Kim, Yong-Woo; Rhee, Byong-Duk. (2020). The Impact of Empowering Front-Line Managers on Planning Reliability and Project Schedule Performance. Journal Of Management In Engineering, 36(3).
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Abstract
This study applies empowerment theory to production planning at the level of frontline managers in a construction project. Using structural equation modeling, we investigate how empowering frontline managers impacts their planning performance. In contrast to prior studies, we find that although psychological empowerment of frontline managers has no direct effect on their production planning reliability or scheduling performance, it has an indirect effect on planning reliability and scheduling performance, as long as the organization supports the empowerment structurally during production planning. This implies that a project manager should provide frontline managers at the operational level with proper formal and informal authority over workflow development, shielding, and resource allocation when planning production in order to enhance job performance through psychological empowerment. This study contributes to the body of knowledge on construction management by exploring the impact of psychological and structural empowerment of frontline managers on their performance of production planning reliability and scheduling performance.
Keywords
Psychological Empowerment; Work; Model; Variables; System; Job; Planning Reliability; Production Planning; Scheduling Performance; Structural Empowerment; Structural Equation Modeling
Zhang, Zhenyu; Lin, Ken-yu; Lin, Jia-hua. (2021). Factors Affecting Material-Cart Handling in the Roofing Industry: Evidence for Administrative Controls. International Journal Of Environmental Research And Public Health, 18(4).
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Abstract
Material-cart handling can be strenuous and lead to overexertion injuries. The aim of this study is to produce a thorough understanding of how the cart condition, tire type, physical environment-related factors, and load interact to influence the ergonomics and productivity of cart handling. Eighteen roofing carts with different conditions, tires, and loads were tested by one subject on three laboratory tracks: one L-shaped, one with ramps within constrained spaces, and one with obstacles within constrained spaces. A multiple linear regression analysis was performed to quantify the main and interaction effects of the factors of interest on the cart operations. The research findings confirm that using aged carts increases the injury risk by as much as 30.5% and decreases productivity by 35.4%. Our study also highlights the necessity of keeping an open space for cart operation; the travel distance from a cart to a ramp/obstacle should be greater than 61 cm. Finally, the results suggest the at-risk thresholds for different ramp slopes and obstacle heights, and the safe load capacities for the various working circumstances that are common on construction sites. The evidence created in this study can be translated into administrative controls for cart handling to reduce overexertion injuries and enhance performance.
Keywords
Overexertion In Pulling And Pushing; Material Cart Handling; Roof Construction; Ergonomic Risk Factors; Administrative Control
El-Anwar, Omar; El-Rayes, Khaled; Elnashai, Amr. (2010). Minimization of Socioeconomic Disruption for Displaced Populations Following Disasters. Disasters, 34(3), 865 – 883.
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Abstract
In the aftermath of catastrophic natural disasters such as hurricanes, tsunamis and earthquakes, emergency management agencies come under intense pressure to provide temporary housing to address the large-scale displacement of the vulnerable population. Temporary housing is essential to enable displaced families to reestablish their normal daily activities until permanent housing solutions can be provided. Temporary housing decisions, however, have often been criticized for their failure to fulfil the socioeconomic needs of the displaced families within acceptable budgets. This paper presents the development of (1) socioeconomic disruption metrics that are capable of quantifying the socioeconomic impacts of temporary housing decisions on displaced populations; and (2) a robust multi-objective optimization model for temporary housing that is capable of simultaneously minimizing socioeconomic disruptions and public expenditures in an effective and efficient manner. A large-scale application example is optimized to illustrate the use of the model and demonstrate its capabilities ingenerating optimal plans for realistic temporary housing problems.
Keywords
Natural Disasters; Hurricanes; Disaster Relief; Temporary Housing; Tsunamis; Multi-objective Optimization; Post-disaster Recovery; Social Welfare; Socioeconomic Disruption
El-Anwar, Omar. (2013). Maximising the Net Social Benefit of the Construction of Post-Disaster Alternative Housing Projects. Disasters, 37(3), 489 – 515.
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Abstract
The widespread destruction that follows large-scale natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, challenges the efficacy of traditional temporary housing methods in providing adequate solutions to housing needs. Recognising these housing challenges, the Congress of the United States allocated, in 2006, USD 400 million to the Department of Homeland Security to support Alternative Housing Pilot Programs, which are intended to explore the possibilities of providing permanent and affordable housing to displaced families instead of traditional temporary housing. This paper presents a new methodology and optimisation model to identify the optimal configurations of post-shelter housing arrangements to maximise the overall net socioeconomic benefit. The model is capable of quantifying and optimising the impacts of substituting temporary housing with alternative housing on the social and economic welfare of displaced families as well as the required additional costs of doing so. An application example is presented to illustrate the use of the model and its capabilities.
Keywords
Public Housing; Temporary Housing; Hurricane Katrina, 2005; Natural Disasters; Socioeconomic Factors; Mathematical Models; Mathematical Optimization; United States; Alternative Housing Pilot Programs; Optimisation; Socioeconomic Benefit; Disasters
Hyun Woo Lee; Anderson, S.M.; Yong-Woo Kim; Ballard, G.. (2014). Advancing Impact of Education, Training, and Professional Experience on Integrated Project Delivery. Practice Periodical On Structural Design And Construction, 19(1), 8 – 14.
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Abstract
With the increased interest in applying integrated forms of project delivery to complex and uncertain construction projects, the building industry has been experiencing an increased demand for integrated project delivery (IPD). With the trend, many empirical studies have examined the collaborative characteristics of IPD and reported that participants must make the necessary transition for its contractual, technological, and cultural requirements. However, little study has been done to investigate relevant education, training, or professional experience that can support the transition. In response, this study used an online survey that was designed to investigate the level and type of education, training, and professional experience of project members and their corresponding level of background knowledge for each IPD requirement. The key survey findings include (1) project members have the highest level of background knowledge on the cultural requirements of IPD, but the lowest level on the technological requirements; (2) the group with more design-build experience has more background knowledge; (3) the group that received an IPD kick-off training has more background knowledge; and (4) having a lean construction class can prepare students for the IPD environment. It is expected that the survey findings will advance the education, training, and levels of background knowledge of IPD participants, which will enhance their IPD experience accordingly.
Keywords
Buildings (structures); Construction Industry; Contracts; Cultural Aspects; Industrial Training; Professional Aspects; Project Management; Construction Project; Building Industry; Integrated Project Delivery; Ipd; Contractual Requirement; Cultural Requirement; Professional Experience; Design-build Experience; Training Impact; Education Impact
Chi, Nai-wen; Lin, Ken-yu; El-Gohary, Nora; Hsieh, Shang-hsien. (2016). Evaluating the Strength of Text Classification Categories for Supporting Construction Field Inspection. Automation In Construction, 64, 78 – 88.
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Abstract
Field inspection is a common approach to the prevention of on-site accidents in the construction industry, which aims to identify and correct violations before they result in accidents. While conducting a field inspection, quite often safety professionals need to consult applicable construction safety standards. By doing so, they can make informed judgments on the violations and reference applicable standards. Text classification (TC) can be used to classify safety standards based on the types and causes of violations. Safety professionals can therefore use violation types and causes as indices to quickly locate applicable standards. Defining TC categories (or labels) is the first important step in performing TC, because satisfactory results cannot be achieved without appropriate TC categories. Researchers often determine applicable TC categories based on the important topics within a knowledge domain. However, not all TC categories can yield satisfactory TC results because some of them are not associated with strong and specific keywords that can be identified by text classifiers. This paper proposes a methodology with two strength measures for evaluating the appropriateness of candidate TC categories. The measures were tested on two alternative sets of candidate categories that were drafted for supporting construction field inspections. The results showed that the measures could accurately predict the relative TC performance and the satisfaction levels (satisfactory or unsatisfactory) of TC categories. Beyond the construction domain, this research provides a generalized procedure for evaluating the strength of candidate TC categories. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords
Accident Prevention; Classification; Construction Industry; Inspection; Occupational Safety; Standards; Text Classification Categories; Construction Field Inspection; On-site Accident Prevention; Violations; Safety Professionals; Construction Safety Standards; Candidate Tc Categories; Reference Applicable Standards; Information; Model; Construction Safety; Field Inspection; Text Classification
Lee, Wonil; Lin, Ken-yu; Seto, Edmund; Migliaccio, Giovanni C. (2017). Wearable Sensors For Monitoring On-duty And Off-duty Worker Physiological Status And Activities In Construction. Automation In Construction, 83, 341 – 353.
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Abstract
Total Worker Health (R) (TWH) integrates occupational health and safety with the promotion of workers' off-duty wellbeing. Wearable sensors (e.g., activity trackers and physiological monitors) have facilitated personalized objective measurement of workers' health and wellbeing. Furthermore, the TWH concept is relevant to construction workers, especially roofing workers, as they encounter high on-duty health and safety risks and have poor off-duty lifestyles. This study examined the reliability and usability of wearable sensors for monitoring roofing workers' on-duty and off-duty activities. The results demonstrated the usability of these sensors and recommended a data collection period of three consecutive days for obtaining an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.75 for heart rate, energy expenditure, metabolic equivalents, and sleep efficiency. The participants exhibited significant variations in their physical responses, health statuses, and safety behaviors. Moreover, several issues were identified in the application of wearable sensors to TWH evaluations for construction workers including roofers.
Keywords
Construction Workers; Wearable Technology; Employee Health Promotion; Roofing Industry; Body Sensor Networks; Health; Construction Safety And Health; Usability Study; Wearable Sensors; Worker Monitoring; Worker Physiology; Construction Industry; Ergonomics; Occupational Health; Occupational Safety; Patient Monitoring; Personnel; Roofs; Sleep; Off-duty Worker Physiological Status; Total Worker Health®; Off-duty Wellbeing; Activity Trackers; Physiological Monitors; Twh Concept; On-duty Health; Safety Risks; Off-duty Lifestyles; Monitoring Roofing Workers; Off-duty Activities; Health Statuses; Heart-rate-variability; Energy-expenditure; Health Protection; Physical-activity; Validity; Reliability; Validation; Promotion; Productivity; Actigraph
Lin, Ken-yu; Lee, Wonil; Azari, Rahman; Migliaccio, Giovanni C. (2018). Training Of Low-literacy And Low-english-proficiency Hispanic Workers On Construction Fall Fatality. Journal Of Management In Engineering, 34(2).
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Abstract
The construction industry has made extensive efforts to improve the safety of its labor force through various approaches, including training. However, many construction workers in the United States are recent immigrants who lack English proficiency and do not possess sufficient literacy levels in their own language for training comprehension. This reduces the effectiveness of traditional text-dominated translated training materials, which depend on both literacy and proficiency in a language. Thus, in this study, the authors used three-dimensional (3D) visualization to overcome the communication barriers that hinder effective safety training for low-literacy (LL) and low-English-proficiency (LEP) construction workers. This article summarizes the contributions of a study sponsored by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Susan Harwood Training Grant Program; it describes the methodology to develop scenario-based 3D training materials on fall safety for LL and LEP workers and to validate the effectiveness of the materials. The results show that 3D training materials improve interaction between trainer and trainee during safety training, facilitate learning processes, and can overcome some of the communication barriers that hinder effective safety training. (c) 2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
Keywords
Chemical Hazards; Computer Based Training; Construction Industry; Hazardous Materials; Industrial Training; Occupational Health; Occupational Safety; Personnel; Safety; Low-literacy; Low-english-proficiency Hispanic Workers; Construction Fall Fatality; Extensive Efforts; Labor Force; Construction Workers; English Proficiency; Sufficient Literacy Levels; Training Comprehension; Training Materials; Three-dimensional Visualization; Communication Barriers; Effective Safety Training; Health Administration Susan Harwood Training Grant Program; Fall Safety; Occupational Injuries; United-states; Industry; Health; Education; Issues; Occupational Health And Safety; Training; Visualization; Fall Protection; Case Study
Lee, Wonil; Migliaccio, Giovanni C.; Lin, Ken-Yu; Seto, Edmund Y. W. (2020). Workforce Development: Understanding Task-Level Job Demands-Resources, Burnout, and Performance in Unskilled Construction Workers. Safety Science, 123.
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Abstract
This study examines how task demands and personal resources affect unskilled construction worker productivity and safety performance. It extends the job demands-resources (JD-R) burnout model to show how job characteristics interact with burnout to influence performance. A modified model was designed to measure burnout, with exhaustion and disengagement among unskilled construction workers taken into consideration. An observational study was conducted in a laboratory environment to test the research hypotheses and assess the prediction accuracies of outcome constructs. Twenty-two subjects participated in multiple experiments designed to expose them to varying levels of task-demands and to record their personal resources as they performed common construction material-handling tasks. Specifically, both surveys and physiological measurements using wearable sensors were used to operationalize the model constructs. Moreover, partial least squares structural equation modeling was applied to analyze data collected at the task and individual levels. Exhaustion and disengagement exhibited different relationships with productivity and safety performance outcomes as measured by unit rate productivity and ergonomic behavior, respectively. Subjects with high burnout and high engagement showed high productivity but low safety performance. Thus, exhausted workers stand a greater chance of failing to comply with safety. As the sample and the task performed in the experiment do not cover the experience and trade of all construction workers, our findings are limited in their application to entry-level and unskilled workers, whose work is mainly manual material-handling tasks.
Keywords
Construction Workers; Structural Equation Modeling; Job Descriptions; Labor Productivity; Labor Supply; Burnout; Job Demand-resources Model; Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling; Productivity; Safety; Wearable Sensors; Biomechanics; Construction Industry; Ergonomics; Occupational Health; Occupational Safety; Occupational Stress; Personnel; Statistical Analysis; Workforce Development; Understanding Task-level Job Demands-resources; Unskilled Construction Workers; Task Demands; Personal Resources; Unskilled Construction Worker Productivity; Job Demands-resources Burnout Model; Job Characteristics Interact; Exhaustion; Disengagement; Outcome Constructs; Varying Levels; Task-demands; Common Construction Material-handling Tasks; Physiological Measurements; Model Constructs; Individual Levels; Unit Rate Productivity; High Burnout; Low Safety Performance; Exhausted Workers; Entry-level; Unskilled Workers; Manual Material-handling Tasks; Heart-rate-variability; Labor Productivity Trends; Physiological Demands; Emotional Exhaustion; Safety Climate; Role Stress; Engagement; Fatigue; Workload; Task Analysis; Workforce; Level (quantity); Construction Materials; Personnel Management; Materials Handling; Multivariate Statistical Analysis
Zhang, Zhenyu; Lin, Ken-yu; Lin, Jia-hua. (2022). 2safe: A Health Belief Model-integrated Framework For Participatory Ergonomics. Theoretical Issues In Ergonomics Science, 1 – 18.
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Abstract
Abstract Initiating ergonomics interventions in a business environment requires changes in the behaviour of relevant actors. When participating in an intervention, researchers need to collect and share information with practitioners to help them make better behaviour-related decisions. This paper describes the five-step 2SAFE (Surveillance, Screening, Assessment, Framing, and Evaluation) planning framework, which can be used to guide research-practice collaboration in participatory ergonomics programmes. This framework combines the understanding of work-related musculoskeletal disorders with the principles of the health belief model. This theoretical synthesis empowers the framework to address the following critical challenges: (1) how to make data collection processes attuned to the nature of ergonomic injuries; and (2) how to transform the data collected into immediately usable information for practitioners to change their behaviours. The framework is interdisciplinary and can facilitate transfer of knowledge between ergonomics and health behaviour science. The framework can enhance the ability of researchers to collaborate with practitioners and bring participatory ergonomics programmes closer to success. In the long term, we hope that this framework can lead to more high-quality interventions that are able to prevent work-related musculoskeletal disorders in various industrial settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; Copyright of Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Keywords
Health Belief Model; Intervention Programme; Participatory Ergonomics; Planning Framework; Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders