Republic of the Philippines
UNIVERSITY OF RIZAL SYSTEM
Antipolo City
A.Y. 2019 – 2020
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
Assignment/Individual Research No. 01
Research Critique
In partial fulfillment of the requirements in
CE 16: Timber Design
Presented by:
Dominic Robiso Datuin
Student No.: 1201094158
Submitted to:
George Prejula Palada, RCE
Instructor
16 August 2019
Exploring Sustainable Post-End-Of-Life of Building Operations
A Systematic Literature Review
Ruchini Senarath Jayasinghe, Raufdeen Rameezdeen and Nicholas Chileshe
School of Natural and Built Environments, Natural and Built Environments Research Centre
(NBERC), University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
(Keywords Construction, Methodology, Supply chain Management)
I. Purpose of the Study
The study “Exploring Sustainable Post-End-of-Life of Building Operations - A
systematic Literature Review” undertakes a systematic literature review (SLR) to explore the
synergies between PEoLB (post-end-of-life of building) concepts and operations to achieve
sustainability. In order to accomplish this the paper explored two different sections:
• The interrelationships between the PEoLB concepts, operations and strategic
approaches; and
• A conceptual framework developed to enrich the sustainable directions to be taken
by the construction industry.
The study focused on the existing problem of the construction industry which is
waste management of post-end-of-life of building (PEoLB) where two concepts have rarely
been used. These two concepts are Reverse logistics (RL) and closed-loop supply chain (CLSC).
These are concepts which stimulate resource recovery at post-EoL. RL focusses on waste
management, material and product recovery while CLSC maximizes recovery value over the
life cycle of a material or product. Although RL and CLSC are widely known and used in
manufacturing industry especially in recovery of solid and industrial wastes, the researchers
knew that these two concepts were not that noticeable in construction industry. The
researchers thought that RL (Reverse Logistics) and CLSC (Closed-Loop-Supply-Chain) require
to be established as independent systems for construction and demolition waste management
in order to have a sustainable Post-End-of-Life of Building Operations.
II. Research Design/Methodology/Approach
The research paper used an SLR approach to conduct a critical evaluation of
widespread knowledge of the topic and synthesises novel concepts using content analysis
(Fink, 2013). The researchers chose to use content analysis beacuase it provides new insights
into data or knowledge found in existing literature and facilitates a practical guide according
to Elo and Kyngäs (2008). It can identify different patterns in the literature, and also provides
a micro-level focus (Braun and Clarke, 2006). This method therefore can be adopted to identify
the interrelationships between the PEoLB-related concepts such as RL and CLSC, their
operations under various themes, and additionally, to create novel opportunities.
III. Research Limitations and Implications
The study focused on two types of implications, namely, managerial and
research. Managerial Implications focused to have an effective and optimized set of operations
for construction and demolition waste management. Developing a resilient reverse supply
chain and CLSC concepts are the possible remedial actions, where this study has provided a
major focus. From an industrial perspective, the manager’s in-charge of PEoLB operations, in
particular, must take responsibility for cultivating the following capabilities. It provides
managerial guidance to organizations establishing sustainability during construction and
demolition waste management. PEoLB operations need to be interactive to dismantling,
sorting and reprocessing, while developing an iterative relationship with the PEoLB operations-
related strategies. In practicing the proper behaviors in terms of waste management and
maximization of an asset value, organizations can provide sustainable PEoLB operations, which
further encourage managers to build-up and improve their capabilities and leverage this by
devising innovative concepts that strengthen PEoLB operations.
Another massive contribution to the body of knowledge pertaining to the PEoLB
concept was the research implication. The concept has diverted the knowledge into a novel
perspective which needs to be applied when elaborating the reverse and closed supply chain
operations in further research studies. This has several research implications for the
development of the literature. The review has stressed the importance of an information base
for PEoLB operations; an essential element for optimizing the operations. Thus, this review
presents opportunities for future research directions to deal with the optimization of PEoLB
operations.
The research used samples of articles for an in depth and up-to-date
investigations of PEoLB concepts. This study will be commenced from 2006 to recently
published research articles in 2017 for construction and demolition waste. To get the samples
for the research they used keywords such as “Reverse Logistics” OR “Reverse Supply Chain”,
“Closed Loop Supply Chain” OR “Closed Loop Cycle”, “Construction Industry”,
“Deconstruction” OR “Demolition” OR “Dismantling”. The search used several electronic
databases such as Google Scholar, Scopus, ProQuest, Web of Science and Science Direct and
Emerald Insight. Drawing upon the approach undertaken by Ali et al. (2017), the databases
chosen were considered to be extensive and second, are available at academic institutions.
IV. Research Findings
The study concluded that according to the descriptive analysis, the majority of
the articles were on PEoLB operations (60percent), followed by PEoLB concepts (23 per cent)
and strategic approaches (17 per cent). The articles selected were based on different
geographical locations and employed both exploratory and descriptive studies. On the other
hand thematic analysis highlighted the interrelationships between PEoLB operations and
PEoLB operations enabling strategic approaches. However, barriers and risks caused
significant failures in PEoLB operations. The main barriers include an unorganized knowledge
flow, lack of regulatory and government support, reluctance to change behavioral patterns
and attitudes and reluctance to adopt designing-out waste. These issues can be addressed
through strategic approaches such as the designing-out waste concept which is underpinned
by a sound information flow.
V. Practical Implications
This research paper approaches the RL and CLSC concepts and their operations
under the sustainable PEoLB concept which is found to be a novel. No study has yet used the
sustainable PEoLB concept to elaborate the operations in between the end-of-life-of-building
and the secondary market. The proposed conceptual research framework triggers and
nurtures potential pathways to introduce sustainable PEoLB operations under sound
information flow. This could create a basis for future empirical studies in filling the identified
gaps in literature. The framework could also assist practitioners in mitigating risks associated
with transportation, storing and contamination of salvaged materials through enhanced
information flow. In addition, the framework provides some managerial guidance to
organizations seeking ways of establishing sustainability during reverse logistics (RL)
operations.
VI. Originality/Value
The paper presents an SLR of an emerging area of research that encapsulates
closed loop supply chain through sustainable RL operations. It doesn’t plagiarize others’ work
they only cited other studies and article as a source of information. They also used proper
citation for the names of the authors to acknowledge that it is their own work.
The Use and Abuse of Safety Indicators in Construction
David Oswald, Rita Peihua Zhang, Helen Lingard, Payam Pirzadeh and Tiendung Le
School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University, Melbourne,
Australia
(Keywords Construction, Project Management, Construction Safety)
I. Purpose of the Study
The research paper critically reviewed the use of different types of safety
indicators in the Australian construction industry. They aimed in writing this paper to provide
a reflective critique of the way that safety indicators are used in the Australian construction
industry and the potential consequences for safety management. The researchers thought the
complexity of construction safety is often reduced to simple statistics as an existing problem.
Academics and consultants refer to accident and incident statistics to highlight there is a
problem to be solved; while practitioners often use them to track their own safety
performance. Traditionally these statistics have focused on historical events, often termed as
lagging indicators. This has been driven from particular safety management strategies that
have desired to be able to measure and audit safety, with the view of setting targets where
bonuses or penalties can be attributed.
II. Research Design/Methodology/Approach
The research paper used Qualitative Interviewing as a useful technique for
assessing attitudes, perceptions and values. The semi-structured interview questions included:
“How was health and safety measured at (project name)?”; “what indicators were used?”;
“were they leading/lagging or both?”; “do you think these metrics measured the right things?”
and “are there better metrics?” Interviews were recorded with participants’ consent and
transcribed for analysis. The researchers used this type of methodology to further get the
proper information they needed. They can directly get the data from the population of samples
with the recorded interview.
According to Guest et al., (2013), thematic analysis is the most common form
of analysis in qualitative research. It was also the most suitable form of statistical treatment
for the study. It provides a “bird’s-eye view” of emerging patterns that could be drawn out
(Aronson,1994) and identifies patterns across data sets that are relevant in addressing the
research aims (Braun and Clarke, 2006). The study adopted an analytical generalization
approach where a judgement on the extent the findings can be generalized to another is
judged by similarities between the time, place, people and other social contexts (Trochim,
2005).
III. Research Implications and Limitations
The study focused on two types of indicators such as Lagging, Leading
Indicators and climate indicators. Lagging indicators are measurements that are linked to the
outcome of an accident (Toellner, 2001), and their value has been questioned by a growing
number of safety researchers and professionals. They are useful for drawing attention to
changes in safety performance over time, and for making comparisons across projects,
contractors and countries. While the Leading indicators are metrics that are not historic in
nature and can be used as safety performance predictors according to Hallowell et al., (2013).
It was explained by Hinzeetal (2013) that the purpose of the leading indicator is to provide
safety employees with an opportunity to identify real time weaknesses on the site or in worker
behaviors. They can involve gathering data related to site safety inspections according to
Sparer and Dennerlein (2013), toolbox talks by Olsonetal (2016), safety observations by
Oswald, Sherratt and Smith (2018) and trained workers by Wilkins (2011).
On the other hand climate indicators is acknowledged that safety climate
assessment does not completely reflect safety culture underlying the operation of an
organization. Safety climate influences workers’ behavior and/or performance through the
perceptions that workers form about how organizations reward and support safety according
to Lingard et al (2012). Empirical evidence across different industries has provided some
support for links between safety climate and safety-related behaviors and objective
performance indicators, such as the occurrence of incidents and/or injuries.
The researchers conducted surveys to several construction workers at 12 sites
across Australia. Each survey contained 47 questions, two of which were demographic
questions, and 45 were provisional questions developed to measure the safety climate at one
of the three levels of analysis. The number of sites and number of workers per site varied
across participating firms while some participants responded to items in relation to more than
one of the levels of analysis.
The surveys were administered using the TurningPoint automated response
system with KeePad hand-held devices. Survey questions were projected on to a screen and
read out by a researcher. Workers were required to press a number on the hand-held devices
to indicate their responses to the statement in each survey question against a five-point scale
ranging from 1¼strongly disagree to 5¼strongly agree.
IV. Research Findings
The study revealed that the measurement approaches adopted on construction
projects have several limitations, and tends to focus on the “clearly measurable”. However,
findings also suggested that there was potential value in measuring indicators that were more
difficult (but arguably not impossible) to measure accurately. Indicators that can represent
the cultural aspects of an organization were highly sought after.
The study also suggests that construction companies should not overly focus
on the clearly measurable. This could include the frequency of lagging indicators that are
common and very low severity, or the frequency of leading indicators that could be considered
as ordinary day actions. Instead there should be more of an emphasis on the effectiveness of
the leading indicators selected, the root causes of lagging indicators, and an understanding
that there are “difficult-to-measure” aspects of safety that may not be captured by the
measurement approaches adopted. The complexity of workplace safety means that
measurement is an indication of the condition of safety, and not an exact science, or direct
measure of safety, so overly relying on the results from these tools with absolute precision is
ill-advised. This means that measuring safety indicators should also be an important thing in
the construction industry because this talks more than just the buildings itself, but the lives
that the building will hold.
V. Practical Implications
The research “The Use and Abuse of Safety Indicators in Construction” can be
a helpful tool in terms of construction industry. It can definitely use to a real life situations.
Measuring the safety indicators will help construction companies to implement safety
precautions before, during and after the operation of the building. It will also train the people
to work within the safety precautions set by the company. This way, they can do their job
with confidence that they are safe during the process. The study will also help the future
researchers to gather more information and to conduct a further study about the safety
indicators used by the construction companies.
VI. Originality/Value
The researchers certainly didn’t plagiarize others work. The citation did by the
researchers were well done because they acknowledge them for their work. As a result of the
substantial shortcomings of safety indicators, great care needs to be taken when using them
to determine or evaluate organizational safety policy and practices. The research also wants
other companies to be well informed about the use and abuse of safety indicators in
construction so that they can set a policy and regulations about it.
