scholarly journals CLASSIFICATION OF CONSTRUCTION HAZARDS FOR A UNIVERSAL HAZARD IDENTIFICATION METHODOLOGY

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-159
Author(s):  
Matej Mihić

Hazard identification in the construction industry is subject to a larger number of variables and unknowns than in other manufacturing industries making the hazard identification process more difficult and resulting in many injuries and fatalities. Moreover, previous research identified a research gap with regards to a universal hazard identification method. The results presented in this paper are a prerequisite for the development of such a method. Specifically, this paper proposes a novel classification of hazards in order to enable a more accurate hazard identification process which can take all possible hazards into consideration. Based on the theoretical framework, three hazard types are proposed in the research: self-induced hazards, peer-induced hazards, and global hazards. This classification is based on who is the source (who causes) the hazards in relation to who is affected by the hazards. Such classification was not identified in previous literature. This research also has practical implications. Such classification of hazards may influence safety experts to more actively focus on peer-induced hazards which are the hardest to identify. Finally, the outputs of the entire research should enable a more accurate and comprehensive hazard identification resulting in reduced injury and fatality rates in the construction industry.

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 416-437
Author(s):  
Nathalie Perrier ◽  
Aristide Bled ◽  
Mario Bourgault ◽  
Nolwenn Cousin ◽  
Christophe Danjou ◽  
...  

The fourth industrial revolution, called Industry 4.0, is transforming decision-making through the increasing use of information and digitization technologies. While Industry 4.0 is expanding rapidly in manufacturing industries, its induced transformations are gradually affecting other sectors, including the construction industry. In recent years, the use of 4.0 technologies in the construction industry, termed as ‘Construction 4.0’, has increased, mostly due to the immense potential of Industry 4.0 for improving the performance of construction projects and structuring their underlying management processes. This paper proposes a classification of existing literature on applications of Construction 4.0 technologies to allow for a better analysis of trends and gaps in the research. A total of nearly 200 research papers between 2009 and 2020 were reviewed and analyzed. Overall, the analysis shows that research on Construction 4.0 is closely aligned with the construction phase. Also, the most researched topics seem to be related to the management processes of quality, risk, and health and safety.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jungwon Yeo ◽  
Eun Sun Lee

Purpose This study aims to examine and understand South Korea’s (S. Korea) COVID-19 response operations, a notable case for other countries to emulate, and suggest some practical implications for other countries struggling with coping with the current pandemic. Design/methodology/approach To examine the case, the authors propose a new theoretical framework based on concepts of the whole community approach in the emergency management field and on co-production in public administration studies, and use the theoretical framework to analyze the details of S. Korea’s whole community co-production for COVID-19 response. Findings The findings demonstrate that the successful pandemic response in S. Korea is attributable to a nationwide whole community co-production among multiple actors, including government, various industries, sectors, jurisdictions and even individual citizens, within and across relevant public service and public policy domains. Originality/value This study suggests a new theoretical framework, whole community co-production, which contributes to the conceptual advancement of co-production in the field of public administration and a whole community approach in the field of emergency and crisis management. The framework also suggests practical implications for other countries to integrate whole community coproduction that may transform current response operations to cope with COVID-19.


2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 1111-1131 ◽  
Author(s):  
AbdulLateef Olanrewaju

Purpose – The opportunities that the emerging markets present to the players in the construction industry means that the players need to expand on the scope and size of their responsibilities and duties to the stakeholders. Each of the professionals now demands more specialised and sophisticated services from one another. The other players in the construction industry now require more emerging responsibilities and duties from the quantity surveyors. The purpose of this paper is to examine the roles that “modern” quantity surveyors play by measuring the gaps that exist in the services that the quantity surveyors provide. Design/methodology/approach – Primary data are collected through survey questionnaires. In total, 23 roles played by modern quantity surveyors are identified and addressed to the respondents to rank the rate at which quantity surveyors provide these “emerging” services. The collected data were analysed statistically. Findings – The results of the findings led to the conclusion that the quantity surveyors were not meeting the expectations of other players. Therefore, for competitiveness, quantity surveyors need to better meet demand expectations. Research limitations/implications – This findings of this research are constrained to the services or functions that the quantity provide in the construction industry. Practical implications – This knowledge is valuable to academic institutions that offer quantity surveying programmes, to practicing quantity surveyors, governments, and other players in the construction industry. It will allow quantity surveyors to reconcile supply and demand expectations. Originality/value – There is no known conclusive empirical study on services offered by quantity surveyors in any emerging markets. Therefore, the findings offer a fresh understanding on the services of quantity surveyors not only in Nigeria but elsewhere. While some of the services are common, others are peculiar to emerging markets.


2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 66-74
Author(s):  
Yufeng Ma ◽  
Long Xia ◽  
Wenqi Shen ◽  
Mi Zhou ◽  
Weiguo Fan

Purpose The purpose of this paper is automatic classification of TV series reviews based on generic categories. Design/methodology/approach What the authors mainly applied is using surrogate instead of specific roles or actors’ name in reviews to make reviews more generic. Besides, feature selection techniques and different kinds of classifiers are incorporated. Findings With roles’ and actors’ names replaced by generic tags, the experimental result showed that it can generalize well to agnostic TV series as compared with reviews keeping the original names. Research limitations/implications The model presented in this paper must be built on top of an already existed knowledge base like Baidu Encyclopedia. Such database takes lots of work. Practical implications Like in digital information supply chain, if reviews are part of the information to be transported or exchanged, then the model presented in this paper can help automatically identify individual review according to different requirements and help the information sharing. Originality/value One originality is that the authors proposed the surrogate-based approach to make reviews more generic. Besides, they also built a review data set of hot Chinese TV series, which includes eight generic category labels for each review.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Piotr Łasak ◽  
Marta Gancarczyk

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to develop a theoretical framework of the transformation of the bank's scope driven by fintechs.Design/methodology/approachThe conceptual foundations for a comprehensive transformation of the bank governance through financial technologies (fintechs) are underexplored. In order to develop such foundations, the authors adopt transaction cost economics (TCE), the concepts of external enablers and a modular organizational design, as well as a systematic literature review.FindingsThe results point to three scenarios of the banks' scope, depending on the adopted technological mechanisms and related effects that change the characteristics of organizational activities, justifying new bank boundaries. The most advanced application of fintechs results in a modularized network scenario leading to the emergence of financial ecosystems.Research limitations/implicationsThe proposed micro-perspective of decisional rules in an individual organization is unique in the current literature that predominantly focuses on the banking sector at large. The identified scenarios are valuable for solid theoretical and empirical grounding and can be further exploited in decision simulations and empirical studies.Practical implicationsThe proposed theoretical framework points to the rationales and consequences of adopted technologies for the boundaries of a bank organization.Originality/valueThis paper provides three contributions to the literature on technology-driven transformations of organizations with a focus on banks. First, the authors elaborate a theoretical framework for establishing the bank's boundaries in response to the expansion of financial technologies. Second, the authors add to the knowledge accumulation in the area of organizational transformations based on the ICT adoption, in particular, to the literature on the modular organizational design. Third, the authors contribute to the decision-maker practice by proposing the alternative options of banks' scope transformed through fintechs.


Author(s):  
Bisma Gulzar ◽  
Ankur Gupta

As IoT applications are pervasively deployed across multiple domains, the potential impact of their security vulnerabilities are also accentuated. Sensor nodes represent a critical security vulnerability in the IoT ecosystem as they are exposed to the environment and accessible to hackers. When compromised or manipulated, sensor nodes can transmit incorrect data which can have a damaging impact on the overall operation and effectiveness of the system. Researchers have addressed the security vulnerabilities in sensor nodes with several mechanisms being proposed to address them. This paper presents DAM (Detect, Avoid, Mitigate), a theoretical framework to evaluate the security threats and solutions for sensor security in IoT applications and deployments. The framework leads to the classification of sensor security threats and categorization of available solutions which can be used to either detect vulnerabilities and attacks, recover from them or completely avoid them. The proposed framework will be useful for evaluating sensor security in real-world IoT deployments in terms of potential threats and designing possible solution


2021 ◽  
Vol 109 ◽  
pp. 15-20
Author(s):  
Pavel Kuklík ◽  
Martin Valek ◽  
Charalampos Paschopoulos

The churches of the Broumov region are renowned for their unique baroque architecture, their distinct shapes, and sizes. They are an integral part of the Czech cultural heritage. If you analyze the churches, it becomes evident that both the local geological conditions and the municipal economic situation have played an important role in their current condition. Moreover, the local construction industry has been significantly affected by historical events. In this article we would like to present the effects of those factors on the current state of selected churches, namely on the bearing capacity of their walls. Besides being very interesting, it also plays a key role in the maintenance and the potential reconstruction of the churches.


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-171
Author(s):  
Xiaoli Wang ◽  
Xincheng Wang ◽  
Yu Huang

PurposeThough most construction workers in China possess minimal skillset, they are reluctant to attend vocational skill training sponsored by the government or enterprises. This paper aims to examine their willingness to attend the training from workers’ individual perspectives.Design/methodology/approachThe authors interviewed 492 construction workers on topics concerning their age, education, work tenure, technological level, daily wages, apprenticeship duration, apprentice channels and training experience; this information was then logistically analyzed to reveal if it influences construction workers’ willingness to attend training courses.FindingsThe results show that in a variety of possible influencing factors, technological level, apprenticeship duration and education are the most significant ones that affect construction workers’ willingness to attend vocational training. Technological level makes the greatest contribution to workers’ willingness to attend training, yet the effect of training experience and daily wages is minimal.Practical implicationsTo achieve sustainability in construction labor management, it is important to shed light on what influences worker’s willingness to attend training programs and take some efficient steps to address these issues.Originality/valueThis paper provides a new insight into the workers’ willingness to attend vocational skill training programs in the Chinse construction industry and suggests some practical implications for professionals and policymakers. Furthermore, the findings could prove valuable to other countries or industries, especially those sharing similarities to the Chinese construction industry.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 110-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan Alaa Nadhim ◽  
Carol K.H. Hon ◽  
Bo Xia ◽  
Ian Stewart ◽  
Dongping Fang

Retrofitting works has become increasingly important in the construction industry, as it plays an effective role in providing solutions to maintain, upgrade or change the functions to the existing or aged buildings. Very often, safety issues of retrofitting works are underestimated because there may be unreported accidents in small projects and there is no separate classification of accident statistics for the retrofitting works within the construction industry. As safety climate is widely regarded as a contributing factor to safety performance, the aim of this research was to examine the relationship between safety climate and safety performance in retrofitting works context. The safety climate questionnaire NOSACQ-50 has been employed to measure safety climate in retrofitting works. Field patrols were undertaken to distribute the safety questionnaires to the local worksites that undertake retrofits in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. 264 valid questionnaires were collected. SEM was employed to examine the existence and strength of the relationship between safety climate and safety performance. PLS-SEM was utilised to estimate the parameters of the structural model. The model has exposed a positive relationship between safety climate and safety performance in retrofitting context. This research was the first to examine the relationship between the second order latent variables. A positive relationship (0.60 with 36 percent of explained variance) was found between safety climate and safety performance.


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