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Adeleye, T, Huang, M, Huang, Z and Sun, L (2013) Predicting Loss for Large Construction Companies. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(09), 1224–36.

Alsamadani, R, Hallowell, M R, Javernick-Will, A and Cabello, J (2013) Relationships among Language Proficiency, Communication Patterns, and Safety Performance in Small Work Crews in the United States. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(09), 1125–34.

  • Type: Journal Article
  • Keywords: Communication; Safety; United States; Construction industry; Safety; Communication; Network; Labor and personnel issues;
  • ISBN/ISSN: 0733-9364
  • URL: https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000724
  • Abstract:
    The construction industry employs approximately 6% of all U.S. workers but accounts for over 16% of all occupational fatalities. Recent statistics indicate that over 40% of all U.S. construction laborers cannot speak English proficiently. To ensure strong safety performance, it is vital to include every individual in a construction crew in safety-related communications, regardless of language proficiency. Considering that most safety communication is delivered in English, it is not surprising that Spanish-speaking construction workers are fatally injured at a disproportionate rate. To conduct the first exploration of the characteristics of strong, multilingual safety networks in the Denver Metropolitan region of the United States, a multilingual research team conducted interviews with the members of 14 construction crews. Demographic attribute data for each individual (e.g., language proficiency, years of experience, position in the company) and network data were collected to analyze the safety communication network for each crew. The units of analysis included the individual actors in the network and the networks as a whole. The exploratory results contribute to the body of knowledge by revealing that unilingual work crews have safety performance that is 51% better than multilingual work crews (p=0.10), bilingual workers play a more central role than unilingual workers when more than one language is spoken (p<0.001), workers less than 35 years of age have a higher degree of centrality than do workers who are older than 35 years old (p=0.11), and managers play an important role in the exchange and diffusion of safety knowledge regardless of language proficiency (p<0.001). Most importantly, social-network analysis metrics show that these language-boundary spanners often form the core of a network that connects disparate groups of individuals. By contrast, crews with relatively weak safety performance tend to have clear and disparate subnetworks distinguished by language and high turnover rates. Such characteristics are of concern because individual actors are not able to effectively warn one another of uncontrolled hazardous exposures or work in transition.

Cruz, C O and Marques, R C (2013) Exogenous Determinants for Renegotiating Public Infrastructure Concessions: Evidence from Portugal. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(09), 1082–90.

Damci, A, Arditi, D and Polat, G (2013) Multiresource Leveling in Line-of-Balance Scheduling. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(09), 1108–16.

Franz, B W, Leicht, R M and Riley, D R (2013) Project Impacts of Specialty Mechanical Contractor Design Involvement in the Health Care Industry: Comparative Case Study. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(09), 1091–7.

Hanna, A S, Thomas, G and Swanson, J R (2013) Construction Risk Identification and Allocation: Cooperative Approach. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(09), 1098–107.

Hegazy, T, Abdel-Monem, M, Saad, D A and Rashedi, R (2013) Hands-On Exercise for Enhancing Students’ Construction Management Skills. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(09), 1135–43.

Hollar, D A, Rasdorf, W, Liu, M, Hummer, J E, Arocho, I and Hsiang, S M (2013) Preliminary Engineering Cost Estimation Model for Bridge Projects. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(09), 1259–67.

Jafari, A and Love, P E D (2013) Quality Costs in Construction: Case of Qom Monorail Project in Iran. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(09), 1244–9.

Jin, Z, Deng, F, Li, H and Skitmore, M (2013) Practical Framework for Measuring Performance of International Construction Firms. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(09), 1154–67.

Li, J, Chiang, Y H, Choi, T N Y and Man, K F (2013) Determinants of Efficiency of Contractors in Hong Kong and China: Panel Data Model Analysis. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(09), 1211–23.

Liu, J Y, Zou, P X W and Gong, W (2013) Managing Project Risk at the Enterprise Level: Exploratory Case Studies in China. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(09), 1268–74.

Marzouk, M and Amin, A (2013) Predicting Construction Materials Prices Using Fuzzy Logic and Neural Networks. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(09), 1190–8.

Menesi, W, Golzarpoor, B and Hegazy, T (2013) Fast and Near-Optimum Schedule Optimization for Large-Scale Projects. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(09), 1117–24.

Shahandashti, S M and Ashuri, B (2013) Forecasting {[}Engineering News-Record{]} Construction Cost Index Using Multivariate Time Series Models. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(09), 1237–43.

Sunindijo, R Y and Zou, P X W (2013) Conceptualizing Safety Management in Construction Projects. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(09), 1144–53.

Tas, E, Cakmak, P I and Levent, H (2013) Determination of Behaviors in Building Product Information Acquisition for Developing a Building Product Information System in Turkey. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(09), 1250–8.

Wang, S, Tang, W and Li, Y (2013) Relationship between Owners’ Capabilities and Project Performance on Development of Hydropower Projects in China. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(09), 1168–78.

Xie, J and Thomas Ng, S (2013) Multiobjective Bayesian Network Model for Public-Private Partnership Decision Support. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(09), 1069–81.

Yorucu, V (2013) Construction in an Open Economy: Autoregressive Distributed Lag Modeling Approach and Causality Analysis—Case of North Cyprus. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(09), 1199–210.

Zhao, X, Hwang, B and Low, S P (2013) Developing Fuzzy Enterprise Risk Management Maturity Model for Construction Firms. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(09), 1179–89.