No abstract

The concerns for cost, quality and timely delivery of projects have been in existence from time immemorial, whereas the passion for these should be extended to safe execution of site works by the construction participants, as safety of life is very paramount. However, high level of commitment that is essential for the safe execution of site works has become a taboo. Hence, a plethora of accidents takes place on the site ranging from falls from height, contact with working tools, vehicle-related, slip and trip, collapse, exposure to harmful substances, to lifting and handling object accidents. It is pertinent to know that, responsibility for accidents on site cuts across all project participants (clients, consultants, contractors, workers), as well as the construction site environment. Recognition of the construction participants and site environmental factors as agents of accident is the focus of this research. Through extensive review of literature, a copious number of factors were identified and subsequently grouped under five factors as client-related, consultant-related, contractor-related, construction workers-related, and construction site-related. However, there has been a dearth of research in the grouping of accident contributing factors. The identification and understanding of these factors will go a long way in mitigating construction accidents, coupled with proven measures taken in positively addressing them. Efforts to prevent these causative factors include inter alia elimination of hazards from design, effective safety management, adequate planning of activities and employment of seasoned professionals by the client. The contractors are to embark on staff safety auditing, set up safety committees, conduct regular training for staff, use innovative technology, uphold housekeeping and report accident occurrence, while strict adherence to safety regulations must be adopted by all construction operatives.

Within the focus of the final outcome of any construction activity is the realisation of minimal cost, timely delivery and quality oriented structure. Nevertheless, above all is the safe execution of the construction site activities, which is a matter of life, most especially lives of the operatives. The study focuses on the identification of the common types of accident, the level of occurrences, as well as the causes of the identified accidents. Through an extensive literature review, eighteen (18) different types of accident were identified, which were subsequently classified into seven (7) categories. Moreover, well-structured questionnaires were administered to construction participants, with the data analysed descriptively. The outcome revealed the four categories of frequently occurring accidents to be: contact with working tools, vehicle-related, slip and trip, and falls. Some crucial inclusions in the list of causes are failure of edge protection, safety standard violations, overloading of scaffold and crane, wrong placement of ladder, loss of control over body movement, failure in the designs, absence of warning signs, over speeding of vehicle, wrong selection of working tools, non-usage of personal protective equipment, improperly installed equipment, horseplay, and poor housekeeping. However, by exploring the accident process, recommendations based on the findings are put up.

Abstract. Malaysia is a fast growing developing country and its vision is becoming a developed country with a first class infrastructure. Towards this vision, the assets and facilities were developed, owned or leased by public sector especially buildings, constructions and infrastructures to fulfill administrative and social needs as well as economic responsibilities to general public. In Malaysia, public asset and facilities is owned by three major levels of government, which are the federal government, state government and the local government also known as local authority. Between these three forms of government, Local Authorities hold a large number of facilities that place demands on resources. They have a responsibility to use and maintain a wide range of property assets including classified and heritage buildings, single purpose facilities and state of the art multipurpose facilities. Over the years, the local authorities in Malaysia currently have been soundly criticized by public caused poor maintenance culture. The assets especially public buildings and infrastructures are not maintained properly. Thus, developing the maintenance culture is essential to increase the awareness about maintenance activity on public facilities and assets in Malaysian Local Authorities. Regarding this scenario, the purpose of this study is to determine the determinant factors affecting development of maintenance culture identified based on the review of previous research. As a guide to achieve the research objective, a questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate the significance of ten determinant factors identified in the research study and their related affecting to development of maintenance culture in local authority as a respondent in this research. The collected data was then analyzed using quantitative approaches such as mean analysis, relative important index as well as others.

There are significant challenges for local authorities in Malaysia in providing and managing the public facilities for the satisfaction of stakeholders. Therefore, the local authorities need to maintain the facilities to ensure the public to be able to use them effectively and comfortably. However, over the years, the local authorities faced countless critics and complaints regarding their performance in managing the facilities from the public. Moreover, the local authorities confronted maintenance cost issues while maintaining and operating the facilities, which lead to ineffective management. This unfortunate situation has tarnished the image of the local authorities, which supposedly act as a service provider to the public in their regions. This paper investigates the current maintenance management practices by the local authorities and to identify the barriers encountered during the implementation of maintenance management. The study utilized a comprehensive sample by distributing 149 questionnaires to the maintenance department of local authorities. The results of current practices were analyzed by using the mean value score and Relative Importance Index (RII) while the barriers were examined using the mean value score and Severity Index (SI). The results indicated that the current practices of the maintenance management conducted by the local authorities did not achieve the level of satisfaction which leads to the issues of ineffective maintenance management and the barriers that faced by the local authorities shows that building characteristics, vandalism and human factors have become the significant factors of maintenance cost issues. Consequently, the study provides the recommendation of directions and guidance towards the best practices of maintenance management to accomplish the maintenance efficiency and value for money throughout various strategies of improvements.

Time is money, and it is crucial to accelerate road construction to improve the accessibility and connectivity of infrastructure. Prolonged periods of project implementation lead to delays and cost overruns, and further delays could destabilize the construction industry, causing an economic slowdown. This study explores the causes of delay in giving site possession, a topic that has received little explicit attention. The authors qualitatively identified the causes of delayed site possession from 15 project case studies. The data analysis presented in this paper involves two stages: (1) exploring causes of delay in giving site possession from 15 federal road projects and (2) further reviewing three road projects to provide significant insights into the fundamental reasons for, and the impacts of, the delay. This approach contributes to a better understanding of the specific causes of delay using a qualitative approach. The findings show that a slow process in land acquisition, squatters, and compensation disputes contributed to delayed site possession. The authors developed a conceptual framework to recommend strategies for mitigating the delay and accelerating the timelines of road projects based on the findings.

The construction industry is one of the largest industries in Malaysia. There were too many factors that contribute to construction project success. Construction industry comprises different participants including clients, consultants, and contractors (as construction business) that perform different roles from conception in order to complete the project. The contractors in Malaysia were categorized into seven Grades of contractors starting from contractor G1 to G7. These categories were graded based on a number of employees and the value of the project. In Malaysia, G1 to G4 contractors (small grade contractors) are the highest company were registered with the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB). Unfortunately, small grade contractors are widely exposed to the highest rate of accidents or risky compared to medium and large grade contractors (G5-G7) in this industry. In order to adequately clarify the issues on this safety matter, this paper has discussed the problems faced by small grade contractors that influence the implementation of safety practice in a construction site. The objective of study is to identify the problems in small grade contractors in order to implement safety practice on site. This study was focused on small grade contractor in Malaysia. The data for this study were supported by previous studies are reported in the journal; statistic of accidents in the construction industry by Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH); contractor information; statistic of contractors are registered under CIDB; safety book; and internet sources. This study had found that the small grade contractors have some issues related to safety practice whereas they did not have proper standard of safety (general safety act and regulation); they cannot appoint Safety Health Officer (SHO) to handle the site safety; have limited external resource; and also small grade contractors have financial constraints. Based on this review, it can be concluded that small grade contractors have more lacking in safety management and consequently, the rate of accidents still higher in the construction industry. However, safety management in small grade contractors can be improved with support by external resources such as researcher, large grade contractor, government, and pressure from authorities.

This study was focused on small grade contractor in Malaysian construction industry. The total of small grade contractors in Malaysia registered by Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) is higher and increases for every year. However, it is well known that construction project are exposed to accidents and injuries including of minor accidents, ergonomics problems, out dated machinery can cause the machine breakdown, and lack of awareness from employers and employees. The statistic of construction accidents is one of the critical sectors that need a huge and fast overhaul from the current site safety practices. Moreover, the safety practice in small grade contractors is too far to achieve the good safety performance in construction industry compare to large grade contractors. In this study, a semi-structured question was developed to identify the factors that affecting safety practice in small grade contractors. The data used in this study was collected through the interview with manager in small grade contractors, Site Safety Supervisor (SSS), and Safety and Health Officer (SHO). The finding of this paper was identified factors that influence safety practice in small grade contractors such as poor Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) management; small project value; financial constraint; lack of training and knowledge on safety management; high competition; lack of communication; unsatisfactory safety motivation; not exposed with good safety culture on site; the existing OSH framework is fragmented; difficult in contract acquirement; do not have SSS, SHO or safety person in charge; lack of OSH formal documentation; financial limitation and time constraints. The critical factors lack of safety practice which are financial limitation and lack of training and knowledge. In conclusion, small grade contractors faced for some factors that avoid them to implement safety practice in their companies.