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The purpose of this paper is to consider the significance of the sources of cost of construction plant theft identified in previous studies and derive rates which can enhance proper estimation of the cost of plant theft to the construction industry. The direct and indirect costs of plant theft include replacement cost (new‐for‐old/depreciated), emergency cost, hire replacement cost, productivity loss, increased labour cost, loss of goodwill, administration cost, increased insurance premium and social cost.

The cost‐contribution of these various sources was studied, using a structured questionnaire which was administered to building contractors in the UK construction industry, to measure their opinions of the frequency and severity of the contribution of the sources to the cost of construction plant theft. The questionnaires were administered to 220 companies and 51 of them were fully completed, representing 23.1 per cent of the original sample. The responses were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics to derive the probabilities of sources contributing to the cost of plant theft.

The results of the analysis show that the rates of contribution to the cost of plant theft varies significantly between the sources, with “loss of output” and “increased insurance premium” ranking as the top‐two costs of plant theft in the UK construction industry. The rates derived in this study can be used by contractors to reasonably estimate the cost of plant theft, especially when there is need to justify the adoption of measures that can mitigate plant theft.

This study generated rates of contribution by factors which contribute to the overall cost of theft of construction plant in the UK. These rates can provide a more reliable estimate of the cost of plant theft than current estimations which vary significantly.

Drawing on the findings of coronial investigations, this research aimed to investigate the circumstances and causes of fatal incidents involving plant in the Australian construction industry. The analysis sought to provide greater insight into how and why fatal incidents occur and to inform recommendations for the prevention of fatal incidents involving plant.

Fatal incidents involving plant were identified from the National Coronial Information System. In each case, the decedent was a construction worker and the incident occurred at a construction worksite. A systemic incident causation model developed by Loughborough University informed the identification of originating influences, shaping factors and immediate circumstances in each incident.

Most of the incidents involved excavators, trucks and cranes, and different classifications of plant were associated with different types of incident. The most common incident types involved people being run over by moving plant or struck by a moving object. Site layout and unsafe actions were the most commonly identified immediate circumstances. Shaping factors included site constraints and the design of plant, particularly visibility issues relating to “blind spots”. Originating influences included the design of the permanent work and construction process.

The research highlights the usefulness of systemic incident causation models, such as the “Loughborough Model”, in the analysis of the causes of fatal incidents involving plant in the construction industry.

The results indicate that plant‐related fatalities occur as a result of a complex interplay of different causes, some of which are “upstream” of the construction work. The use of innovative new site planning methods and active monitoring technologies to reduce the risk of collisions between people and plant should be considered.

The analysis provides a more detailed qualitative analysis of the causes of fatal incidents involving excavators than would be possible using national compensation data, which restricts analysis to a classification of the mechanism and agency of injury.

The purpose of this paper to develop a novel strategic approach to handle corrective maintenance procedure in the event of a breakdown/disruption of service. A proposal to minimize the recovery time and the breakdown cost in the system in construction plant is presented.

The past plant breakdown records of a construction organization are considered for the analysis. From the previous breakdown records, a high level metric using Pareto analysis and the cause effect analysis is used to identify the main breakdown main codes (BMC) and the subsequent breakdown sub codes (BSC). Prioritized BMC and BSCs are used to formulate dedicated breakdown maintenance teams, which act swiftly in the event of the breakdown with the modified methods.

The study was conducted, on four different types of heavy lifting/earth moving/material handling system equipment, which are used to load/unload/haul and transport construction materials. Failure due to tyre puncture and allied problems contribute to maximum failure. A strategy plan to minimize this type of failure is proposed. With the identification of the most contributing BMCs and BSCs, it is further proposed to develop an “overall breakdown maintenance management”.

The collected data pertains to the construction plant located in a particular region, namely the Middle East, and hence the proposed solution is dedicated/relatively applicable to similar plant from the same region. A more robust model can be suggested considering the work environment in the other regions.

The proposed methodology is highly adaptable by similar industries operating in the Middle East region.

Construction plant and equipment contribute to the success of construction organizations, by providing enhanced output, reduced manpower requirement, ease of work and timely completion of the project. Delays in completion of projects generally have both social and economical impact on the contractors and the buyers. The proposed model will bring down the lead‐time of the project and enable the contractors to crash down their project completion time.

Numerous studies on preventive maintenance models and procedures are available for a system and in particular to construction plant maintenance in the literature. This model attempts to handle the issues of unpredictable breakdowns in the construction plant to minimise the breakdown time. The proposed model is a novel approach which enables a quick recovery of the construction plant, attributed from the breakdown parameters derived from the previous history of the work records/environment.

A literature review is presented in the subject of construction plant and equipment management (CPeM) to: delineate the subject; consider its development over recent years; and identify principal themes within it. The paper aims to close the gap in knowledge, by using these objectives as a mechanism to observe how research themes relate to primary CPeM functions, and to suggest future research direction.

A thematic review of CPeM academic literature (in the main, refereed journal papers published in English‐speaking countries over the last decade) is undertaken; the nature of identified themes is discussed, for instance, regarding why they might have evolved as they have; and based on the foregone, themes for future research in the field are proffered.

CPeM is found well established within the broader subject of construction management. Eight principal themes are identified, namely plant maintenance; downtime and productivity; optimisation; robotics and automation; health and safety; operators and competence; machine control; and “miscellaneous”.

It is proffered that based on informational/technological advancements coupled with growing environmental/financial pressures, future CPeM research will strive to facilitate even greater plant reliability and safer modes of working. It is suggested that “optimum production methods” and “minimal resource consumption” will become inherent theme goals.

This is the first time that CPeM research has been consolidated and reviewed for publication in this manner.

Conducts an in‐depth examination of the current Certification of Training Achievement (CTA) scheme and critically appraises the role of construction plant operatives within the UK construction industry. Reveals a cacophony of practitioner disapproval of the CTA scheme and the Intermediate Construction Certificate (ICC) route towards attaining the National Vocational Qualification/Scottish Vocational Qualification (NVQ/SVQ) standard.

Using statistics obtained from the Health and Safety Executive, compares accident rates occurring within the UK construction industry to the accident rates occurring within other industries; then assesses and discusses these. Results reveal that the construction industry is arguably the most hazardous industry and has consistently recorded a poor accident record. Off‐highway plant and equipment is a considerable contributor to the industry’s infamous record. Then assesses accidents relating to individual plant items and discusses the underlying reasons for such accidents. Part of the problem stems from poor mechanical design but in the majority of cases the operator is at fault. Training programmes and initiatives have previously attempted to address this problem but regrettably the Provision and Use of Work Equipment regulations do not enforce mandatory training and certification. Provides a potential solution to this problem through the use of psychometric test development. Hypothesizes such an approach as representing a useful technique for both improving the skills and competence of existing operatives, and aiding the selection process when hiring new operatives.

In the continuing endeavour to work towards ever better management, the project manager has a crucial role to play. This monograph assesses the requirements of project management in terms of training and experience, demonstrates what sort of person the project manager should be, and also the role that should be played by the project team. In order to illustrate the manner in which the essential qualities in both the project manager and his team are displayed in action a number of completed projects worldwide are reviewed. Both successful projects and disastrous projects are used to demonstrate the way in which the problems encountered in real life can be met and overcome. In conclusion both the prospects and the problems that the future may hold for the project manager are assessed.

Construction plant maintenance practice and its plant operators are inextricably linked. This is because, unlike plant operating within the manufacturing sector, construction plant is largely dependent upon operator skill and competence to maintain the item in a safe, fully operational condition. Research has previously successfully modelled machine breakdown, but revealed that the operator’s impact upon machine breakdown rates can be considerable. A conceptual model methodology with which to assess the maintenance proficiency of individual plant operators is presented. Specifically, an artificial intelligent classification model is proposed as a means of classifying plant operator maintenance proficiency into one of three bandings. These are good, average and poor. The results of such work will form the basis of new prescriptive guidelines, for incorporation into the new certificate of training achievement (CTA) scheme, available to inexperienced construction plant operators. The paper concludes with an indication of the palpable benefits of such research, to plant owners and the construction industry at large.

Construction plant and equipment accident statistics suggest constant re‐evaluation of health and safety (H&S) systems is beneficial. This paper aims to process analyse plant and equipment H&S management systems on UK construction sites, with a view to applying information and communication technology (ICT) to them as an improvement mechanism.

Five construction project case studies drawn from members of the former Major Contractors Group yield rich H&S process data. These are analysed using data flow diagram (DFD) techniques, to evaluate processes and proffer system improvements incorporating ICT.

Causes of unsafe practice regarding management of construction plant and equipment are found to include: aspects of the plant itself, management processes and operator competence. A new ICT “process paradigm” is suggested, the architecture of which incorporates mobile computing, automatic identification and data collection and a management information system.

Findings contribute particularly to the fields of plant and equipment; and managing H&S.

Suggested ICT direction might form the basis of commercial interest in developing an all‐embracing H&S control mechanism for plant and equipment operations.

Application of DFD analysis in this setting is quite new.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) technique to determine the priority of renewable power plants construction conceding technical, economic, social, political and environmental aspects.

First, a comprehensive set of 5 main criteria of technical, economic, social, political and environmental are considered for renewable power plants construction, each including 5 sub-criteria (a total of 25 sub-criteria). Then, the analytic hierarchy process method is used to determine the weight of the criteria. Finally, a new MCDM technique proposed to prioritize the construction of renewable power plants, named TOPKOR. To demonstrate the capability of the proposed method, a case study is conducted in which six types of renewable power plants are evaluated.

Comparison results of the main criteria weights show that the “economic” [0.403], “environmental” [0.296] and “technical” [0.17] aspects have the highest importance, respectively. The results also show that solar, hydroelectric and wave and tidal power plants have the highest priority for construction, respectively.

The result of this research could be useful for related decision makers in construction of the renewable power plants to have a comprehensive set of criteria in technical, economic, social, political and environmental aspects in their decision process.

This research provides a comprehensive set of criteria and sub-criteria for prioritizing the renewable power plants. Moreover, a new hybrid MCDM technique is introduced for prioritizing the construction of power plants.