Effects of organizational complexity and resources on construction site risk

The role of organizational factors in promoting workers' health in the construction sector: A comprehensive analysis

INTRODUCTION

The number of physical and mental problems caused by occupational accidents and diseases increases every year. To control them, the safety climate at work is a recognized critical factor. However, a widely applicable model to capture the safety climate for various industries and organizations is lacking.

METHOD

This study proposes a theoretical model to measure the direct and indirect effects of safety climate on workers' physical and mental health, mediated by job satisfaction, in the construction sector. We propose a multidimensional construct of safety climate, considering the most salient factors from the literature, and including psychological capital as a new factor. Using data from the last wave of the European Working Conditions Survey (2015) in Spain, the proposed model was validated using structural equation modeling.

RESULTS

Our findings suggest that to further improve the mental health of construction workers, work-life balance and job rewards and compensation must be prioritized along with safety climate. As for physical health, safety climate and work-life balance are crucial. Finally, we provide some recommendations for construction company managers based on a ranking of all the factors affecting the safety climate and the workers' health.

From Risk Assessment on Site to How to Improve Safety: An Easy "App" to Control Construction Site Conditions

A construction site has specific risks and organizational conditions requiring on-site safety inspections. Paperwork inspections have important limitations that can be overcome by substituting paper records with digital registers and using new information and communication technologies. Although academic literature has provided several tools to carry out on-site safety inspections adopting new technologies, most construction sites are not currently ready to adopt them. This paper covers this need of on-site control by providing an application that uses a simple technology accessible to most construction companies. The main objective and contribution of this paper is to design, develop, and implement a mobile device application (App), named "RisGES". It is based on the model of risk that grounds the Construction Site Risk Assessment Tool (CONSRAT) and on the related models that connect risk with specific organizational and safety resources. This proposed application is aimed to assess the on-site risk and organizational structure by using new technologies and considering all relevant resources and material safety conditions. The paper includes practical examples of how to use RisGES in real settings. Evidence for the discriminant validity of CONSRAT is also provided. The RisGES tool is at once preventive and predictive since it yields a specific set of criteria for interventions intended to decrease the levels of risks on-site, as well as to detect improvement needs in the site structure and resources for increasing the safety levels.

Organizational factors and specific risks on construction sites

INTRODUCTION

This study develops an empirical test of two theoretical models using the approach of Structural Equation Model (SEM) to test the relationships between specific organizational factors of safety management system (SMS) and specific risk variables.

METHOD

Two SEM models with two and four latent variables, respectively, and 10 observed risk variables were used to identify the strongest relationships that may lead to an accident on site. A random sample of 474 construction sites were visited and assessed in Spain from 2003 to 2010. Most of the samples were small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), which is the predominant type of company in the Spanish construction industry. To assess the risk on sites and get the measurements of the variables included in the models, the validated method CONSRAT (Construction Sites Risk Assessment Tool) was used. After estimating the proposed models, an adequate fit was obtained for both of them.

RESULTS

Results provide empirical evidence that: (a) the factor "Resources on site" is more determinant in explaining influences on risk variables because of their influence on all risk variables (Model 1); (b) the factor "Site structure complexity" (which includes structure and organization, and safety resources available on site) has a stronger effect on risk variables than other factors related to intrinsic characteristics of the work, site, or companies (Model 2).

CONCLUSIONS

These results mean that the complexity and resource factors that depend on companies are those that have the greatest impact on risks, which makes it possible for companies to undertake the appropriate risk control measures.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

These results can help construction firms obtain earlier information about which organizational elements can affect future safety conditions on site, improve those elements for preventing risks, and consequently, avoid accidents before they occur.

Regional diversification of the use of agricultural production potential in the EU candidate and the Eastern partnership countries

Diversification of the agricultural production potential often implies the differentiation of the achieved farming productivity due to its effect on the agricultural resources and structural processes. The article aims to examine the diversity of the production potential in the agricultural sectors of the EU candidate countries (CC) and the Eastern Partnership countries (EPC) and its impact on the variety of the achieved productivity, as well as to present changes in the analyzed indicators in the years 2006–2017. A synthetic measure of agricultural development and a linear regression analysis were applied in the article. The research revealed that Belarus may be distinguished with regard to its production potential, as well as the achieved productivity. In most countries (with the exception of Montenegro and Macedonia), an increase in the value of the synthetic measure of the possessed potential has been recorded in the studied period. However, the synthetic measure of the agricultural productivity level displayed an insignificant raise only in half of the countries surveyed.

Workplace Employees' Annual Physical Checkup and During Hire on the Job to Increase Health-care Awareness Perception to Prevent Disease Risk: A Work for Policy-Implementable Option Globally

Background

Increasing workplace health-care perception has become a major issue in the world. Most of the health-related problems are faced because of the lack of health management instruments. The level of health care can be improved through workplace health well-being regulations. The aim of the present study is to formulate a conceptual model of physical checkup.

Methods

This study applied conceptual theories and figures and used secondary data from articles and relevant websites for evaluating the validity of the study.

Results

Annual health checkup increases health-care awareness perception of states, organizations, employees, and their families and manages the annual health record of employees, organizations, and states.

Conclusions

Health care and awareness perception of states, organizations, employees, and families improves with annual health checkup, and annual health checkup also prevents unhealthy acts.

Characteristics of Occupational Injuries in a Pharmaceutical Company in Iran

Objective

To prioritize occupational hazards in a Pharmaceutical Company in Iran using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP).

Methods

This was a cross-sectional study conducted in a Pharmaceutical Company in Iran in 2017. All employees working in the administrative, production, installations and facilities, and laboratory units were studied using the consensus method (N=n=130 employees). A data collection form was designed for identifying the hazards using the Nominal Group Technique (NGT) method, as well as a pair-wise questionnaire was used for collecting required data in the quantitative phase. The collected data were analyzed using Expert Choice 10.0 and SPSS 23.0.

Results

The results showed that among hazards detected in the studied units, the highest and lowest weights and priorities were, respectively, related to "inhalation of toxic gases" (W=0.253) and "being exposed to radiation" (W=0.022) in the laboratory unit, "skin injuries" (W=0.205) and "bending and straightening for a long time" (W= 0.032) in the production unit, "falling down" (W=0.271) and "standing and sitting for a long time " (W=0.037) in the installations and facilities unit, and "hand joint failure" (W=0.295) and "working in a low-light environment" (W=0.092) in the administrative unit.

Conclusion

The results of the present study showed that there were hazards in all of the studied units. These results indicated a high level of hazards in the pharmaceutical company's units. Due to the increased medication diversification and increased workload for these companies, paying attention to the preventive and corrective measures in order to reduce the risk of emerging hazards is essential.