Safety climate : recent developments and future implications

Safety climate is a current interest to construction practitioners and researchers. The concept of safety climate has been actively explored in the field of Industrial and Organizational (I/O) psychology but yet in the construction industry. This paper aims to review the literature of safety climate in a systematic manner and highlight future directions for safety research and development of safety practices in the construction industry. The value of safety climate lies on its ability to predict safety behavior. Safety climate, as a mediator, unfolds the relationship between organizational variables and safety behavior. It, as a moderator, affects the effectiveness of any safety initiatives to improve safety performance. Future research directions would be likely to look at relationship between organizational factors and safety climate using multi-level analysis. To the construction industry, safety climate measurement is a good indicator to assess safety performance. Empirical studies show that frontline supervisor would be the best conduit to create a positive safety climate at workgroup level. It is believed that this paper is beneficial to researchers interested in behavioral aspect of construction safety and industry practitioners striving for safety on site.

Theory based production and project management

This paper gives an overview of an ongoing project endeavouring to advance theory-based production and project management, and the rationale for this approach is briefly justified. The status of the theoretical foundation of production management, project management and allied disciplines is discussed, with emphasis on metaphysical grounding of theories, as well as the nature of the heuristic solution method commonly used in these disciplines. Then, on-going work related to different aspects of production and project management is reviewed from both theoretical and practical orientation. Next, information systems agile project management is explored with a view to its re-use in generic project management. In production management, the consequences and implementation of a new, wider theoretical basis are analyzed. The theoretical implications and negative symptoms of the peculiarities of the construction industry for supply chains and supply chain management in construction are observed. Theoretical paths for improvements of inter-organisational relationships in construction which are fundamental for improvement of construction supply chains are described. To conclude, the observations made in this paper vis-à-vis production, project and supply chain management are related again to the theoretical basis of this paper, and finally directions for theory development and future research are given and discussed.

An approach for extending Building Information Models (BIM) to specifications

The Construction industry accounts for a tenth of global GDP. Still, challenges such as slow adoption of new work processes, islands of information, and legal disputes, remain frequent, industry-wide occurrences despite various attempts to address them. In response, IT-based approaches have been adopted to explore collaborative ways of executing construction projects. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is an exemplar of integrative technologies whose 3D-visualisation capabilities have fostered collaboration especially between clients and design teams. Yet, the ways in which specification documents are created and used in capturing clients' expectations based on industry standards have remained largely unchanged since the 18th century. As a result, specification-related errors are still common place in an industry where vast amounts of information are consumed as well as produced in the course project implementation in the built environment. By implication, processes such as cost planning which depend on specification-related information remain largely inaccurate even with the use of BIM-based technologies. This paper briefly distinguishes between non-BIM-based and BIM-based specifications and reports on-going efforts geared towards the latter. We review exemplars aimed at extending Building Information Models to specification information embedded within the objects in a product library and explore a viable way of reasoning about a semi-automated process of specification using our product library.

The importance of use and end-of-life phases to the life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of concrete : a review

Global climate change is one of the most significant environmental impacts at the moment. One central issue for the building and construction industry to address global climate change is the development of credible carbon labelling schemes for building materials. Various carbon labelling schemes have been developed for concrete due to its high contribution to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, as most carbon labelling schemes adopt cradle-to-gate as system boundary, the credibility of the eco-label information may not be satisfactory because recent studies show that the use and end-of-life phases can have a significant impact on the life cycle GHG emissions of concrete in terms of carbonation, maintenance and rehabilitation, other indirect emissions, and recycling activities. A comprehensive review on the life cycle assessment of concrete is presented to holistically examine the importance of use and end-of-life phases to the life cycle GHG quantification of concrete. The recent published ISO 14067: Carbon footprint of products – requirements and guidelines for quantification and communication also mandates the use of cradle-to-grave to provide publicly available eco-label information when the use and end-of-life phases of concrete can be appropriately simulated. With the support of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and other simulation technologies, the contribution of use and end-of-life phases to the life cycle GHG emissions of concrete should not be overlooked in future studies.

Time pressure and coworker support mediate the curvilinear relationship between age and occupational well-being

As the proportion of older employees in the workforce is growing, researchers have become increasingly interested in the association between age and occupational well-being. The curvilinear nature of relationships between age and job satisfaction and between age and emotional exhaustion is well-established in the literature, with employees in their late 20s to early 40s generally reporting lower levels of occupational well-being than younger and older employees. However, the mechanisms underlying these curvilinear relationships are so far not well understood due to a lack of studies testing mediation effects. Based on an integration of role theory and research from the adult development and career literatures, this study examined time pressure, work–home conflict, and coworker support as mediators of the relationships between age and job satisfaction and between age and emotional exhaustion. Data came from 771 employees between 17 and 74 years of age in the construction industry. Results showed that employees in their late 20s to early 40s had lower job satisfaction and higher emotional exhaustion than younger and older employees. Time pressure and coworker support fully mediated both the U-shaped relationship between age and job satisfaction and the inversely U-shaped relationship between age and emotional exhaustion. These findings suggest that organizational interventions may help increase the relatively low levels of occupational well-being in certain age groups.

BIM support for disaster response

The introduction of Building Information Modelling (BIM) to the design, construction and operation of buildings is changing the way that the building construction industry works. BIM involves the development of a full 3D virtual model of a building which not only contains the 3D information necessary to show the building as it will appear, but also contains significant additional data about each component in the building. BIM represents both physical and virtual objects in a building. This includes the rooms and spaces within and around the building. The additional data stored on each part of the building can support building maintenance opera- tions and, more importantly from the perspective of this paper, support the generation and running of simula- tions of the operation of the building and behaviour of people within it under both normal and emergency scenarios. The initial discussion is around the use of BIM to support the design of resilient buildings which references the various codes and standards that define current best practice. The remainder of the discussion uses various recent events as the basis for discussion on how BIM could have been used to support rapid recovery and re- building.

What Next? Future Directions for R&D Investment

Professor Peter Barrett at the 2013 CIB World Building Congress1 (WBC13) presented a timely context for the future of research and development (R&D) investment in the global construction industry (Barrett, 2013). He called for a shift in the focus from lessons learned and doing things better to what is the right thing to do and developing a new paradigm for achieving this. This shift requires empathy with industry and users; a desire to generate and transmit knowledge; an opportunity to study deeply and over the long term; and with an objective stance towards fJositive and negative findings. This shift includes the creation of sta11dards for the holistic impact of spaces through exemplary pilot projects creating evidence for policy makers and clients (Barrett, 2013)...

Common hazards and their mitigating measures in work zones : a qualitative study of worker perceptions

Road construction and maintenance activities present challenges for ensuring the safety of workers and the traveling public alike. Hazards in work zones are typically studied using historical crash records but the current study took a qualitative approach by interviewing 66 workers from various work zones in Queensland, Australia. This supplemented and enhanced the limited available data regarding the frequency and nature of work zone crashes in Australia, provided worker insights into contributing factors, and assessed their opinions on the likely effectiveness of current or future approaches to hazard mitigation. Workers may not be aware of objective data regarding effectiveness, but their attitudes and consequent levels of compliance can influence both the likelihood of implementation and the outcomes of safety measures. Despite the potential importance of worker perceptions, they have not been studied comprehensively to date, and thus this study fills a significant gap in the literature. Excessive vehicle speeds, driver distraction and aggression towards roadworkers, working in wet weather, at night and close to traffic stream were among the most common hazards noted by workers. The safety measures perceived to be most effective included police presence, active enforcement, and improving driver awareness and education about work zones. Worker perceptions differed according to their level of exposure to hazards.

Developing affordable and sustainable housing through energy, transport, and building utility integration

Housing affordability and sustainable development are not polarised ideologies as both are necessary with increasing urbanisation. We must bridge the gap between current median house pricing and target affordable house pricing whilst pursuing sustainability. This paper examines the potential of initial construction cost and ongoing utilities and transport cost reduction through the integration of sustainable housing design and transit oriented development principles in a Commuter Energy and Building Utilities System (CEBUS). It also introduces current research on the development of a Dynamic Simulation Model for CEBUS applications in the Australian property development and construction industry.

Investigating design for disassembly through creative practice

The construction industry is responsible for a significant part of the solid waste that industrialised nations dispose of each year. One reason for this is the inability to easily separate materials and components from each other and from the building structure. If buildings were designed for disassembly in the first instance, then future material and component recovery would be easier. This paper presents a number of principles for design for disassembly that have been tested and developed through a process of research through creative practice. A number of architectural designs have been used to trial the principles in practice.

A BIM-based collaborative design platform for variegated specialty design

With the increase in complexity of engineering projects and design quality in the construction industry, the traditional two-dimensional "Information Island" approach to design is becoming less able to meet current design needs due to its lack of coordination and information sharing. Collaborative design using a Build Information Modeling (BIM) technology platform promises to provide an effective means of designing and communicating through networking and real-time data sharing. This paper first analyzes the shortcomings of the two-dimensional design process and the potential application of collaborative design. By combining the attributes of BIM, a preliminary BIM-based building design collaborative platform is developed to improve the design approach and support a more collaborative design process. A real-life case is presented to demonstrate the feasibility and validity of the platform and its use in practice. From this, it is shown that BIM has the potential to realize effective information sharing and reduce errors, thereby improving design quality. The BIM-based building design collaborative platform presented is expected to provide the support needed for the extensive application of BIM in collaborative design and promote a new attitude to project management.

Innovative design : developing strategies to improve developer attitudes to sustainable housing

The literature advocates more widespread adoption of a particular type of house – a manufactured high performance green house and/or house components (MHPGH) and this is the focus of the research proposal outlined in this conceptual paper. The aim of the current paper is to outline a robust program of work to improve adoption of MHPGH. The contribution of houses to climate change is investigated, the conservatism of the construction industry is documented, a conceptual framework through which to understand the problem is presented; a program of research to bring about change is outlined; and the benefits of doing so are summarised. The contribution of the paper is the presentation of novel theory and methods to address sustainability problems in the construction industry. Future work will involve execution of the proposal. A limitation of the paper is that the effectiveness of the proposed theory and methods are yet to be tested.

Proactive training system for safe and efficient precast installation

The construction industry is a crucial component of the Hong Kong economy, and the safety and efficiency of workers are two of its main concerns. The current approach to training workers relies primarily on instilling practice and experience in conventional teacher-apprentice settings on and off site. Both have their limitations however, on-site training is very inefficient and interferes with progress on site, while off-site training provides little opportunity to develop the practical skills and awareness needed through hands-on experience. A more effective way is to train workers in safety awareness and efficient working by current novel information technologies. This paper describes a new and innovative prototype system – the Proactive Construction Management System (PCMS) – to train precast installation workers to be highly productive while being fully aware of the hazards involved. PCMS uses Chirp-Spread-Spectrum-based (CSS) real-time location technology and Unity3D-based data visualisation technology to track construction resources (people, equipment, materials, etc.) and provide real-time feedback and post-event visualisation analysis in a training environment. A trial of a precast facade installation on a real site demonstrates the benefits gained by PCMS in comparison with equivalent training using conventional methods. It is concluded that, although the study is based on specific industrial conditions found in Hong Kong construction projects, PCMS may well attract wider interest and use in future.

The contribution of ISO 14067 to the evolution of global greenhouse gas standards—A review

Due to the increasing recognition of global climate change, the building and construction industry is under pressure to reduce carbon emissions. A central issue in striving towards reduced carbon emissions is the need for a practicable and meaningful yardstick for assessing and communicating greenhouse gas (GHG) results. ISO 14067 was published by the International Organization for Standardization in May 2013. By providing specific requirements in the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach, the standard clarifies the GHG assessment in the aspects of choosing system boundaries and simulating use and end-of-life phases when quantifying carbon footprint of products (CFPs). More importantly, the standard, for the first time, provides step-to-step guidance and standardized template for communicating CFPs in the form of CFP external communication report, CFP performance tracking report, CFP declaration and CFP label. ISO 14067 therefore makes a valuable contribution to GHG quantification and transparent communication and comparison of CFPs. In addition, as cradle-to-grave should be used as the system boundary if use and end-of-life phases can be simulated, ISO 14067 will hopefully promote the development and implementation of simulation technologies, with Building Information Modelling (BIM) in particular, in the building and construction industry.

Links between unlicensed and unregistered driving: Literature review. Report to Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads

Vehicle registration represents an important component of the management of the road transport system in Queensland, with most vehicles required to be registered before they can be driven or parked on a public road (Department of Transport and Main Roads, 2010b). In addition to the collection of taxes for road construction and maintenance, the current registration system also: • Sets the safety standards required for vehicles to be allowed on public roads; • Allows driver behaviour to be managed by identifying vehicles, and the responsible owners of vehicles, for enforcement purposes; and • Facilitates the collection of insurance premiums for the Queensland Compulsory Third Party (CTP) insurance scheme.