Abstracts – Browse Results
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Akcamete, A (2011) A formal approach for managing facility change information and capturing change history as part of building information models (BIMs), Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Al-Dughaither, K A (1996) International construction financing strategies: Influential factors and decision-making, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Amekudzi, A (1999) Uncertainty analysis of national highway performance measures in the context of evolving analysis models and data, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Atasoy, G (2013) Visualizing and interacting with construction project performance information, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Bello, M A (2012) Minimizing impediments to design for construction safety (DFCS) implementation on capital projects, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
- Type: Thesis
- Keywords: effectiveness; hazards; interview; productivity; project delivery; safety; construction worker; designer; owner; professional; project stakeholder
- ISBN/ISSN:
- URL: https://www.proquest.com/docview/1175779514
- Abstract:
To assist designers in Design for Construction Safety (DFCS) implementation, safety researchers sponsored by the Construction Industry Institute (CII) developed over 400 design suggestions to minimize or eliminate certain construction safety hazards (Gambatese et al, 1997). These suggestions were incorporated in a computer program, the DFCS Toolbox. Besides this, other research has been conducted and guidelines developed to aid DFCS implementation. Through this research, some of the available guidelines and tools were fine-tuned and detailed to better enable DFCS implementation. Hence, the research produced certain deliverables. Firstly, the research identified DFCS measures that meet all the criteria for being situated in the capital project design phase. Secondly, the research identified impediments to implementing each of these design-phase DFCS measures where applicable. Thirdly, the research obtained revisions of certain design-phase DFCS measures based on their identified impediments to make them more viable, both for implementation and for improving construction safety. Additionally, the safety benefits of implementing each of the design-phase DFCS measures were identified through the publicly accessible Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) database. These benefits refer to the construction hazard incidents that could have been prevented by implementing the DFCS measures. Lastly, a relational database application was developed to assist designers in making safety a consideration in the early phases of the capital project delivery process. This desktop software application was developed to have the functionality to provide the design-phase DFCS measures, their preventable safety incidents, their potential impediments, potential solutions to their impediments, and their tier of feasibility, based on project characteristics, design profession, and the stage of the design phase. The application also allows for the addition of new DFCS measures and accompanying data. It therefore incorporates the other research deliverables and thus, encapsulates the research findings to serve as a vehicle for utilizing the data to enhance DFCS implementation. In producing and validating these deliverables, a number of research tasks were executed including survey administration to AEC design professionals. Also, over 30 interviews were conducted with design professionals. Besides the deliverables, there were a number of findings from the research results. Firstly, the results emphasized a key shortcoming of the DFCS concept. This is the effectiveness of DFCS depends on construction sequence. Secondly, it was determined that DFCS measures or modifications that not only improve construction worker safety but occupant and maintenance worker safety are more likely to be implemented by AEC design professionals and more likely to be accommodated by project owners as well. On this basis, a new dimension was identified towards increasing and improving DFCS implementation. Thirdly, this research further emphasized that the design-build project delivery method offers more opportunity and fewer barriers for DFCS implementation. This research made a number of contributions. Firstly, the research characterized the design suggestions for construction worker safety yielded from earlier research. This research also brought focus to individual DFCS measures and their feasibility for implementation, as opposed to for the DFCS concept as a whole. Secondly, this research, through its deliverables, serves in fulfilling several earlier recommendations for DFCS research and some earlier identified information gaps. These research contributions are collectively intended to enhance and increase DFCS implementation on projects towards improving construction safety. There are a number of motivating factors for this. Firstly, professional, ethical and moral obligations require the safety of others to be protected. Secondly, the improvement of safety could potentially benefit every project stakeholder and participant by minimizing o eliminating the numerous costs associated with injuries to construction workers. Thirdly, all project participants may also benefit in that reducing the number of construction accidents and injuries could avoid disruption to work and avert delays in project completion and as a result, improve productivity (Huang, 2003). Additionally, poor safety performance and its resulting consequences such as court cases and lawsuits expose all project participants to bad publicity which could have such adverse impacts as preventing job awards or causing even more lawsuits from prior projects (Huang, 2003). These reasons collectively highlight the importance of improving construction worker safety and towards this goal, this research emphasized and enhanced DFCS as a strategy for reducing or eliminating construction hazard risks on capital projects. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
Ben-Alon, L (2020) Natural buildings: Integrating earthen building materials and methods into mainstream construction, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Coffelt, D P, Jr. (2008) Roof management improvement: Improving infrastructure management decision making through a consideration of total life cycle cost and deterioration, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Dayanand, N (1996) Scheduling payments in projects: An optimization framework, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Ergen, E (2005) Formalization of life-cycle data management of engineered-to-order components using advanced tracking technologies, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Gordon, C (2006) A formalism and a framework for planning of sensor-based construction inspections, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
He, R (2023) Modeling of sustainable materials management systems: Hybrid science-based, data-driven approaches, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Herabat, P (1997) A functional specification for a decision support system to select bridge analysis tools, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Kiliccote, H (1997) A standards processing framework, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Kiziltas, S (2008) An automated approach for developing integrated model-based construction project histories to support estimation of activity production rates, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Lee, K J (2013) A formal and ontological approach to embed commissioning test protocol into building information model, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Lee, S H (2009) Computational fieldwork support for efficient operation and maintenance of mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Ochoa Franco, L A (2004) Life cycle assessment of residential buildings, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Pradhan, A R (2009) An approach for fusing data from multiple sources to support construction productivity analyses, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Reich, Y (1991) Building and improving design systems: A machine learning approach, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Reinhardt, J (2003) Navigational models for effective and efficient interaction with integrated product and process models on construction sites, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Resendiz-Carrillo, D (1990) Risk-based framework for the selection of socially optimal dam safety goals, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Rivard, H (1997) A building design representation for conceptual design and case-based reasoning, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Sharrard, A L (2007) Greening construction processes using an input-output-based hybrid life cycle assessment method, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.