The Transportation Construction Coalition’s just released a survey showing that 81.2 percent of 527 transportation contractor respondents said that they will not buy new construction equipment in 2010. A contractor on the teleconference that announced the survey said that, "We'd rather buy used construction equipment, than buy new ones." Also, another contractor put this figure in prospective: “We have 60 percent of our equipment parked in our yard with nothing to do,” said Dean Word, president, Dean Word Construction, New Braunfels, Texas. “We are not spending money on new equipment. If we find we have a particular need for specialty equipment, we’ll lease it and then send it back.”
Over 40% Will Rather Buy Used Construction Equipment in 2010 and Not Buy New Equipment
The Transportation Construction Coalition’s just released a survey showing that 81.2 percent of 527 transportation contractor respondents said that they will not buy new construction equipment in 2010. A contractor on the teleconference that announced the survey said that, "We'd rather buy used construction equipment, than buy new ones." Also, another contractor put this figure in prospective: “We have 60 percent of our equipment parked in our yard with nothing to do,” said Dean Word, president, Dean Word Construction, New Braunfels, Texas. “We are not spending money on new equipment. If we find we have a particular need for specialty equipment, we’ll lease it and then send it back.”
Construction Equipment: The Scott Wilson Group Gets Project Management Contract for Saudi Arabia High Speed Rail Mega Project
Construction Equipment: The Scott Wilson Group has bagged a huge project management role on the Saudi Railways Organisation’s new £1.1bn Haramain High Speed Rail Project as MSloane Consulting provides construction equipment to construction companies worldwide.See our Manitowoc M250T 300-Ton Truck Crane.
Valued at £14.5M, the contract is set for five years as Scott Wilson will provide technical, specialist engineering and programme management support services to the SRO, both at its headquarters in Dammam and around the construction and commissioning sites.
The railway is the first high speed rail programme in the Middle East. It will be a 320km/h railway linking the cities of Makkah, Jeddah, the new King Abdullah Economic City and Medina, as well as the International Airport in Jeddah. The 440km long line will not only provide fast and safe transport for pilgrims to the Holy Cities, but serve as a highly effective public transport link between fast growing and economically active commercial centres.
Mining Equipment / Power Generation: 225 MW Power Plant with 21 Sulzer ZAV40S Diesel Engines for Sale
Mining Equipment / Power Generation: 225 MW Power Plant with 21 Sulzer ZAV40S Diesel Engines for Sale. - Price: $200,000 USD per MW or best offer
- Hours: 40,000 approx
- Location: Luzon, Philippines
- Fuel: Diesel Bunker "C" Fuel
- With original spare parts
The plant, with an initial contracted capacity of 215 MW which was increased to 225 MW beginning January 1997, generates power using twenty-one (21) Sulzer ZAV40S diesel engines with Alstom Generators operating synchronously. The diesel engines were manufactured and supplied by New Sulzer Diesel of France.
Each unit burns Bunker "C" fuel, operates at an engine speed of 514 RPM and generates a gross output of 11.5 MW. It is fully operational.
This plant is for immediate sale.
With ISO 14001:2004 Certification from Certification International.
Safety Program Performance In The Thai Construction Industry
The construction industry has always been recognized as a hazardous industry because there are a large number of work-related accidents and fatalities (Abdelhamid and Everett, 2000; Mohamed, 2002; Tam et al., 2004). For each year from 1997 to 2002, statistics reported by the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare of Thailand revealed that up to 100 construction workers lost their lives on construction sites, and this is the highest rate of all industries. In other countries, the accident rate in the construction industry remains at a higher level than in other industries despite a downward movement in recent years (Jaselski and Suazo, 1994; and Suraji et al., 2001).
In Thailand, early attempts were made by the government in 1996 to encourage the utilization of safety programs in the construction sector by legally requiring the main contractors of construction projects to establish and implement safety programs and to be accountable for all expenses associated with their implementation. To fulfill the safety legislation, in 2002, comprehensive guidelines for safety program implementation were developed by the National Institute for the Improvement of Working Conditions and Environment (NICE). The purpose of these guidelines was to assist contractors in managing workplace safety by incorporating safety programs into their business management systems. It was proposed that the following key safety programs must be integrated into day-to-day operations on every construction site: safety policy, safety organization and responsibility, administrative laws and regulations related to safety, safety induction and training, hazard control programs, safety inspections, in-house safety rules, safety control for sub-contractors, safety audits, accident investigations, safety-related promotions, first aid services, emergency preparedness planning, and safety recordkeeping. This provision provided specific guidelines on how construction firms organize and manage their projects to provide high safety standards for their employees as well as the public.
However, according to Siriruttanapruk and Anantagulnathi (2004), improving construction site safety in Thailand still remains a formidable problem due to a limited amount of resources available to governmental and non-governmental safety institutions to carry out inspections and to give advice and guidance for implementing safety programs adequately. Additionally, they point out that safety program implementation is often neglected on construction sites and rarely managed correctly. The use of safety programs is often discussed in management meetings as a priority, but instead it is given a low priority for management commitment and resource allocation. Michaud (1995) stated that safety programs should be fully integrated in a company’s injury prevention efforts because successful companies throughout the world all have outstanding safety and health programs. Furthermore, Findley et al. (2004) showed that there is no absolute model of safety program to follow but safety programs can be successful if they contain the appropriate elements that fit with working environments.
Mr. Thanet Aksorn made a research which general objective focused on comprehensive exploration of specific aspects of safety program implementation. His was to assess the relative performance of various safety programs implemented in the Thai construction industry. To achieve the broad objective, his study had two specific objectives such as follows:
· To investigate the effectiveness and efficiency of safety program implementation in the Thai construction industry.
· To identify critical factors of successful safety program implementation.
Conclusions
Conclusions of Safety Performance Measurement
Both proactive and reactive measurements of safety performance were conducted in this study. By taking a measure of reactive indicators, it was found that, overall, approximately 77 accidents happen on construction sites every million working hours. The averages of accident rates of large-scale and medium-scale projects were 45.15 and 107.73 per one million man-hours worked respectively.
Furthermore, field observations for unsafe acts and unsafe conditions were carried out as a proactive safety measurement. Firstly, it was found that that approximately 30% of all observed working practices of Thai construction workers were unsafe. Secondly, field observations showed that nearly 37% of all observed working conditions of Thai construction projects departed from an acceptable standard. This would be partially responsible for serious accidents, injuries or even deaths of workers at construction sites. More particularly, it was found that averages of unsafe condition indices of large-scale and medium-scale projects were 35.08% and 37.53% respectively.
Elements of an Effective Safety Program for Construction Safety Performance Improvement
The results show overall that five safety programs, namely safety record keeping, safety inductions, control of subcontractors, safety committees and safety training, have very high mean scores. It was implied that these five programs have been given the highest attention within construction projects.
However, more emphasis needs to be placed on those factors with an unsatisfactory status. It can be seen that five factors, namely job hazard analysis, emergency preparedness planning, first aid programs, safety incentive schemes, and selection of employees, have the least mean scores. It was therefore suggested that management should pay greater attention to improve these five programs’ standards.
Elements of an Efficiency Safety Program for Construction Safety Performance Improvement
In light of this study, construction managers can use these quantitative results to effectively and efficiently implement their safety programs in achieving improved construction site safety performance. The table below provides a summary of the key safety programs which were found to be effective and efficient in reducing accidents, minimizing unsafe acts, and eliminating unsafe conditions.
Critical Success Factors for Safety Program Implementation
The results showed that “appropriate safety education and training” was the best actual status factor among 16 factors. The overall ranking of the 16 CSFs sorted by level of actual status was: (1) appropriate safety education and training, (2) clear and realistic goals, (3) safety equipment acquisition and maintenance, (4) delegation of authority and responsibility, (5) good communication, (6) personal motivation, (7) personal attitude, (8) personal competency, (9) continuing participation of employees, (10) management support, (11) program evaluation, (12) effective enforcement scheme, (13) teamwork, (14) positive group norms, (15) appropriate supervision and (16) sufficient resource allocation. In addition, Spearman’s rank correlation was used to test the relationship between rankings of the two different groups of respondents. It was found that there was a strong conformity in the rankings of actual status of those 16 factors between the two different groups of respondents.
Furthermore, the results also revealed simultaneously that “management support” was the most influential factor for safety program implementation in the Thai construction industry. The overall ranking of the 16 CSFs in the order of the degree of influence was: (1) management support, (2) appropriate safety education and training, (3) teamwork, (4) clear and realistic goals, (5) effective enforcement scheme, (6) personal attitude, (7) program evaluation, (8) personal motivation, (9) delegation of authority and responsibility, (10) appropriate supervision, (11) safety equipment acquisition and maintenance, (12) positive group norms, (13) sufficient resource allocation, (14) continuing participation of employees, (15) good communication, and (16) personal competency. Additionally, there was a strong consensus on the rankings of degree of influence of those 16 factors between the two different groups of respondents as indicated by Spearman’s rank correlation test.
By using a Factor Analysis technique, the identified CSFs were grouped into four major dimensions labeled as (1) worker involvement, (2) safety prevention and control system, (3) safety arrangement and (4) management commitment. “Worker involvement” referred to creating favorable safety attitudes and motivation of workers which largely depended on constructive norms of the workgroup and their degree of their participation in safety activities. “Safety prevention and control system” required an effective enforcement scheme, appropriate supervision, equipment acquisition and maintenance, appropriate safety education and training, program evaluation, and staffing by qualified persons in order to successfully implement a safety program. “Safety arrangement” involved setting up proper mechanisms to disseminate information to all people concerned, assigning clear authorities and responsibilities to everyone at all levels, and allocating adequate resources to safely carry out activities. “Management commitment” consolidated the safety program implementation through visible support of the highest ranking members of management, which also included encouraging all employees to achieve success through team spirit and setting realistic and achievable safety goals which could be accomplished.
Furthermore, to prove whether or not those 16 CSFs have a positive impact on safety standard, three construction projects were selected as case studies. The results proved that on construction projects where all CSFs, and not just one or a few, were given proper attention, a higher standard of safety performance can be achieved.
Gap analysis was further carried out to determine how to improve safety programs. This analysis suggested that larger gaps between degree of influence and actual status of success indicate more unsatisfactory practices. Thus, correcting the factors which have large gaps must be emphasized more strongly. This study also found that the first five critical problems of safety program implementation are management support, appropriate supervision, sufficient resource allocation, teamwork, and effective enforcement scheme. These five priority factors should be given more attention in order to achieve a satisfactory level. Meanwhile, there are five factors, namely ‘delegation of authority and responsibility’, ‘good communication’, ‘clear and realistic goals’, ‘appropriate safety education and training’, and ‘safety equipment acquisition and maintenance’, showing satisfactory practices as characterized by very small gaps.
Practical Implications for the Industry
This study proposed a self-regulatory safety management approach, where the implementation of safety programs is demanded, for managing construction site safety. Indeed, successful safety programs do not need extensive elements, but should at least include the critical elements (Tam and Fung, 1998; Poon et al., 2000; Goldenhar et al., 2001; Hinze and Gambatese, 2003; and Findley et al., 2004). A total of 17 safety programs were identified and evaluated extensively to discover which are the key safety programs for achieving improved safety performance. In the light of this research, construction companies where the need for improving safety performance is obvious should take the following practical recommendations into further consideration.
A close examination of the results of effectiveness and efficiency studies showed that some of the programs are uniquely identifiable as different form others and some overlap. By integrating the results of the study, the following safety programs are proven to be the most effective and efficient practices in reducing the possibility of accidents, occurrences of unsafe acts, and unsafe conditions.
1. Accident investigations: all cases of accidents, even near-misses, should be thoroughly investigated, documented and statistically analyzed to some extent.
2. Safety inspections: safety inspections should be conducted at regular intervals or as appropriate to discover hazardous conditions and unsafe practices before such hazards cause accidents.
3. Control of subcontractors: subcontractor safety requirements should be adequately defined and enforced.
4. Safety incentives: a mix of financial and non-financial incentives should be invested to raise safety awareness, reinforce safe behaviors and counteract unsafe behaviors of the workers for the purpose of eliminating undesired events.
5. Safety committees: the safety committee is a diverse group of representatives of management and employees working together in a non-adversarial, cooperative endeavor to create and maintain a high level of safety at job site. More specifically, a safety committee is created to perform workplace inspections, review accident and injury records, and make recommendations for safety improvement.
6. Safety record keeping: a good recordkeeping system enables the root causes of work-related accidents to be identified correctly; therefore, effective corrective actions can be provided. All of the safety records as required by Thai OS&H standards must be kept and maintained.
7. Job hazard analysis: all construction-related activities should be identified and listed in order to identify any potential hazards associated with them. Job hazard analysis should be made with input from job-involved workers.
8. Safety orientation: prior to authorizing new employees to perform their assigned jobs, safety orientation should be carried out to create safety awareness as well as to alert newcomers to work in a safe manner, and to report any unsafe conditions or other hazards encountered at work.
9. Safety auditing: a safety audit is an effective means of identifying deviations from general standards; analyzing events leading to such deviations, and highlighting good practices, which in turn can serve as feedback to the company for providing corrective actions.
10. In-house safety rules: a company’s safety policy is generally translated into safety rules. Safety rules are designed to provide basic guidance for safe operating practices and procedures (Hale and Swuste, 1998). All rules must be strictly enforced for all employees without exception.
Construction projects could have an outstanding safety performance if all suggested safety programs are implemented in a quality manner. However, to ensure the attainment of the safety success, there are critical activities that should receive constant and careful attention from management. Given that, the implementation of safety programs may perhaps fail catastrophically if careful consideration is not given to the following important prerequisites:
1. Management commitment: management cannot just say that the implementation of safety programs will occur on site. Management must demonstrate strong commitment by identifying and devoting the needed resources to each program so that they are carried out in a quality manner.
2. Worker involvement: successful safety programs largely depend on employee involvement as workers tend to support the activities that they themselves help to create. Workers should therefore be given the opportunities to provide input into the design and implementation of safety programs, such as being a member of the safety committee, reporting hazards and unsafe practices to supervisors, identifying training needs, investigating accidents, etc
3. Safety prevention and control system: in construction, workers are prone to different hazards and risks every workday due to the unique nature of the construction industry. An effective prevention and control system with elements such as an effective enforcement system, supervision, safety-related equipment acquisition and maintenance, appropriate safety education and training, personal evaluation, and program evaluation should be established and fully adopted.
4. Safety arrangement: the effectiveness of a safety program depends largely on the level of resources allocated, including sufficient staff, time, money, information, methods used to work safely, facilities, tools, machines, etc. To successfully implement safety programs, it has been suggested that the lines of communications between management and the workforce should be clearly established.
In light of this study, it was found that safety performance at construction projects could be improved if the above-listed safety programs are implemented in a quality manner. Nevertheless, to achieve the ultimate goals and objectives of safety program implementation, there are key activities or known as “Critical Success Factors (CSFs)” that should receive major concerns from management. Given that, the implementation of safety programs may perhaps fail catastrophically if the following key activities are not performed well: (a) clear and realistic goals, (b) good communication, (c) delegation of authority and responsibility, (d) sufficient resource allocation, (e) management support, (f) program evaluation, (g) continuing participation of employees, (h) personal motivation, (i) personal competency, (j) teamwork, (k) positive group norms, (l) personal attitude, (m) effective enforcement scheme, (n) safety equipment acquisition and maintenance, (o) appropriate supervision, and (p) appropriate safety education and training.
At this point, for successful safety program implementation, the missions of those key activities must be simultaneously accomplished. A construction project where all critical success factors are given appropriate attention at satisfactory level will almost certainly have excellent safety performance.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
ABSTRACT
The construction industry has been globally regarded as a relatively hazardous industry. It has always been reported that fatal accidents and injuries in construction remain consistently at a very high level despite a significant downward trend in recent years. Similarly, in Thailand, the construction industry has faced a wide range of challenges, one of which is the frequent occurrences of accidents at the workplace. Safety programs are now considered to be one of the most important approaches to eliminating work-related accidents and injuries. An effective safety program can substantially reduce accidents because it can help management build up safer ways to operate and create safe working environments for the workers.
The Thai Government has taken significant steps to improve safety in the construction industry by promoting the establishment of safety programs at the enterprise level. It has been suggested that the following 17 safety programs should be implemented as business core functions: safety policies, safety committees, safety inductions, safety training, safety inspections, accident investigations, first aid programs, in-house safety rules, safety incentive schemes, control of subcontractors, selection of employees, personal protection programs, emergency preparedness planning, safety-related promotions, safety auditing, safety record keeping, and job hazard analysis. However, the accident occurrence rate in the construction industry still remains at unacceptable levels. This shows that the industry suffers from an inability to implement safety programs which achieve improved safety performance.
To help the industry, therefore, it is worthwhile to conduct research focused on investigating effective and efficient safety programs, and identifying the key factors influencing the success of safety programs. The findings therefore can be used as a guideline by construction sites to implement safety programs successfully.
This study was conducted with 35 medium and 35 large-scale construction projects taking part. To assess safety programs, an evaluation tool was developed by using scientific methods based upon Thai safety regulations and standards, and which was validated by a panel of safety experts. Multiple regression analysis was used to create models that reflect a set of the most effective and efficient safety programs for safety performance improvement.
The effectiveness of safety programs was evaluated by studying the relationship between their actual status and associated site safety performance. It was found that 4 of the 17 safety programs, namely accident investigations, safety inspections, control of subcontractors, and safety incentives, are the most effective in reducing accident rates at construction sites. The most effective safety programs in minimizing the occurrence of unsafe acts at construction sites are safety inspections, accident investigations, control of subcontractors, and safety incentives. And lastly, accident investigations, safety inspections, job hazard analysis, safety inductions, and safety auditing were the most effective factors in eliminating unsafe conditions at construction sites.
To evaluate the efficiency of safety programs, this study quantified amounts of staff time and budget allocated for safety program implementation based upon the perception-based survey and correlated them with safety performance. Multiple regression analysis yielded models which showed that 5 of the 17 safety programs, namely accident investigations, control of subcontractors, safety incentives, safety inspections, and safety auditing were the most efficient in improving accident rates. The most efficient safety programs in preventing the occurrence of unsafe acts were accident investigations, job hazard analysis, in-house safety rules, safety inspections, safety committees, and safety incentives. Lastly, safety committees, safety incentives, accident investigations, safety auditing, and safety inspections were found as the most efficient factors in controlling unsafe conditions on the sites.
Furthermore, this research also investigated critical success factors (CSFs) for safety programs. These CSFs are important to guide contractors to implement safety programs successfully. The CSFs are regarded as the limited number of activities in which results, if they are satisfactory, will ensure successful implementation of safety programs. Therefore, the final output of this study will enable contractors to choose effective and efficient safety programs and to implement them by understanding the CSFs. This study showed that management support, appropriate safety education and training, teamwork, clear and realistic goals, and an effective enforcement scheme were perceived by the respondents as the most significant factors that need considerable attention in order to ensure successful safety programs. However, this study found the current problems which may lead to failure of safety programs were lack of management support, lack of appropriate supervision, lack of sufficient resource allocation, lack of teamwork, and lack of effective enforcement. Improving these priority factors to satisfactory levels would lead to successful safety programs, thereby minimizing accidents.
In conclusion, in light of this research, a package of comprehensive strategies for achieving improved construction safety performance was provided. In other words, the study gave a set of the most effective and efficient safety programs for implementation on construction sites as well as critical activities or known as critical success factors (CSFs) that can ensure the successful implementation of the safety programs.
In Thailand, early attempts were made by the government in 1996 to encourage the utilization of safety programs in the construction sector by legally requiring the main contractors of construction projects to establish and implement safety programs and to be accountable for all expenses associated with their implementation. To fulfill the safety legislation, in 2002, comprehensive guidelines for safety program implementation were developed by the National Institute for the Improvement of Working Conditions and Environment (NICE). The purpose of these guidelines was to assist contractors in managing workplace safety by incorporating safety programs into their business management systems. It was proposed that the following key safety programs must be integrated into day-to-day operations on every construction site: safety policy, safety organization and responsibility, administrative laws and regulations related to safety, safety induction and training, hazard control programs, safety inspections, in-house safety rules, safety control for sub-contractors, safety audits, accident investigations, safety-related promotions, first aid services, emergency preparedness planning, and safety recordkeeping. This provision provided specific guidelines on how construction firms organize and manage their projects to provide high safety standards for their employees as well as the public.
However, according to Siriruttanapruk and Anantagulnathi (2004), improving construction site safety in Thailand still remains a formidable problem due to a limited amount of resources available to governmental and non-governmental safety institutions to carry out inspections and to give advice and guidance for implementing safety programs adequately. Additionally, they point out that safety program implementation is often neglected on construction sites and rarely managed correctly. The use of safety programs is often discussed in management meetings as a priority, but instead it is given a low priority for management commitment and resource allocation. Michaud (1995) stated that safety programs should be fully integrated in a company’s injury prevention efforts because successful companies throughout the world all have outstanding safety and health programs. Furthermore, Findley et al. (2004) showed that there is no absolute model of safety program to follow but safety programs can be successful if they contain the appropriate elements that fit with working environments.
Mr. Thanet Aksorn made a research which general objective focused on comprehensive exploration of specific aspects of safety program implementation. His was to assess the relative performance of various safety programs implemented in the Thai construction industry. To achieve the broad objective, his study had two specific objectives such as follows:
· To investigate the effectiveness and efficiency of safety program implementation in the Thai construction industry.
· To identify critical factors of successful safety program implementation.
Conclusions
Conclusions of Safety Performance Measurement
Both proactive and reactive measurements of safety performance were conducted in this study. By taking a measure of reactive indicators, it was found that, overall, approximately 77 accidents happen on construction sites every million working hours. The averages of accident rates of large-scale and medium-scale projects were 45.15 and 107.73 per one million man-hours worked respectively.
Furthermore, field observations for unsafe acts and unsafe conditions were carried out as a proactive safety measurement. Firstly, it was found that that approximately 30% of all observed working practices of Thai construction workers were unsafe. Secondly, field observations showed that nearly 37% of all observed working conditions of Thai construction projects departed from an acceptable standard. This would be partially responsible for serious accidents, injuries or even deaths of workers at construction sites. More particularly, it was found that averages of unsafe condition indices of large-scale and medium-scale projects were 35.08% and 37.53% respectively.
Elements of an Effective Safety Program for Construction Safety Performance Improvement
The results show overall that five safety programs, namely safety record keeping, safety inductions, control of subcontractors, safety committees and safety training, have very high mean scores. It was implied that these five programs have been given the highest attention within construction projects.
However, more emphasis needs to be placed on those factors with an unsatisfactory status. It can be seen that five factors, namely job hazard analysis, emergency preparedness planning, first aid programs, safety incentive schemes, and selection of employees, have the least mean scores. It was therefore suggested that management should pay greater attention to improve these five programs’ standards.
Elements of an Efficiency Safety Program for Construction Safety Performance Improvement
In light of this study, construction managers can use these quantitative results to effectively and efficiently implement their safety programs in achieving improved construction site safety performance. The table below provides a summary of the key safety programs which were found to be effective and efficient in reducing accidents, minimizing unsafe acts, and eliminating unsafe conditions.
Critical Success Factors for Safety Program Implementation
The results showed that “appropriate safety education and training” was the best actual status factor among 16 factors. The overall ranking of the 16 CSFs sorted by level of actual status was: (1) appropriate safety education and training, (2) clear and realistic goals, (3) safety equipment acquisition and maintenance, (4) delegation of authority and responsibility, (5) good communication, (6) personal motivation, (7) personal attitude, (8) personal competency, (9) continuing participation of employees, (10) management support, (11) program evaluation, (12) effective enforcement scheme, (13) teamwork, (14) positive group norms, (15) appropriate supervision and (16) sufficient resource allocation. In addition, Spearman’s rank correlation was used to test the relationship between rankings of the two different groups of respondents. It was found that there was a strong conformity in the rankings of actual status of those 16 factors between the two different groups of respondents.
Furthermore, the results also revealed simultaneously that “management support” was the most influential factor for safety program implementation in the Thai construction industry. The overall ranking of the 16 CSFs in the order of the degree of influence was: (1) management support, (2) appropriate safety education and training, (3) teamwork, (4) clear and realistic goals, (5) effective enforcement scheme, (6) personal attitude, (7) program evaluation, (8) personal motivation, (9) delegation of authority and responsibility, (10) appropriate supervision, (11) safety equipment acquisition and maintenance, (12) positive group norms, (13) sufficient resource allocation, (14) continuing participation of employees, (15) good communication, and (16) personal competency. Additionally, there was a strong consensus on the rankings of degree of influence of those 16 factors between the two different groups of respondents as indicated by Spearman’s rank correlation test.
By using a Factor Analysis technique, the identified CSFs were grouped into four major dimensions labeled as (1) worker involvement, (2) safety prevention and control system, (3) safety arrangement and (4) management commitment. “Worker involvement” referred to creating favorable safety attitudes and motivation of workers which largely depended on constructive norms of the workgroup and their degree of their participation in safety activities. “Safety prevention and control system” required an effective enforcement scheme, appropriate supervision, equipment acquisition and maintenance, appropriate safety education and training, program evaluation, and staffing by qualified persons in order to successfully implement a safety program. “Safety arrangement” involved setting up proper mechanisms to disseminate information to all people concerned, assigning clear authorities and responsibilities to everyone at all levels, and allocating adequate resources to safely carry out activities. “Management commitment” consolidated the safety program implementation through visible support of the highest ranking members of management, which also included encouraging all employees to achieve success through team spirit and setting realistic and achievable safety goals which could be accomplished.
Furthermore, to prove whether or not those 16 CSFs have a positive impact on safety standard, three construction projects were selected as case studies. The results proved that on construction projects where all CSFs, and not just one or a few, were given proper attention, a higher standard of safety performance can be achieved.
Gap analysis was further carried out to determine how to improve safety programs. This analysis suggested that larger gaps between degree of influence and actual status of success indicate more unsatisfactory practices. Thus, correcting the factors which have large gaps must be emphasized more strongly. This study also found that the first five critical problems of safety program implementation are management support, appropriate supervision, sufficient resource allocation, teamwork, and effective enforcement scheme. These five priority factors should be given more attention in order to achieve a satisfactory level. Meanwhile, there are five factors, namely ‘delegation of authority and responsibility’, ‘good communication’, ‘clear and realistic goals’, ‘appropriate safety education and training’, and ‘safety equipment acquisition and maintenance’, showing satisfactory practices as characterized by very small gaps.
Practical Implications for the Industry
This study proposed a self-regulatory safety management approach, where the implementation of safety programs is demanded, for managing construction site safety. Indeed, successful safety programs do not need extensive elements, but should at least include the critical elements (Tam and Fung, 1998; Poon et al., 2000; Goldenhar et al., 2001; Hinze and Gambatese, 2003; and Findley et al., 2004). A total of 17 safety programs were identified and evaluated extensively to discover which are the key safety programs for achieving improved safety performance. In the light of this research, construction companies where the need for improving safety performance is obvious should take the following practical recommendations into further consideration.
A close examination of the results of effectiveness and efficiency studies showed that some of the programs are uniquely identifiable as different form others and some overlap. By integrating the results of the study, the following safety programs are proven to be the most effective and efficient practices in reducing the possibility of accidents, occurrences of unsafe acts, and unsafe conditions.
1. Accident investigations: all cases of accidents, even near-misses, should be thoroughly investigated, documented and statistically analyzed to some extent.
2. Safety inspections: safety inspections should be conducted at regular intervals or as appropriate to discover hazardous conditions and unsafe practices before such hazards cause accidents.
3. Control of subcontractors: subcontractor safety requirements should be adequately defined and enforced.
4. Safety incentives: a mix of financial and non-financial incentives should be invested to raise safety awareness, reinforce safe behaviors and counteract unsafe behaviors of the workers for the purpose of eliminating undesired events.
5. Safety committees: the safety committee is a diverse group of representatives of management and employees working together in a non-adversarial, cooperative endeavor to create and maintain a high level of safety at job site. More specifically, a safety committee is created to perform workplace inspections, review accident and injury records, and make recommendations for safety improvement.
6. Safety record keeping: a good recordkeeping system enables the root causes of work-related accidents to be identified correctly; therefore, effective corrective actions can be provided. All of the safety records as required by Thai OS&H standards must be kept and maintained.
7. Job hazard analysis: all construction-related activities should be identified and listed in order to identify any potential hazards associated with them. Job hazard analysis should be made with input from job-involved workers.
8. Safety orientation: prior to authorizing new employees to perform their assigned jobs, safety orientation should be carried out to create safety awareness as well as to alert newcomers to work in a safe manner, and to report any unsafe conditions or other hazards encountered at work.
9. Safety auditing: a safety audit is an effective means of identifying deviations from general standards; analyzing events leading to such deviations, and highlighting good practices, which in turn can serve as feedback to the company for providing corrective actions.
10. In-house safety rules: a company’s safety policy is generally translated into safety rules. Safety rules are designed to provide basic guidance for safe operating practices and procedures (Hale and Swuste, 1998). All rules must be strictly enforced for all employees without exception.
Construction projects could have an outstanding safety performance if all suggested safety programs are implemented in a quality manner. However, to ensure the attainment of the safety success, there are critical activities that should receive constant and careful attention from management. Given that, the implementation of safety programs may perhaps fail catastrophically if careful consideration is not given to the following important prerequisites:
1. Management commitment: management cannot just say that the implementation of safety programs will occur on site. Management must demonstrate strong commitment by identifying and devoting the needed resources to each program so that they are carried out in a quality manner.
2. Worker involvement: successful safety programs largely depend on employee involvement as workers tend to support the activities that they themselves help to create. Workers should therefore be given the opportunities to provide input into the design and implementation of safety programs, such as being a member of the safety committee, reporting hazards and unsafe practices to supervisors, identifying training needs, investigating accidents, etc
3. Safety prevention and control system: in construction, workers are prone to different hazards and risks every workday due to the unique nature of the construction industry. An effective prevention and control system with elements such as an effective enforcement system, supervision, safety-related equipment acquisition and maintenance, appropriate safety education and training, personal evaluation, and program evaluation should be established and fully adopted.
4. Safety arrangement: the effectiveness of a safety program depends largely on the level of resources allocated, including sufficient staff, time, money, information, methods used to work safely, facilities, tools, machines, etc. To successfully implement safety programs, it has been suggested that the lines of communications between management and the workforce should be clearly established.
In light of this study, it was found that safety performance at construction projects could be improved if the above-listed safety programs are implemented in a quality manner. Nevertheless, to achieve the ultimate goals and objectives of safety program implementation, there are key activities or known as “Critical Success Factors (CSFs)” that should receive major concerns from management. Given that, the implementation of safety programs may perhaps fail catastrophically if the following key activities are not performed well: (a) clear and realistic goals, (b) good communication, (c) delegation of authority and responsibility, (d) sufficient resource allocation, (e) management support, (f) program evaluation, (g) continuing participation of employees, (h) personal motivation, (i) personal competency, (j) teamwork, (k) positive group norms, (l) personal attitude, (m) effective enforcement scheme, (n) safety equipment acquisition and maintenance, (o) appropriate supervision, and (p) appropriate safety education and training.
At this point, for successful safety program implementation, the missions of those key activities must be simultaneously accomplished. A construction project where all critical success factors are given appropriate attention at satisfactory level will almost certainly have excellent safety performance.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
ABSTRACT
The construction industry has been globally regarded as a relatively hazardous industry. It has always been reported that fatal accidents and injuries in construction remain consistently at a very high level despite a significant downward trend in recent years. Similarly, in Thailand, the construction industry has faced a wide range of challenges, one of which is the frequent occurrences of accidents at the workplace. Safety programs are now considered to be one of the most important approaches to eliminating work-related accidents and injuries. An effective safety program can substantially reduce accidents because it can help management build up safer ways to operate and create safe working environments for the workers.
The Thai Government has taken significant steps to improve safety in the construction industry by promoting the establishment of safety programs at the enterprise level. It has been suggested that the following 17 safety programs should be implemented as business core functions: safety policies, safety committees, safety inductions, safety training, safety inspections, accident investigations, first aid programs, in-house safety rules, safety incentive schemes, control of subcontractors, selection of employees, personal protection programs, emergency preparedness planning, safety-related promotions, safety auditing, safety record keeping, and job hazard analysis. However, the accident occurrence rate in the construction industry still remains at unacceptable levels. This shows that the industry suffers from an inability to implement safety programs which achieve improved safety performance.
To help the industry, therefore, it is worthwhile to conduct research focused on investigating effective and efficient safety programs, and identifying the key factors influencing the success of safety programs. The findings therefore can be used as a guideline by construction sites to implement safety programs successfully.
This study was conducted with 35 medium and 35 large-scale construction projects taking part. To assess safety programs, an evaluation tool was developed by using scientific methods based upon Thai safety regulations and standards, and which was validated by a panel of safety experts. Multiple regression analysis was used to create models that reflect a set of the most effective and efficient safety programs for safety performance improvement.
The effectiveness of safety programs was evaluated by studying the relationship between their actual status and associated site safety performance. It was found that 4 of the 17 safety programs, namely accident investigations, safety inspections, control of subcontractors, and safety incentives, are the most effective in reducing accident rates at construction sites. The most effective safety programs in minimizing the occurrence of unsafe acts at construction sites are safety inspections, accident investigations, control of subcontractors, and safety incentives. And lastly, accident investigations, safety inspections, job hazard analysis, safety inductions, and safety auditing were the most effective factors in eliminating unsafe conditions at construction sites.
To evaluate the efficiency of safety programs, this study quantified amounts of staff time and budget allocated for safety program implementation based upon the perception-based survey and correlated them with safety performance. Multiple regression analysis yielded models which showed that 5 of the 17 safety programs, namely accident investigations, control of subcontractors, safety incentives, safety inspections, and safety auditing were the most efficient in improving accident rates. The most efficient safety programs in preventing the occurrence of unsafe acts were accident investigations, job hazard analysis, in-house safety rules, safety inspections, safety committees, and safety incentives. Lastly, safety committees, safety incentives, accident investigations, safety auditing, and safety inspections were found as the most efficient factors in controlling unsafe conditions on the sites.
Furthermore, this research also investigated critical success factors (CSFs) for safety programs. These CSFs are important to guide contractors to implement safety programs successfully. The CSFs are regarded as the limited number of activities in which results, if they are satisfactory, will ensure successful implementation of safety programs. Therefore, the final output of this study will enable contractors to choose effective and efficient safety programs and to implement them by understanding the CSFs. This study showed that management support, appropriate safety education and training, teamwork, clear and realistic goals, and an effective enforcement scheme were perceived by the respondents as the most significant factors that need considerable attention in order to ensure successful safety programs. However, this study found the current problems which may lead to failure of safety programs were lack of management support, lack of appropriate supervision, lack of sufficient resource allocation, lack of teamwork, and lack of effective enforcement. Improving these priority factors to satisfactory levels would lead to successful safety programs, thereby minimizing accidents.
In conclusion, in light of this research, a package of comprehensive strategies for achieving improved construction safety performance was provided. In other words, the study gave a set of the most effective and efficient safety programs for implementation on construction sites as well as critical activities or known as critical success factors (CSFs) that can ensure the successful implementation of the safety programs.
Application Of Neuro-Fuzzy Networks To Forecast Cost And Duration Variance For Building Projects In Vietnam
Since Vietnam implemented its policy of reform and opening to the outside world, and with the continuous development of its national economy, the Vietnamese building enterprises have been growing steadily in quantity, and the building industry has been increasing its total output value. With Vietnam going to entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), the process of opening the Vietnamese construction market to the outside world will be accelerated. Moreover, because of economic development, infrastructure has to be improved to adapt with the changing. Many office buildings, apartments, bridges, roads… have been built. However, Vietnam is still undergoing reform of its system, from a planned economy to a market economy. Laws, regulations, market and government management models and systems are still not stable. National market is still controlled by government. All are obstacles preventing contractors from fully understanding the entire situation and risk in the Vietnamese construction market, especially international contractors. Therefore, identify and analyze risk factors in Vietnam construction market is necessary.
Construction projects involve hundreds or even thousands of interacting activities, each with cost, time, quality, and sequencing problem. The costs and durations are uncertain and one response, still surprisingly common, is to shy away from uncertainty and hope for the best. Another is to apply expert judgment, experience, and gut feel to the problem (Roger Flanagan & George Norman, 1993). Construction projects are unique arenas in which highly complex, uncertain and creative projects have to be realized (Hartman, 1998). However, construction project risks are often ignored by most owners and contractors. As a result, unnecessary long and disruptive delays turn an otherwise profitable project into a financially ruinous undertaking (WONG, 2006).
Obviously, there are some overlaps between these risks. Edwards and Bowen (2005) used a source system-based approach to classify risks under two primary categories: natural systems and human systems. The sub-category of natural risks includes events originating in weather, geological, biological, physiological, ecological and extraterrestrial systems. The sub-categories of human risks comprise social, political, cultural, health, legal, economic, financial, technical and managerial systems. Edwards (1999) used the same risk sources as a primary means of categorization to minimize confusion.
Conventional risk analysis techniques, such as Monte Carlo analysis, provide tools to help practitioners to assess impacts of uncertainties, to support the determination or the assessment of the risk level of a project, and to allocate a contingency associated with the possibility of success. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of using this technique is heavily dependent upon experts' opinions and judgments (Xiaoying Liu,1998).
Neuron-Fuzzy is an approach that is free of mathematical models. It requires less expert opinion and judgments than do other techniques. It represents an attempt to simulate the human brain's learning process through massive training. It is able to learn from samples. Knowledge learned is stored within the network. This technology provides a powerful and robust means to assess uncertainty through learning and capturing general patterns in available data. NF integrates both neural networks and fuzzy inference systems. These model frameworks possess both the learning capability of neural networks and the structured knowledge representation employed in fuzzy inference systems (Jyh-Shing Roger Jang, 1992).
On time and within budget are two main outputs of successful project. However, there are risk factors affecting the construction projects’ time and cost. In order to achieve two major project outputs, management team needs to access and analyze those risk factors as a proactive plan. NF is considered as the advantage method to help practitioners who are either not much experience or expert develop a proactive plan to modify threats which possible impact on project performance.
Mr. Pham Hiep Luc made a research on “Application Of Neuro-Fuzzy Networks To Forecast Cost And Duration Variance For Building Projects In Vietnam” which major objectives were to: (1) identify main risk factors which affect the duration and cost variance of building projects in Vietnam; (2) develop a Neuron-Fuzzy model to predict project cost and time variances; and (3) compare Neuron-Fuzzy model with conventional method.
CONCLUSION
Significant risk factors impacting cost and time variances of building projects in Vietnam were identified in this study. Manager experience, construction method, type of clients, client changes, project complexity and market price fluctuation were identified by respondents as having high correlations with time and cost variances. Factors related with client were given high marks by respondents. However, when choosing the factors which had high correlations with time and cost variance by forward regression technique, the results was quite different from the respondent’s perception. Client type, project priority, vagueness in scope and construction method had strong correlation with time variance. Project function, location, contract type, project complexity, market price fluctuation and project priority had strong correlation with cost variance.
The goal of this result was to apply the Neuro-Fuzzy to risk analysis. Most traditional techniques are heavily dependent upon expert judgment and experience. In complex situations, these techniques are difficult to use because no mathematical model can be applied and the correlations between risk factors are not easy to identify. The weaknesses require the researchers to find out a new technique to approach better the complicated situations in project time and cost risks.
An attempt has been made to apply neuro-fuzzy network in the assessment of risks at the early stage of a project. The relationships among risks, project characteristics, decisions, and outcomes were captured by neuron fuzzy networks. Intelligent models were then developed and tested. They can be used to predict project cost and time variations.
The research results showed that the neuro-fuzzy networks outperform conventional techniques such as multiple linear regression analysis. The practical application of neuro-fuzzy network technology in project risk analysis is promising, especially in the front end stage.
Neuro-fuzzy network (NFN) model is able to capture the risk patterns of projects by learning from historical project samples and to generate a reasonable prediction of project cost and time variances. It is superior to conventional techniques as multi-regression technique and neuron network technique.
Neuro-fuzzy network model with forward stepwise regression analysis provides more accurate estimates of project cost and time variations than NFN with variables ranking by respondents. It also significantly reduces the training time and increases the training efficiency of the networks.
Neuro-fuzzy network model is superior to neural network because, neural network is difficult to determinate its configuration.
This research built a rational base for developing a decision support system to assist project managers (decision makers) in better decision making.
Overall, projects will have a greater chance of success, in terms of “within budget” and “on time”, when project managers direct more effort into managing the identified important factors during project planning at the front end phases and NFN is the useful technique to support decision making process.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
Abstract
The importance of decision making in time and cost estimation for investment processes points to a need for an estimation tool for owners, designers and project managers. This research is aimed to explore the applications of neuron-fuzzy network technology in project risk analysis and to develop models to predict cost and time variances at the front end stage of building projects.
Seventy finished building projects in Vietnam replied by the respondents were used for training and testing the model. Important risk factors at the front end stage are determined by respondents’ ranking. To develop the neuro-fuzzy network model, forward stepwise selection technique was used to identify input sets. Different number of data was being used to train the model. The results of neuro-fuzzy network models were superior to conventional technique (such as multiple linear regression) and neural network models in the prediction of project cost and time variations. Moreover, the result showed that using forward stepwise technique to determine the input set for the model is better than respondent’s perception. One proposed program written by Visual Basic Macro language was conducted in order try to interpret the results with practitioners.
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