Dongping Fang

Factor analysis-based studies on construction workplace safety management in China

Abstract This paper discussed an empirical research on workplace safety management performance on construction sites in China. Eleven factors that correlate closely with onsite safety management performance were identified and proved to be useful in other safety related studies. A literature review was first made to identify and categorize hazards in routine safety management on construction sites. A questionnaire survey was then conducted on 82 construction sites. The factor analysis method was utilized and 11 factors was extracted and interpreted. Finally, identified factors were used in other statistical methods to make more findings.

Measuring Safety Climate of a Construction Company

Safety climate can benefit contractors, specialty contractors, and owners of industries by providing them with the knowledge of attitudes and perceptions that can help to consistently achieve better safety performance. The objective of this research was to determine safety climate that would enhance safety culture and positively impact perceived safety performance on construction projects. A safety climate questionnaire survey was conducted on the construction sites of a leading construction company and its subcontractors in Hong Kong. Approximately, 1,500 hard copy questionnaires were distributed and the response rate was excellent, resulting in 1,120 valid questionnaires being collected from 22 construction projects. By means of factor analysis, two underlying safety climate factors were extracted, accounting for 43.9% of the total variance. Multiple regression analysis confirmed that these climate factors, “management commitment and employee involvement” and “inappropriate safety procedure and work pra...

Construction safety management: an exploratory study from China

This paper aims at presenting the analysis of the views of construction participants in China’s construction industry on three major site safety issues. First, data from three distinctive roles (project managers, safety officers, and foremen) on site safety knowledge were analysed. Results indicate that they have low levels of safety knowledge. This is consistent with the existing literature, implying that safety training and education is a major issue around the world. In addition, the views of project managers and safety officers are further elicited on the second issue (that is, factors affecting site safety) and the third issue (that is, methods for improving project safety management). Results indicate that both parties have quite consistent views. The six most important factors are “lack of attention to safety protection by workers”, “lack of attention to safety management by main contractors/project managers”, “insufficient safety training”, “inadequate safety level”, “tiredness of workers”, and “poor quality of construction materials and equipments”. The five most promising methods are “increase in safety investment in terms of manpower, capital and finance”, “improvement in safety operations”, “no alcohol at work”, “increase in safety training and education for workers”, and “increase in safety inspection”. Discussions are given in this paper.

Challenging and Enforcing Safety Management in Developing Countries: A Strategy

Abstract To eliminate fatalities and injuries, this work aims to present empirical research based on the examination of safety management practices currently operational in the construction industries of Pakistan, China and Hong Kong with a view to enhancing safety in developing countries. The current safety situation in the construction industries of Pakistan and China (and specifically Hong Kong) vis-à-vis safety schemes, challenges and opportunities, and enforcement is presented. Emerging themes from qualitative analysis substantiate the significance of ten factors highlighting the importance of implementing safety management systems on construction sites. The identified factors are safety as a value, safety system, safety organization, safety training, research and development, personal protection program, toolbox talks and a site safety cycle, plant department, safety and productivity, and development of construction business. Research demonstrates that constructors in the developing countries need to implement safety, health and environmental (SH&E) management systems within their companies. To deliver projects without injuries, a strategy for implementing a safety system is given to help reduce job site risks.

Special Issue on Engineering Management for Sustainable Development

We are very pleased to introduce this special issue of the Journal of Management in Engineering, titled “Engineering Management for Sustainable Development.” From an academic and research focus, sustainability within the built environment has traditionally been closely linked to habitat preservation and recycling of construction materials. For the past decade, we have witnessed a remarkable proliferation of environmental stewardship practices and policies involving energy efficiency, water conservation, climate change, renewable portfolio standards, and other issues. These advances expand the boundary of engineering management research and pose grand challenges for managing engineering projects in the context of nature, society, and future generations. Sustainable development aims to create the conditions in which humans and the environment exist in productive harmony. Sustainability research across the built environment has been continuously evolving because of its very nature and its relative youth as an academic focus. With this special issue, we aim to capitalize on the trend toward sustainable development by documenting this evolution, especially in light of the interface between sustainability and engineering management from a broader perspective. We believe that it is important for both researchers and practitioners to get a better understanding of where we stand and where we are headed. Our motivation seemed fully justified when our call for papers yielded nearly 30 submissions by the deadline. In total, 11 manuscripts were accepted for publication. We selected nine of them for inclusion in the special issue. Because of editorial issues and space limitations, the other two will be published later in regular issues. We are grateful to the authors of the papers for being responsive to the needs and deadlines of the special issue. We also thank the authors of all of the other papers that were submitted to the special issue. Without their participation, this endeavor would not have been a success. We would also like to thank all the reviewers and the journal publishing office for their continued support. Their tireless efforts and prompt responses helped us commit ourselves to this undertaking. This special issue features a paper by Chris Hendrickson regarding the engineering management challenges for sustainable infrastructure development. His paper lays out the main characteristics of sustainable energy infrastructure and outlines three engineering management priorities—energy efficiency, land use, and engineering education—during the switch to sustainable engineering. The remaining eight papers are categorized into three groups according to the subject of the papers. The first group of two papers deals with the ecological impact analysis of infrastructure project. The first paper, by Stephen Comello, Michael Lepech, and Benedict Schwegler, presents a general framework for ecosystem service valuation of infrastructure projects. In the second paper, Florian Gschosser, Holger Wallbaum, and Michael Boesch analyze the ecological potential of pavement construction. Three papers in the second group focus on carbon accounting methodologies for various facilities and construction operations, including water pipeline projects by Kalyan Piratla, Samuel Ariaratnam, and Aaron Cohen; construction equipment operation by Phil Lewis, Michael Leming, and William Rasdorf; and educational facilities by TaeHoon Hong, HyunJoong Kim, and TaeHyun Kwak. The last group of papers emphasizes the role of renewable energy for sustainable development. The first paper, written by Maria Balatbat, Emily Findlay, and David Carmichael evaluates the performance risk of 227 renewable energy projects under the clean development mechanism. The second paper, by Dezhi Li, Eddie Chi Man Hui, Xing Xu, and Qiming Li, focuses on the sustainability assessment on metro systems on the basis of an energy-based methodology. In the last paper, Rahul Hiremath and Bimlesh Kumar examine the economic feasibility of bioenergy through linear goal programming. The group of papers in this special issue represents a cross section of engineering management issues associated with sustainable development. Yet the interface and interaction between engineering management issues and sustainability are much broader and even more complex. We hope the special issue can spur thoughtful discussions on the role of engineering management for sustainable development and therefore promote further research and wide participation in this field from the engineering management community.

Supervisor-Focused Behavior-Based Safety Method for the Construction Industry: Case Study in Hong Kong

AbstractBehavior-based safety (BBS) methods have been widely reported as an important contributor to the prevention of accidents and improvement of safety performance in construction projects. Howe...

Cognitive Psychological Approach for Risk Assessment in Construction Projects

AbstractWith ever increasing complexities, construction projects are constantly exposed to a variety of risks associated with all stages of project execution from the initial assessment of strategic options through procurement, fabrication, construction, and commissioning. The successful delivery of construction projects and assurance of project objectives largely depend on the appropriate management of all project risks. One of the major steps in project risk management is to assess the potential risks. It lays the basis for selecting and implementing effective response strategies to mitigate the risks, and avoid undesirable consequences such as project delays and cost overruns. This paper proposes a new approach for risk assessment in construction projects. The approach interprets the subjective risk assessments by experts with a statistical method motivated by a cognitive psychology theory. By considering attributes of risks as random variables, experts as information processing systems, and expert opi...

Call for Papers on Engineering Management for Sustainable Development

Being one of the greatest challenges of our time, climate change has become a top priority for governments, businesses, and the general public. In Copenhagen, both developed and developing countries made strong commitments on mitigating and adapting to climate change. And the United States officially pledged to cut its greenhouse gases emissions by 17% of the 2005 level by 2020. Many state and local governments have adopted even more aggressive reduction targets to tackle climate change. For example, Assembly Bill 32, passed in 2006, requires the state of California to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2020. Meeting emission reduction commitments poses significant challenges for federal and state governments and businesses across the economy. Although federal climate and energy policy is still in the early stage, it is becoming clear that both regulatory and market-based approaches at the federal and regional levels should be implemented to limit greenhouse gases emissions from stationary and mobile sources. In December 2009 the Environmental Protection Agency’s ruling that greenhouse gases—mainly carbon dioxide—endanger public health and welfare paved the way for new regulations on carbon dioxide emissions. In addition, more than 20 states have developed or are developing innovative market mechanisms to provide adequate incentives for regional emission reductions and renewable energy production, including the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative RGGI , Western Climate Initiative WCI , and Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord MGGRA , in addition to volunteer carbon markets, e.g., the Chicago Climate Exchange CCX . The impact of emerging climate regulations and markets on the engineering management community is significant. It goes beyond the life cycle of project execution and covers all aspects of engineering management practices. This special issue aims to advance the research and practice in this field. The goals of this special issue are threefold: 1 to report recent development in engineering management theory and practices to combat climate change; 2 to discover the latest research directions and thinking; and 3 to publish cutting-edge scholarship that contributes to the body of knowledge, promotes professional practices, and influences public policies.