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Safety management in construction is an integral effort and its success requires inputs from all stakeholders across design and construction phases. Effective risk mitigation relies on the concordance of all stakeholders’ risk perceptions. Many researchers have noticed the discordance of risk perceptions among critical stakeholders in safe construction work, however few have provided quantifiable evidence describing them. In an effort to fill this perception gap, this research performs an experiment that investigates stakeholder perceptions of risk in construction. Data analysis confirms the existence of such discordance, and indicates a trend in risk likelihood estimation. With risk perceptions from low to high, the stakeholders are architects, contractors/safety professionals, and engineers. Including prior studies, results also suggest that designers have improved their knowledge in building construction safety, but compared to builders they present more difficultly in reaching a consensus of perception. Findings of this research are intended to be used by risk management and decision makers to reassess stakeholders’ varying judgments when considering injury prevention and hazard assessment.

The integration of technology and team collaboration is increasingly becoming a critical juncture in construction education of the work environment. Through literature review and interviews, the authors find that students equipped with knowledge of BIM technology is not the ultimate goal, while the collaborative process of using BIM to solve practical construction problems emerges as key to individuals entering the industry. However, a majority of BIM-relevant courses have been taught as technology training without the context of a collaborative learning environment, while the industry values training in collaboration as a paramount skill in possible employees. To fill this gap, the authors assume that the collaborative construction skills can be obtained through training in higher education of construction. This work applies a case study analysis of one of Virginia Tech's Department of Building Construction courses, the Integrated Construction Studio (ICS), to demonstrate how the BIM process help students to build their collaboration skills in 4Cs: Common goals, Communication,Coordination, and Cooperation. This work then uses a survey analysis to validate the assumptions, and results from statistical analysis reinforce findings from the case study and also suggest some noteworthy observations for the educational integration of technology and collaboration in the industry.

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