Confined site construction: An empirical analysis of factors impacting health and safety management

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify, clarify and tabulate the various managerial issues encountered, to aid in the management of the complex health and safety concerns which occur within a confined construction site environment.

Design/methodology/approach – This is achieved through conducting extensive qualitative and qualitative research in the form of case studies, interviews and questionnaire survey.

Findings – The leading managerial issues in the management of health and safety on a confined construction site are found to be: “Difficulty to move materials around site safely”; “Lack of adequate room for the effective handling of materials”; “Difficulty in ensuring site is tidy and all plant and materials are stored safely”; “Close proximity of individuals to operation of large plant and machinery”; and joint fifth “Difficulty in ensuring proper arrangement and collection of waste materials on-site” along with “Difficulty in controlling hazardous materials and equipment on site”.

Practical implications – The resulting implication for practice of these results can be summarised by identifying that with sustained development of urban centres on a global scale, coupled with the increasing complexity of architectural designs, the majority of on-site project management professionals are faced with the onerous task of completing often intricate designs within a limited spatial environment, under strict health and safety parameters.

Originality/value – The subsequent value of the findings are such that just as on-site management professionals successfully identify the various managerial issues highlighted, the successful management of health and safety on a confined construction site is attainable.

Critical factors affecting management of site operatives and personal in confined construction site

The aim of this paper is to identify and classify the numerous managerial issues encountered in the management of personnel in confined site construction. For the purpose of this research, a confined construction site is defined as a site where permanent works fit the site footprint, extending to levels above and/or below ground level, leaving spatial restrictions for other operations (e.g. plant and material movements, materials storage and temporary accommodation etc.) and require effective resource co-ordination beyond normal on-site management input. A literature review and analysis, case studies incorporating interviews and focus groups along with a questionnaire survey were used in order to gain a comprehensive insight into the issues in the management of personnel in a confined construction site environment. The following are the top five leading issues highlighted in the management of personnel in confined site construction; (1) Accidents due to an untidy site, (2) One contractor holding up another because of the lack of space, (3) A risk to personnel because of vehicular traffic on-site, (4) Difficult to facilitate several contractors at one work location, and (5) Numerous personnel working within the one space. In today’s modern environment, spatial restrictions are quickly becoming the norm in the industry. Therefore, the management of personnel on-site becomes progressively more difficult with the decrease in available space on-site. Where such environments exist, acknowledging the numerous issues highlighted above, aids site management in the supervision and co-ordination of personnel on-site, thus reducing accidents, increasing productivity and increase profit margins, in spatially restricted environments. As on-site management professionals successfully identify, acknowledge and counteract the numerous issues illustrated, the successful management of personnel on a confined construction site is achievable. By identifying the numerous issues, on-site management can proactively mitigate such issues through adopting counteractive measures and through successful identification of the traits identified.

Degradation of carbon disulphide (CS2) in soils and groundwater from a CS2 -contaminated site

This study is the first investigation of biodegradation of carbon disulphide (CS₂) in soil that provides estimates of degradation rates and identifies intermediate degradation products and carbon isotope signatures of degradation. Microcosm studies were undertaken under anaerobic conditions using soil and groundwater recovered from CS₂-contaminated sites. Proposed degradation mechanisms were validated using equilibrium speciation modelling of concentrations and carbon isotope ratios. A first-order degradation rate constant of 1.25 × 10-2 h-1 was obtained for biological degradation with soil. Carbonyl sulphide (COS) and hydrogen sulphide (H₂S) were found to be intermediates of degradation, but did not accumulate in vials. A 13C/12C enrichment factor of -7.5 ± 0.8 ‰ was obtained for degradation within microcosms with both soil and groundwater whereas a 13C/12C enrichment factor of -23.0 ± 2.1 ‰ was obtained for degradation with site groundwater alone. It can be concluded that biological degradation of both CS2-contaminated soil and groundwater is likely to occur in the field suggesting that natural attenuation may be an appropriate remedial tool at some sites. The presence of biodegradation by-products including COS and H₂S indicates that biodegradation of CS₂ is occurring and stable carbon isotopes are a promising tool to quantify CS₂ degradation.

CHARACTERIZATION OF THE CYSTEINE PROTEINASES OF THE COMMON LIVER FLUKE FASCIOLA-HEPATICA USING NOVEL, ACTIVE-SITE-DIRECTED AFFINITY LABELS

The excreted/secreted proteinases of adult and juvenile Fasciola hepatica maintained in vitro were found to hydrolyse the fluorogenic substrates Cbz-Phe-Arg- and Cbz-Arg-Arg-NHMec. This activity was demonstrated to have a classical cysteine proteinase inhibitor profile, with turn-over of both substrates being blocked by pre-incubation with E64 and peptidyl diazomethanes. The Cbz-Arg-Arg-NHMec hydrolysing activity of the mature fluke exhibited an alkaline stability not characteristic of its mammalian lysosomal counterparts. Further, the biotinylated affinity reagents biotin-Phe-Ala CHN2 and biotin-Phe-Cys(SBzyl)-CHN2 were used to label and characterize these cysteine proteinases in terms of apparent molecular weight and subsite specificity. Adult fluke media were found to contain four species of molecular weights 66, 58, 50 and 25-26 kDa; juvenile media contained three species of molecular weights 66, 54 and 25-26 kDa. The major 25-26 kDa cysteine proteinase common to both stages was shown to have a subsite specificity similar to that of mammalian cathepsin B.

Binding site of AMPA-receptor allosteric modulator

The computer molecular docking of piperonyl acid piperidide (BDP) and some its analogs already known as ampakins was conducted for estimating their possible binding with AMPA-receptor glutamate domains in cyclothiazide binding area and for further design of new structures maximally complimentary to the receptor. On the base of the conducted docking it can be suggested that the binding site of BDP (amides of benzodioxane-6-carboxylic and piperonyl acids) analogs is located in AMPA-receptor cyclothiazide binding pocket. It is shown that formation of protein-ligand complexes of AMPA-receptor with benzodioxane-6-carboxylic and piperonyl acid derivatives, similarly to cyclothiazide, proceeds with interaction with Ser497, Leu751, which significance is confirmed by site-specific mutagenesis.

CoMFA and homology-based models of the glycine binding site of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor

Homology modeling was used to build 3D models of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor glycine binding site on the basis of an X-ray structure of the water-soluble AMPA-sensitive receptor. The docking of agonists and antagonists to these models was used to reveal binding modes of ligands and to explain known structure-activity relationships. Two types of quantitative models, 3D-QSAR/CoMFA and a regression model based on docking energies, were built for antagonists (derivatives of 4-hydroxy-2-quinolone, quinoxaline-2,3-dione, and related compounds). The CoMFA steric and electrostatic maps were superimposed on the homology-based model, and a close correspondence was marked. The derived computational models have permitted the evaluation of the structural features crucial for high glycine binding site affinity and are important for the design of new ligands.

Structural basis for understanding structure-activity relationships for the glutamate binding site of the NMDA receptor

We present new homology-based models of the glutamate binding site (in closed and open forms) of the NMDA receptor NR2B subunit derived from X-ray structures of the water soluble AMPA sensitive glutamate receptor. The models were used for revealing binding modes of agonists and competitive antagonists, as well as for rationalizing known experimental facts concerning structure-activity relationships: (i) the switching between the agonist and the antagonist modes of action upon lengthening the chain between the distal acidic group and the amino acid moiety, (ii) the preference for the methyl group attached to the a-amino group of ligands, (iii) the preference for the D-configuration of agonists and antagonists, and (iv) the existence of "superacidic" agonists.

Improving multi-site benefit functions via Bayesian model averaging: A new approach to benefit transfer

A benefit function transfer obtains estimates of willingness-to-pay (WTP) for the evaluation of a given policy at a site by combining existing information from different study sites. This has the advantage that more efficient estimates are obtained, but it relies on the assumption that the heterogeneity between sites is appropriately captured in the benefit transfer model. A more expensive alternative to estimate WTP is to analyze only data from the policy site in question while ignoring information from other sites. We make use of the fact that these two choices can be viewed as a model selection problem and extend the set of models to allow for the hypothesis that the benefit function is only applicable to a subset of sites. We show how Bayesian model averaging (BMA) techniques can be used to optimally combine information from all models. The Bayesian algorithm searches for the set of sites that can form the basis for estimating a benefit function and reveals whether such information can be transferred to new sites for which only a small data set is available. We illustrate the method with a sample of 42 forests from U.K. and Ireland. We find that BMA benefit function transfer produces reliable estimates and can increase about 8 times the information content of a small sample when the forest is 'poolable'. © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.