Yingbin Feng

The role of safety climate in predicting safety culture on construction sites

Abstract Although theory and empirical research on safety climate and safety culture have developed considerably, the relationship between them remains debatable. This paper reports on empirical examination of the relationship between safety climate and safety culture. The results of this study indicate that safety climate has an impact on the three dimensions of safety culture, namely psychological, situational/environmental and behavioral aspects of safety culture. Several project specific features, such as project duration, project size, and contractor registration grade, are found to influence the relationship between safety climate and safety culture. It is concluded that the assessment of safety climate could provide a reliable prediction of the level of the overall safety culture of construction organisations. Thus, an effective assessment tool for construction safety culture could be proposed based on the results of this study.

The indirect effect of safety investment on safety performance for building projects

Abstract Safety investments are aimed at protecting the health and physical integrity of workers and the material assets of a contractor. A popular assumption holds that increased investment in safety improves safety performance. However, close examination of previous studies on safety investments reveals that the relationship between the level of safety investment and safety performance remains debatable. The purposes of this study are therefore to (1) test the relationship between safety investment and safety performance, and (2) identify factors influencing their relationship. The research approach for collecting the data is by means of structured interviews. The findings indicate that safety performance is positively related to safety investments when the influence of project hazard level is removed. The effect of safety investments on safety performance was found to be more significant for projects with high hazard levels than those with low hazard levels. The interactive effects of safety investments and project hazard levels on safety performance imply that in order to achieve good safety performance under different project conditions, different investment decisions in workplace safety need to be made.

Modelling paths of risks associated with BIM implementation in architectural, engineering and construction projects

ABSTRACT Building information modelling (BIM) implementation involves various risks, which prevent users from assuring the potential benefits. The objectives of this study are to identify the risks associated with BIM implementation in architectural, engineering and construction projects and model the paths of these risks. To achieve these objectives, 16 risks categorized into 9 groups were identified from a literature review, and a questionnaire survey was conducted with 38 professionals in Australia. The hypothetical risk paths were tested using partial least square-structural equation modelling. Eight risk paths were statistically significant, which further formed nine chains of risk paths. ‘Inadequate relevant knowledge and expertise’ was the primary root risk category, and ‘technological issues’, ‘poor information sharing and collaboration’ and ‘data ownership issues’ were the secondary root risk category. Additionally, the expense associated with BIM implementation can be offset by the cost savings brought by BIM.

Educational Attainment and Job Requirements: Exploring the Gaps for Construction Graduates in Australia from an Industry Point of View

AbstractThe construction industry has been facing a paradigm shift to integrate new construction requirements, most notably the development of advanced technologies, such as environmental management, information technology, and building information modeling. Timely curriculum reform is therefore necessary for construction education to adapt quickly to the paradigm shift. The aim of this paper is to investigate the gaps between educational attainment and job requirements in the Australian construction industry, based on which further curriculum reform can be conducted. A survey is administered to 252 construction graduates. The results suggest that the most significant gaps are related to technical skills for construction and problem-solving skills. The gaps can be categorized into eight groups based on an exploratory factor analysis. The eight groups are construction technology, information technology, problem-solving skills, construction economics, risk management, basic theories, business management, an...

Risk compensation behaviours in construction workers’ activities

The purpose of this study was to test whether the construction workers have the tendency of engaging in risk compensation behaviours, and identify the demographic variables, which may influence the extent to which the construction workers may show risk compensation behaviours. Both quantitative (survey) and qualitative (interviews) approaches were used in this study. A questionnaire survey was conducted with all the construction workers on three building construction sites of a leading construction company in Australia. Semi-structured interviews were then conducted to validate the findings of the quantitative research. The findings indicate that workers tend to show risk compensation behaviours in the construction environment. The workers with more working experience, higher education, or having never been injured at work before have a higher tendency to show risk compensation in their activities than the others. The implication is that contractors need to assess the potential influence of workers’ risk compensation behaviours when evaluating the effect of risk control measures. It is recommended that supervisors pay more attention to the behavioural changes of those workers who have more experience, higher education, and have never been injured before after the implementation of new safety control measures on construction site.

Identification of non-value adding activities in precast concrete production to achieve low-carbon production

The lean production philosophy originates from the Toyota Production System and has been applied in the construction industry for decades to eliminate wastes and improve efficiency. Many studies have been completed on the application of the lean philosophy to meet the challenges of sustainable development in precast concrete factories. Many non-value adding activities have been identified in both site layout and supply chain for precast concrete manufacturers. However, the production process should not be overlooked from a lifecycle perspective. This study adopts a weighted factor model comprising of 17 precasters in the Singapore precast concrete industry. The production process is investigated using the weighted factor model. The results indicate that there are many non-value adding activities in the production practices that contribute to an increase in the carbon emissions level. Large inventory level, wastage of raw materials and inexperienced employees seem to be the most important non-value adding activities. The analysis provides good practice guidance and can be used as a checklist for precasters to identify the non-value adding activities in the precast concrete production process to achieve low-carbon production. The results will also be useful for regulatory agencies to provide recommendations for precast concrete manufacturers to reduce carbon emissions.

Exploring critical success factors for developing infrastructure projects in Malaysia : main contractors' perspective

Abstract The construction industry needs to develop methodologies and techniques to better promote quality engineering and minimize losses. This study aims to identify the Critical Success Factors (CFSs) that contribute to the successful development of infrastructure projects in Malaysia and examine their possible impact on project objectives in scope, time, cost and quality. Main contractors are usually intensively involved in the development of infrastructure projects. However, there is limited research touching on main contractors’ view on CSFs for infrastructure projects in Malaysia. Therefore, this study is carried out to explore this topic from the main contractors’ perspective. Based on an extensive literature review, 33 candidate CSFs were identified and examined. Practitioners in selected companies that had been intensively involved in infrastructure development in Malaysia were invited to participate in a questionnaire survey. The questionnaire survey was designed to elicit professional opinions of those practitioners on the significance level and the impact on project objectives of the identified candidate CSFs. A significance index (SI) was calculated to show the significance level of the candidate CSFs. This explorative study has found that the majority of the 33 identified candidate CSFs were perceived to be of critical significance by the respondents. Some of them hold particular importance to achieving project management objectives in terms of scope, time, cost, and quality. The findings may be used as a checklist so as to increase the quality and success rate of future infrastructure projects in Malaysia. Research limitations and future directions are also discussed.

Integrating safety culture into OSH risk mitigation: a pilot study on the electrical safety

AbstractEfforts have been taken for years to minimize the occupational safety and health (OSH) risk, but the injury records remain a constant reason for worldwide concerns. Many firms often implement technology as an administrative hierarchy of control (HOC). However, technologies may also actively influence safe practices at the managerial level for administrative HOC. This research examines electrical safety hazards in the U.S. construction industry as a basis for, studying the feasibility of using technology to integrate safety culture into the administrative level of OSH risk mitigation. The researchers introduce the concept of “habitus”, which suggests one possibility for establishing a safety culture that increases workers’ safety performance and integrates into workers’ safety practices through cutting-edge information technology. A prototype application for OSH training based on mobile virtual reality (MVR) technology is demonstrated to help establish habitus in workers’ daily practices, and ultim...

Costs of Construction Accidents to Singapore Contractors

Abstract Occupational accidents may incur considerable financial losses for companies. The purpose of this study was to investigate the financial losses incurred by building contractors in Singapore due to construction accidents. A questionnaire survey was used to collect data for this study. The results show that the average insured accident costs, average uninsured accident costs and average total accident costs account for 0.15%, 0.1% and 0.25% of the contract sum of a project, respectively. The ratio between insured and uninsured accident costs for building projects was found to be 1.5:1. Furthermore, company size, project size, and percentage of work completed by subcontractors were found to have impact on the size of uninsured costs of accidents. In light of this study, Singapore contractors may be more conscious about the financial implications of construction accidents, which would in turn motivate contractors to prevent construction accidents.

Mathematical Models for Determining the Minimum Level of Voluntary Safety Investments for Building Projects

AbstractThis study aims to investigate the minimum voluntary safety investment through optimization of total controllable safety costs for building projects. A correlational research study was designed to achieve the research aim. Data were collected using multiple techniques from 47 completed building projects in Singapore. The curves for describing the relationships between voluntary safety investment, total accident costs, accident frequency rate, and total controllable safety costs were developed using regression techniques. The optimization of voluntary safety investment was conducted using the extreme-value theorem with the objective of finding the minimum level of total controllable safety costs. The results show that the financially minimum voluntary safety investment varies with different levels of safety culture and project hazard. The models developed in this study can be used to estimate the minimum voluntary safety investment for building projects at different safety culture and project hazar...