. CONCLUSIONS: The costs of the company's health and safety policy should be included in the information provided by the accounting system, as a starting point for analysis and control. From this perspective, a classification of health and safety costs and its categories is put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates how returns to education affect school enrollment and grade completion using a novel identification strategy. The strategy exploits construction data for the Spanish housing boom and the fact that the construction sector employs mostly uneducated men. Hence, the Spanish housing boom significantly decreased the returns to education for men while it hardly affected those for women. I show that a 10 percent decrease in the ratio of wages of educated to uneducated individuals leads to a 2 percent decrease in the probability of being enrolled in school and a 0.2 percent decrease in grade completion among 16-18-year-oIds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The building industry is becoming very important in sustainable development. The recently developed policies in European Union directives on energy and their transposition to Spanish regulations make the Energy Performance Certification process for buildings mandatory. Two software tools have been developed in Spain to carry out this process: Lider and Calener. These software tools have been used in this paper to simulate energy performance in new semidetached houses after taking into account the thermal envelope of the building and facilities. This has been done in different climatic zones in Spain and for all the possible energy ratings. Based on the energy rating and construction cost variables, it has been possible to obtain mathematical models that explain the behaviour of global costs of buildings based on energy ratings and climatic zones. Depreciation costs, maintenance costs, energy consumption and CO2emissions during the service life of a house have also been modelled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Since the mid-1990 s, Prevention through Design (PtD) has become increasingly prevalent in the built environment. The acceptance of PtD has largely been due to the removal or reduction of risks during the execution phase of construction projects. European States have had the added impetus of national legislation. OBJECTIVE: This paper analyzes the influence of European Union Directive 92/57/EEC on occupational safety and health injury prevention in the project design phase. METHODS: Qualitative methods comprised individual semi-structured interviews and focus groups with a panel of experts. Sixty individuals from construction and related professions (architects, engineers, constructors, developers, and other construction experts) answered 17 key questions to establish national perceptions of the effectiveness of Directive 92/57/EEC in Spain and the United Kingdom (UK). RESULTS: The implementation of PtD in the project design phase in the UK is clearer since the regulations explicitly state the obligations of project designers as well as those of the coordinator. Interviews with Spanish experts show that, in Spain, the prevention culture is less frequently realized. CONCLUSIONS: The most significant differences between the European Directive and national regulations which influence PtD are linked to the Health and Safety Coordinator, and Health and Safety documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is often predicted that the industrialization of building activities will lead to a reduction of accident rates in the construction sector, particularly as a result of switching activities from building sites to factories. However, to date no scientific research has provided objective quantitative results to back up this claim. The aim of this paper is to evaluate how industrialization affects the accident rate in different industrialized building systems in Spain. Our results revealed that the industrialized steel modular system presents the lowest accident rate, while the highest accident rate was recorded in the construction method with cast-in-place concrete. The lightweight construction system also presents a high accident rate. Accordingly, industrialized building systems cannot claim to be safer than traditional ones. The different types of "on-site work" seem to be the main variable which would explain the accident rates recorded in industrialized construction systems., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Problem: This paper analyzes the severity of workplace accidents involving electricity in the Spanish construction sector comprising 2,776 accidents from 2003 to 2008., Method: The investigation considered the impact of 13 variables, classified into 5 categories: Personal, Business, Temporal, Material, and Spatial., Results: The findings showed that electrical accidents are almost five times more likely to have serious consequences than the average accident in the sector and it also showed how the variables of age, occupation, company size, length of service, preventive measures, time of day, days of absence, physical activity, material agent, type of injury, body part injured, accident location, and type of location are related to the severity of the electrical accidents under consideration., Summary: The present situation makes it clear that greater effort needs to be made in training, monitoring, and signage to guarantee a safe working environment in relation to electrical hazards., Practical Applications: This research enables safety technicians, companies, and government officials to identify priorities and to design training strategies to minimize the serious consequences of electrical accidents for construction workers., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and National Safety Council. All rights reserved.)

BACKGROUND: The construction industry is one of the sectors with the highest accident rates and the most serious accidents. A multi-agent safety response approach allows a useful diagnostic tool in order to understand factors affecting risk and accidents. The special features of the construction sector can influence the relationships among safety responses along the model of safety influences. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this paper is to test a model explaining risk and work-related accidents in the construction industry as a result of the safety responses of the organization, the supervisors, the co-workers and the worker. METHODS: Sample: 374 construction employees belonging to 64 small Spanish construction companies working for two main companies participated in the study. Instruments: Safety responses were measured using a 45-item Likert-type questionnaire. Methodology: The structure of the measure was analyzed using factor analysis and the model of effects was tested using a structural equation model. RESULTS: Factor analysis clearly identifies the multi-agent safety dimensions hypothesized. The proposed safety response model of work-related accidents, involving construction specific results, showed a good fit. CONCLUSIONS: The multi-agent safety response approach to safety climate is a useful framework for the assessment of organizational and behavioral risks in construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The management planning of construction and demolition (C&D) waste uses a single indicator which does not provide enough detailed information. Therefore the determination and implementation of other innovative and precise indicators should be determined. The aim of this research work is to improve existing C&D waste quantification tools in the construction of new residential buildings in Spain. For this purpose, several housing projects were studied to determine an estimation of C&D waste generated during their construction process. This paper determines the values of three indicators to estimate the generation of C&D waste in new residential buildings in Spain, itemizing types of waste and construction stages. The inclusion of two more accurate indicators, in addition to the global one commonly in use, provides a significant improvement in C&D waste quantification tools and management planning.

In Spain, the high levels of inexperienced workers and the long chains of subcontracting contribute to the poor quality of dwellings. Although the Ley reguladora de la subcontratación en el Sector de la Construcción (subcontracting law) has established quality measures, the number of customer complaints is still increasing. In this paper, a total of 2,351 posthandover defects derived from four Spanish builders and seven residential developments are classified according to their source and origin. The research reveals that the most common defects identified by customers at posthandover were derived from bad workmanship and were related to construction errors and omissions. Typical defects were found to include incorrect installation, appearance defects, and missing an item or task mainly related to finishing and considered to be minor. No defects were caused by poor design because they are mainly detected and resolved during construction or become apparent after some years of use. This study demonstrates the negative impact of redoing defective work during the final stages of construction and provides knowledge to define measures to improve the quality of the finished buildings, such as understanding customer expectations and preferences, training programs for workers, specialization of subcontractors, and tightening external controls prior to handover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the work summarized here was to improve the efficiency of the construction project management processes performed by the Spanish civil service, identifying and analyzing the main risks in these kinds of projects, and also establishing potential risk responses. The scope of this effort included a list of 96 risk events, categorized and prioritized first by impact, then by frequency. The most relevant ones are related to issues such as an inadequate prequalification system, insufficient training of public servants, or political considerations prevailing over real needs, among others. A total of 117 potential risk responses were identified, categorized, and prioritized by potential efficiency and difficulty of implementation. Each risk event was associated to a set of potential responses. The paper includes the top 15 risk events with its main potential responses, including qualitative assessments. A survey was carried out among Spanish public servants working in construction projects, to validate risk identification and to obtain a qualitative assessment. Moreover, a Delphi analysis was developed to validate the risk response identification and obtain a qualitative assessment. One of the conclusions is that small and medium-sized Spanish civil service agencies should work toward increasing their maturity in managing projects and, mainly, project risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the environmental and social challenges that emerged in Spain in the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis. The high dependence of the national economy on the inflated construction sector led the country to a sudden recession when the real estate market collapsed. The consequences were manifold: On the one hand, the number of evictions increased dramatically as households without regular income could not repay their mortgages. On the other hand, suburbs were filled with ‘ghost towns’ of unfinished buildings and empty estates, which were abandoned by bankrupted developers. This article presents a feasible solution for both problems. The strategy is based on the temporal colonization of unfinished buildings to provide affordable accommodation for evicted families. The existing structures will be retrofitted with low-cost and high-performance solutions based on thorough environmental analysis. These architectural interventions will qualify the urban environment while responding to urgent housing needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small-sized and medium-sized contractors are characterized by organizational structures that are highly focused on control. As a result, employees concentrate on day-to-day activities with little time or motivation to generate creative ideas. Generally, the technological improvements of these companies arise as a result of problem-solving at the construction site. Nevertheless, the actual status quo is changing. Some Spanish public agencies are already considering innovation as an added value in public procurement; thus, large contractors are starting to systemize their innovative efforts. This means that small-sized and medium-sized enterprises must modify their attitudes towards innovation in order to sustain their competitiveness. The implementation of a system that enhances innovation and acquisition of knowledge may be the solution to overcome this disadvantage. The implementation of an innovation management system was analyzed in a Spanish construction firm of medium size for 9 years. The system builds on a set of processes aimed to generate innovation projects that allow the contractor to document the innovation, not only for internal purposes related to knowledge management, but also for external ones associated with obtaining better results in public tenders. These processes are as follows: (1) technology watch, (2) creativity, (3) planning and executing innovation projects, (4) technology transfer, and (5) protection of results. The final step is the feedback of the entire process through the assessment of the final outcomes. The implementation of the innovation system is ensured within the organization, through training of personnel, participation of stakeholders, and encouragement of the innovation culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managerial accounting can play an important role in supporting safety management in enterprises, by systematically providing appropriate reports to support the decision-making process in the area of risk prevention, benefiting both internal and external stakeholders. In this paper, we first examine the weaknesses of current managerial accounting systems as regards the provision of systematic information on the cost of measures to ensure health and safety in the workplace. We then propose a model of management accounting to calculate, analyse and control these costs, with particular reference to construction companies. Finally, we implement a case study in a Spanish construction company, focusing on two construction projects carried out in 2008 in Andalusia (Spain). This study reveals that health and safety costs are substantial and remain invisible to the company to a very large degree (more than 90%), because the items that make up this cost are dispersed within other accounting entries, thus remaining unidentified on the income statement. Accordingly, construction companies need to implement a management accounting system to get appropriate information about safety costs, to guide their decisions in safety management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction workers are getting older. In the European Union, the percentage of workers over 50 grew from 24.7% in 2011 to 31.5% in 2018, in Spain from 20.4% to 31.2%. Objective. Identify trends and detailed patterns of accidents of older construction workers compared to other age groups. Data and Method. We analyzed construction accidents in Spain from 2011 to 2018 (N = 455,491). The number of accidents and lost working days (LWD) were broken down by occupation, seniority, company size, temporal variables (weekday, hour), trigger, and body part injured and compared for different age groups. Results. Although older worker had fewer accidents, the consequences of accidents were more serious. Those over 50 years had 84% more lost working days (LWD) than those under 24 years, 48% more than those between 25 and 39 years, and 21% more than those between 40 and 49 years. (1) Occupation: the percentage of accidents grew with age for supervisors, lorry drivers, and bricklayers. (2) Seniority: the least experienced (less than 6 months) and the most experienced (more than 6 years) had the most LWD. (3) Company size: there are 24.5% of accidents in companies of less than four workers. (4) Trigger: older workers suffered more falls, both from height and at the same level. (5) Time: the percentage of accidents in those over 50 was higher on Thursdays and Fridays, in the afternoons from 4 to 7 p.m., and after four hours of work. (6) Injury: this shows the longest absences for shoulder injuries for those over 50 years, with an average of 70 LWD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents the results of a study whose aim was to analyse the safety conditions of supported scaffolds (i.e., ground supported scaffolding). In 2007 the authors examined the scaffolding erected on 105 building sites in Spain. The study provides a qualitative assessment of the safety conditions of bracings, anchor ties, toe-boards, guardrails, ladders, struts, long beams, cross beams, platforms, supports, etc. In the European Union there are no legal requirements for the manufacturers of supported scaffolds, but there are some regulations on the use of this type of scaffolding on construction sites. This is the case, in particular, of the Directive 2001/45/EC, on workplace health and safety. The European norms EN 12810 and EN 12811 also provide some non-compulsory guidance for scaffolding manufacturers. The scaffolding currently used can comply or not with the previous norms. Since conformed scaffolding is more expensive than non-conformed, both types are found on construction sites. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Knowledge management (KM) has been studied extensively in recent years. Some consider knowledge to be the most strategically important resource for any company, but the fragmented, project-based and task-oriented nature of construction work makes it more difficult to implement KM in this sector. This paper presents a survey of perceptions of KM implementation in the Spanish construction sector and compares the results obtained from design and construction firms. Data were collected from the leading civil engineering companies in Spain. The survey found that the Spanish construction industry is aware of the benefits of KM but that systematic KM is not generally implemented. The findings clearly demonstrate that changes in organizational culture are critical to successful KM. The survey also revealed some distinctions between the KM perception of design firms and that of construction firms. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

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The construction sector has, in Spain, a remarkable importance, due to the contribution to GDP, around 10%, and employment (10%) and the wide business network it includes. The present economic situation and the residential market saturation have led to a sharp contraction in building activity, after a long period of growth. This is, therefore, a good time to perform a structural analysis to identify the determinants of profitability and assess the projection of the companies operating therein. This paper identifies the rules of competition and reasonable business expectations for coming years, using the Model of Five Competitive Forces. This analysis will show opportunities and difficulties for constructors as a tool in making decisions. The success of the strategy will depend on the management of strengths and capabilities, especially in times of change in the competitive environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper we discuss the results of a research project called eXtensible Project Documentation Reporting Language (XPDRL). The main objective of this project is to improve the quality of the core project documentation that serves for supporting the construction works in Spain and to facilitate an efficient exchange of information between the stakeholders in the Spanish Architectural Engineering and Construction sector, in particular their relationship with the Professional Associations and Spanish control public bodies. Starting from the premise that high quality project documentation is the basic precondition for a good quality in all the phases of the whole buildings and facilities life cycle, the project is based on Internet, XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) and the new Spanish standards about the quality in the project documentation (UNE 157000 series). As a result, a new set of XBRL taxonomies has been developed to support the processes of elaboration, verification, sending to the Professional Association, digital stamping, delivery, control, compulsory registration and storage of the construction project core documentation by the public authorities. Our proposal can be extended to other countries, particularly in Europe, since regulations are becoming similar in all EU countries. The potential for spin-off technology utilization is also significant in the areas of insurance, inspection chamber, digital reporting and project management. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Problem: One of the phases with the highest risk of falls from a height in the construction of a building is during the floor slab formwork stage. This paper analyzes this particular risk, as well as the most frequently used fall-protection systems. Method: A survey was carried out to define the current situation in Spain with regard to falls from a height during floor slab formwork and the fall-protection systems used to prevent such a risk. Results: The results of the survey clarified the current situation in Spain with regard to this risk, and made it clear that there is considerable risk of falling from a height during the floor slab formwork stage. Discussion: All the safety systems analyzed presented a series of weak points that should be studied in detail before they can be used on building sites. Impact on industry: The risk of falling associated with floor slab formwork and the most frequently used protection systems are analyzed. As no research had been carried out to date on this type of risk, we consider the research presented in this article to be a pioneer in the field. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Migrant workers safety remains a major challenge in the construction sector. • There has been limited focus on migrant worker safety in Italy, Spain and the UK. • Role modelling and soft skills are key for migrant workers' safety behaviours. • On-site training may be crucial to safety training of migrant workers. • Supervisors modelling safety behaviors is crucial to safety training transfer. The construction industry is notoriously high risk for accidents, injuries, and deaths, particularly for non-national or migrant workers, who comprise a significant proportion of the workforce. This paper presents an international, qualitative study focused on exploring the challenges which influence the safety of migrant construction workers in Italy, Spain, and the UK. Based on a comprehensive review of the literature, we formulated two research questions about the challenges relating to safety that migrant workers face and the challenges to safety training effectively improving migrant workers' safety behaviours. We present our template analysis of semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 88 participants from four occupational groups across all three countries. This identified commonalities and differences in interpretations of the primary challenges to migrant workers' safety, amongst participants from the various occupational groups (workers, site supervisors, safety trainers and safety experts) in Italy, Spain, and the UK. These were associated with: increased use of subcontractors; dilution of safety standards down the supply chain; pressure to breach safety regulations on site; differing safety-related attitudes and behaviours due to national cultural differences, language barriers and issues relating to training (provision, delivery, language, content and transfer). Finally, we summarise the contributions and limitations of our study, arguing further interventions related to safety training are needed, along with ethnographic studies to explore how both macro-level and contextual factors affect safety outcomes for migrant construction workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The construction industry has both positive and negative repercussions on the environment. One of the main negative impacts is the generation of waste. Various types of instruments exist to manage construction and demolition wastes (C&DW). These include voluntary agreements between economic agents, planning, and technological development applied to specific projects. The present state of C&DW management is different in each country and/or region, and is determined by the management instruments used and the degree to which their content has been developed. As elsewhere, the rise of the construction sector in the Community of Madrid in recent years has brought about a notable increase in the generation of C&DW. In order to deal with this situation, the Autonomous Government has initiated several management instruments, including the Plan for Integrated Management of C&DW in the Community of Madrid (2002–2011). At the same time, some construction companies have implemented an environmental management system (EMS) in accordance with ISO Standard 14001, with a view to controlling the main environmental aspects associated with their activities, such as the generation of waste. These companies have established practical measures for the appropriate management of waste generated in their work centres and sites, whether permanent or temporary. This paper presents results of an analysis and evaluation of the application of ISO Standard 14001 to construction sites in the Autonomous Community of Madrid, with specific regard to practices of control and management of wastes generated on site, and to the fulfilment of legislation on waste management. The study aims to detect the deficiencies of EMS and current waste management instruments, and to determine the measures which may be necessary for improvement at all territorial levels (autonomous, national and supranational). In addition, some recommendations are made for promoting management of C&DW based on reuse and recycling in construction companies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A central theme in strategic management is the theoretical relationship between strategic groups and firm performance. However, the empirical evidence is conflicting. The aim of this research is to study this link-age by examining business strategies in the Spanish construction industry. This paper defines several groups based on Porter's generic strategies of 88 house-building firms, and studies performance differences between groups. The empirical findings demonstrate that significant differences in performance do not exist among groups. Implications of this research for Porter's generic strategies in construction are then discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to their widespread use, search engines, and specifically Google, are extremely important to attract qualified traffic and thereby achieve the commercial objectives of corporations. Search engine optimization (SEO) allows enhanced connection of corporate websites with their audiences through search engines, using certain keywords. This study describes a methodology to determine the most important Spanish companies offering SEO services to third parties, representing an exploratory study of applied cybermetrics for the construction of a universe of companies. One of the relevant results of this work is the design of an information retrieval strategy based on a statistical analysis of search terms and the performance of geolocated searches in all the provincial capitals and Spanish cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants. After cleaning and reviewing the unique URLs, it is concluded that there are 1,043 companies offering SEO services in Spain positioned in Google. These are basically companies with more than one person, operating from a single location, and that offer other services in their portfolio together with SEO. In addition to providing a starting point for future research on the SEO sector in Spain, this research proposes a methodology for the creation of study universes of brands or companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The leather industry is an example of circular economy, as it uses meat industry wastes (hides and skins) as raw materials. However, the process of tanning also produces a substantial amount of organic waste. This research project studies the case of a tannery located in Navarra, in the North of Spain, committed to a circular economy and environmental protection, which produces around 2 tons per day of leather shavings and buffing dust and 10 tons per day of discarded bullock hair. The study tackles the challenge of whether the discarded waste material might be used as a new resource for products or processes related with the building sector. Three different types of solid wastes (chromium free tanned shavings, chromium buffing dust, and discarded hair) were categorized and analyzed. The paper examines two proposals to reuse the weekly tons of leftovers (both shavings and hair) produced by the tannery, instead of taking them to an external composting plant or to the landfill. The first exploration path proposed to use the discarded material to obtain biomass for the company's thermal production plant. After establishing the calorific values of the discarded hair and the shavings, these were found to offer competitive value in comparison with the biomass products used at present, such as wood pellets. The second approach to the waste upcycling involved seeking new products in the building sector, acoustic panels in this case. After a mechanical behavior analysis, different binders were blended with diverse proportions and particle sizes of shavings to obtain samples for a sound absorption coefficient determination. The results show coefficients close to those of cork panels or carpets. This experimental experience serves as a preliminary study for the use of leather industry wastes in the construction sector. • Further circular economy in leather industry: two proposals for industrial symbiosis. • Holistic approach for waste material recycling challenge. • Recycling tools for a market of more than US$100 billion per year. • Use of waste as biomass might reduce by more than half the dependency on natural gas. • Competitive performance of leather by-products as acoustic absorption panels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Latino day laborers face substantial injuries at work. We present a comprehensive assessment of their injury experience and explore the predictors of selfreported injuries. Methods. Worker and injury characteristics were collected from 331 day laborers using an innnovative injury assessment tool. The odds of injury were estimated using a logistic regression. Results. Participants were foreign-born, Spanish monolingual, and employed in construction. Sixty-seven individuals reported 88 past-year injuries, mostly involving the upper or lower extremities. Injuries were caused by moving heavy objects, falling, or being struck an object. Of the documented injuries, 24% were not reported at work due to fear of being fired; 64.4% resulted in missed workdays, 54.0% in temporary incapacitation, and 34.5% in permanent incapacitation. Being married significantly reduced the odds of reporting an injury. Discussion. Better documentation can inform the development of better policy protections that ameliorate injuries experienced by Latino day laborers at the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use detailed information from social security records to document the evolution of male earnings inequality and employment in Spain from 1988 to 2010. We find that inequality was strongly countercyclical: it increased around the 1993 recession, experienced a substantial decrease during the 1997-2007 expansion and then a sharp increase during the recent recession. This evolution went in parallel with the cyclicality of employment in the lower middle part of the wage distribution. Our findings highlight the importance of the housing boom and bust in this evolution, suggesting that demand shocks in the construction sector had large effects on aggregate labour market outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Accidents in the construction sector are a cause for concern. The influence of many different factors in construction accidents have been studied (age, company size, length of service, deviation, drugs or alcohol consumption, etc.) but the influence of medicinal substances in specific construction activities has not been evaluated until now. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the research presented here is to identify the effect of different medicinal substances on the occupational risk levels of construction activities with formworks. METHODS: An expert panel was selected in order to quantify the individual risk of each medication for each individual construction activity. RESULTS: Results showed that narcotics, antipsychotics, and hypnotics had the highest risk values, and the use of cranes and cutting materials were considered the most dangerous activities for a medicated worker. CONCLUSIONS: Data obtained in this research can help reduce the negative effects of the substances studied on the occupational safety of construction workers. A better knowledge of the risk levels according to the current capabilities of workers under the effects of medication is a powerful tool in planning safer construction activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an analysis of the construction sector in Spain over the last decade. Several indicators are constructed based on Input–Output tables that demonstrate that the importance attributed to this sector does not correspond to its true role in the overall Spanish economy. Although it is true that the construction industry is important for other sectors of the economy, it is also true that the sector shows indicators that are average for the Spanish economy and lower than those of the industrial sector. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of a subsidy policy for construction companies in Andalusia (Spain), which enables them to acquire new scaffolds. The rate of falls from scaffolds within the Andalusian construction sector in the period 2009–2011 was analysed. A randomised controlled trial was not possible as the subsidy was granted according to a public and competitive call. A quasi-experimental design based on an intervention group (subsidised companies) and a control group was chosen. Companies in the control group were selected from the social security census of companies in order to avoid selection bias. The subsidy policy has led to an overall 71% decrease in the rate of accident involving falls to a lower level in the companies that received grants in the period 2009–2011. The confidence interval for the comparison for the before–after difference in rates between the intervention group and the control group is found significant (confidence 95%,p= 0.05). The improvement of scaffolds was effective in reducing rates of accident with falls to a lower level. This intervention should be a priority in public policies. The process of standardisation of equipment with high accident risk should be developed further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]