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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 4 May 2021

Michael Y.L. Chew

This paper highlights a crucial public safety issue due to falling objects from tall residential buildings in Singapore. A systematic façade inspection regime and a system of…

4564

Abstract

Purpose

This paper highlights a crucial public safety issue due to falling objects from tall residential buildings in Singapore. A systematic façade inspection regime and a system of evaluation of severity for the detection and assessment of potential falling objects from tall buildings are presented.

Design/methodology/approach

The research uses qualitative case study approach with 450 tall residential buildings sampled for the study. The common materials, elements, components with high risk of falling objects, the nature and type of the falling, the critical factors affecting the falling, the respective level of severity, and the effectiveness of various diagnostic techniques and protocols, are summarised.

Findings

Façade for tall residential buildings in Singapore comprises mainly cementitious materials cast in situ or precast, with fixtures and architectural features, all of which have potential of falling. The common anomalies arising from each material and fixture/features are identified, the causes evaluated and their implications to future design, construction and maintenance analysed.

Originality/value

This study provides original and significant information to a crucial public safety issue, setting design and construction criteria that will serve as a benchmark for new and existing facades, applicable to all cities dominated by tall buildings. The paper presents original figures, checklists and guides as a basis for readers' consideration to use according to their respective unique conditions.

Details

International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation, vol. 41 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-4708

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 October 2020

Fernanda Rodrigues, Flávio Antunes and Raquel Matos

The use of building information modelling (BIM) methodology has been increasing in the architecture, engineering, construction and operation sector, driven to a new paradigm of…

Abstract

Purpose

The use of building information modelling (BIM) methodology has been increasing in the architecture, engineering, construction and operation sector, driven to a new paradigm of work with the use of three-dimensional (3D) parametric models. However, building information modelling (BIM) has been mostly used for as-built models of a building, not yet been widely used by designers during project and construction phases for occupational risks prevention and safety planning. This paper aims to show the capacity of developing tools that allow adding functionalities to Revit software to improve safety procedures and reduce the time spent on modelling them during the design phase.

Design/methodology/approach

To reach this objective, a structural 3D model of a building is used to validate the developed tools. A plugin prototype based on legal regulations was developed, allowing qualitative safety assessment through the application of job hazard analysis (JHA), SafeObject and checklists. These tools allow the automated detection of falls from height situations and the automated placement of the correspondent safety systems.

Findings

Revit application programming interface allowed the conception and addition of several functionalities that can be used in BIM methodology, and more specifically in the prevention of occupational risks in construction, contributing this paper to the application of a new approach to the prevention through design.

Originality/value

This paper is innovative and important because the developed plugins allowed: automated detection of potential falls from heights in the design stage; automated introduction of safety objects from a BIM Safety Objects Library; and the intercommunication between a BIM model and a safety database, bringing JHA integration directly on the project. The prototype of this work was validated for fall from height hazards but can be extended to other potentials hazards since the initial design stage.

Book part
Publication date: 25 April 2022

Herda Balqis Binti Ismail, Noor Nabilah Binti Sarbini, Hamizah Liyana Binti Tajul Ariffin, Izni Syahrizal Bin Ibrahim and Mohd Fairuz Bin Ab Rahman

The equability of environment, social and economic elements becomes a major issue to be achieved as to attain sustainability in the development of a construction project. As to

Abstract

The equability of environment, social and economic elements becomes a major issue to be achieved as to attain sustainability in the development of a construction project. As to cater to social sustainability, the Guidelines on Occupational Safety and Health in Construction Industry (Management) also known as OSHCIM has been introduced by the government to improve safety practices amongst Malaysia’s construction practitioners. The basic principle adopted in OSHCIM is Prevention through Design (PtD), which enhances the elimination of hazards during project design stages. This concept is inspired from the implementation of Construction (Design and Management) (CDM) Regulations in the United Kingdom. The concept has also been adopted and practised in many developed countries including Australia and Singapore. The aim of this study is to identify the dominant accident causes in Malaysian construction industry. In this study, the secondary data were gathered from the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) accident statistics. A content analysis and frequency distribution analysis were adopted to determine causal factors that contribute to the fatality. The findings show the existence of design-related causal factors, which is also incorporated with other causes of accidents. This is true as every accident occurs due to more than one factor. Thus, these inputs will recommend further exploration to determine the design-related causal factors. This may help the industrial players, including stakeholders, practitioners and researchers, to have more focussed efforts and resources in ensuring the success of OSHCIM’s implementation to reduce the accident statistics in Malaysia.

Details

Sustainability Management Strategies and Impact in Developing Countries
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-450-2

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 July 2021

Michael Tscholl, Jason Morphew and Robb Lindgren

This study aims to advance the proposal to use immersive virtual learning environments to stimulate and reveal deep-seated knowledge about science, giving instructors and…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to advance the proposal to use immersive virtual learning environments to stimulate and reveal deep-seated knowledge about science, giving instructors and researchers unique possibilities for assessing and identifying intuitive physical science knowledge. Aside from the ability to present rich and dynamic stimuli, these environments afford bodily enactment of people’s understanding, which draws less from declarative knowledge stores and more from everyday experiences with the physical world.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors ground their proposal in a critical review of the impact of stimulus and task characteristics of traditional physics inventories. Using a grounded theory approach, the authors present classifications and interpretations of observed bodily enactments of physics understandings in a study where participants enacted their understanding of force and motion of space in an immersive, interactive mixed reality (MR) environment.

Findings

The authors find that instances of these action categories can be interpreted as relating to underlying knowledge, often identified by other studies. The authors thus replicate a number of prior findings, which provide evidence to establish validation for using MR simulation as a tool for identifying people’s physical intuitions.

Research limitations/implications

This study targeted only a few specific physical science scenarios. Further, while a number of key insights about student knowledge came from the analysis, many of the observations are mere leads in need of further investigation and interpretation rather than core findings.

Originality/value

Immersive digital learning environments are primarily used for instruction. The authors propose to use and design them for assessment as well. This paper should prompt more research and development in this direction.

Details

Information and Learning Sciences, vol. 122 no. 7/8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-5348

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 April 2008

Wujia Zhu, Yi Lin, Ningsheng Gong and Guoping Du

The paper's aim is to reveal the return of the Berkeley paradox of the eighteenth century.

175

Abstract

Purpose

The paper's aim is to reveal the return of the Berkeley paradox of the eighteenth century.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a conceptual discussion.

Findings

Since, long time ago, the common belief has been that the establishment and development of the theory of limits had provided an explanation for the Berkeley paradox. However, when the authors revisit some of the age‐old problems using the thinking logic of allowing both the concepts of potential and actual infinities, they find surprisingly that the shadow of the Berkeley paradox does not truly disappear in the foundation of mathematical analysis.

Originality/value

Show the incompleteness of the theory of limits, which is not the same as what has been believed in the history of mathematics.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 37 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 April 2008

Yi Lin, Wujia Zhu, Ningsheng Gong and Guoping Du

The paper aims to show the existence of the systemic yoyo structure in human thoughts so that the human way of thinking is proven to have the same structure as that of the…

Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims to show the existence of the systemic yoyo structure in human thoughts so that the human way of thinking is proven to have the same structure as that of the material world.

Design/methodology/approach

Parallel comparison is used to reveal the underlying structure existing in human thoughts.

Findings

After highlighting all the relevant ideas and concepts, which are behind each and every crisis in the foundations of mathematics, it becomes clear that some difficulties in the authors' understanding of nature are originated from confusing actual infinities with potential infinities, and vice versa. By pointing out the similarities and differences between these two kinds of infinities, then some hidden contradictions existing in the system of modern mathematics are handily picked out. Then, theoretically, using the authors' yoyo model, it is predicted that the fourth crisis in the foundations of mathematics has appeared. And, a plan of resolution of this new crisis is provided.

Originality/value

This paper shows the first time in history that human thought, the material world, and each economic entity, share a common structure – the systemic yoyo structure. And it proves the arrival of the fourth crisis in mathematics by using systems modeling and listing several; contradictions hidden deeply in the foundations of mathematics.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 37 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 June 2022

Kerim Koc, Ömer Ekmekcioğlu and Asli Pelin Gurgun

Central to the entire discipline of construction safety management is the concept of construction accidents. Although distinctive progress has been made in safety management…

Abstract

Purpose

Central to the entire discipline of construction safety management is the concept of construction accidents. Although distinctive progress has been made in safety management applications over the last decades, construction industry still accounts for a considerable percentage of all workplace fatalities across the world. This study aims to predict occupational accident outcomes based on national data using machine learning (ML) methods coupled with several resampling strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

Occupational accident dataset recorded in Turkey was collected. To deal with the class imbalance issue between the number of nonfatal and fatal accidents, the dataset was pre-processed with random under-sampling (RUS), random over-sampling (ROS) and synthetic minority over-sampling technique (SMOTE). In addition, random forest (RF), Naïve Bayes (NB), K-Nearest neighbor (KNN) and artificial neural networks (ANNs) were employed as ML methods to predict accident outcomes.

Findings

The results highlighted that the RF outperformed other methods when the dataset was preprocessed with RUS. The permutation importance results obtained through the RF exhibited that the number of past accidents in the company, worker's age, material used, number of workers in the company, accident year, and time of the accident were the most significant attributes.

Practical implications

The proposed framework can be used in construction sites on a monthly-basis to detect workers who have a high probability to experience fatal accidents, which can be a valuable decision-making input for safety professionals to reduce the number of fatal accidents.

Social implications

Practitioners and occupational health and safety (OHS) departments of construction firms can focus on the most important attributes identified by analysis results to enhance the workers' quality of life and well-being.

Originality/value

The literature on accident outcome predictions is limited in terms of dealing with imbalanced dataset through integrated resampling techniques and ML methods in the construction safety domain. A novel utilization plan was proposed and enhanced by the analysis results.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 30 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 25 September 2018

Ruwini Edirisinghe

The future construction site will be pervasive, context aware and embedded with intelligence. The purpose of this paper is to explore and define the concept of the digital skin of…

23287

Abstract

Purpose

The future construction site will be pervasive, context aware and embedded with intelligence. The purpose of this paper is to explore and define the concept of the digital skin of the future smart construction site.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper provides a systematic and hierarchical classification of 114 articles from both industry and academia on the digital skin concept and evaluates them. The hierarchical classification is based on application areas relevant to construction, such as augmented reality, building information model-based visualisation, labour tracking, supply chain tracking, safety management, mobile equipment tracking and schedule and progress monitoring. Evaluations of the research papers were conducted based on three pillars: validation of technological feasibility, onsite application and user acceptance testing.

Findings

Technologies learned about in the literature review enabled the envisaging of the pervasive construction site of the future. The paper presents scenarios for the future context-aware construction site, including the construction worker, construction procurement management and future real-time safety management systems.

Originality/value

Based on the gaps identified by the review in the body of knowledge and on a broader analysis of technology diffusion, the paper highlights the research challenges to be overcome in the advent of digital skin. The paper recommends that researchers follow a coherent process for smart technology design, development and implementation in order to achieve this vision for the construction industry.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 26 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 June 2022

Isik Ates Kiral and Sevilay Demirkesen

This study aims to observe the impact of peripheral vision on construction safety. The study further intends to create awareness of eye diseases in construction safety, an…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to observe the impact of peripheral vision on construction safety. The study further intends to create awareness of eye diseases in construction safety, an important root cause for most construction-related hazards and accidents.

Design/methodology/approach

This study focuses on the impact of peripheral vision in terms of construction site safety. Experiments were conducted with construction employees with different qualifications, ages, expertise and previous safety training experience. The experiments were conducted with an experiment set consisting of a tangent screen to measure the peripheral angle of the participants. The study measured peripheral vision, which helped determine the vision field accordingly. In this context, a total of 32 participants were investigated in terms of their peripheral visual angle and the field of vision. The data collected were analyzed in terms of several statistical tests such as One-Sample t-test, multivariate ANOVA and multiple linear regression.

Findings

The results of the study indicated that there are significant differences in peripheral vision in terms of age of participants, work qualification, work experience, area of expertise and previous safety training experience. The study further revealed that most of the participants failed to satisfy both OSHA requirements about peripheral vision, and normal limits defined in the previous literature. The study further implies that participants, who reported previous sight problems or eye diseases are more vulnerable to construction site accidents.

Originality/value

Construction site safety remains a major concern for most construction companies despite the latest developments in technology. Several companies are struggling with poor safety performance, occupational injuries and illnesses, and work-related accidents resulting in fatalities. However, the root causes behind several construction accidents are still vague due to different dynamics in the construction industry. Among these root causes, poor sight, vision and or eye diseases constitute an important part. Hence, the study provides empirical evidence with the workers checked for eye health to help policymakers and industry practitioners in terms of developing awareness for eye-related injuries and accidents and review their safety programs accordingly.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 30 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 January 2021

Milad Alipour-Bashary, Mehdi Ravanshadnia, Hamidreza Abbasianjahromi and Ehsan Asnaashari

Demolition is a high-risk operation in construction projects that may lead to serious accidents. Risk assessment is a fundamental step in managing demolition risk and preventing…

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Abstract

Purpose

Demolition is a high-risk operation in construction projects that may lead to serious accidents. Risk assessment is a fundamental step in managing demolition risk and preventing casualties and financial losses. The present study aims to provide a framework to identify, analyse and evaluate the risks in building demolition operations.

Design/methodology/approach

According to previous studies and the use of expert knowledge, 10 possible risks of the building demolition operation were identified. Subsequently, these risks were assessed using a combination of fuzzy logic with fault tree analysis (FTA), criteria importance through inter-criteria correlation (CRITIC) and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). Then, the risks were classified with the help of a risk decision matrix (RDM), and appropriate treatment strategies were presented according to the level of importance of each risk.

Findings

Considering the obtained magnitude for each risk and its rating, building collapse and noise pollution were identified as the most and least significant risks, respectively. The results of this study were in good agreement with the data provided by the Iranian Ministry of Cooperatives, Labour and Social Welfare, as well as obtained results of the previous studies on demolition.

Originality/value

This paper provides a novel framework for assessing the risks in building demolition operations. The findings of this study help demolition project managers to manage the risks in their projects properly.

Details

International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation, vol. 40 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-4708

Keywords

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