The US construction industry annually experiences a relatively high rate of fatalities and injuries; therefore, improving safety practices should be considered a top priority for this industry. Modular/prefabricated building construction is a construction strategy that involves manufacturing of the whole building or some of its components off-site. This research focuses on the safety performance of the modular/prefabricated building construction sector during both manufacturing and on-site processes. This safety evaluation can serve as the starting point for improving the safety performance of this sector. Research was conducted based on Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated accidents. The study found 125 accidents related to modular/prefabricated building construction. The details of each accident were closely examined to identify the types of injury and underlying causes. Out of 125 accidents, there were 48 fatalities (38.4%), 63 hospitalized injuries (50.4%), and 14 non-hospitalized injuries (11.2%). It was found that, the most common type of injury in modular/prefabricated construction was 'fracture', and the most common cause of accidents was 'fall'. The most frequent cause of cause (underlying and root cause) was 'unstable structure'. In this research, the accidents were also examined in terms of corresponding location, occupation, equipment as well as activities during which the accidents occurred. For improving safety records of the modular/prefabricated construction sector, this study recommends that future research be conducted on stabilizing structures during their lifting, storing, and permanent installation, securing fall protection systems during on-site assembly of components while working from heights, and developing training programmes and standards focused on modular/prefabricated construction.

Facility location methods play a crucial role in specifying the optimum location options for various types of facilities. A question that arises is what makes a facility location decision a sustainable one? Facility location, also known as location analysis, is a known concept in the literature, but sustainable facility location is not. This requires appropriately defining the concept and framing the problem in order to address the relevant issues. Facility location models in the existing literature do not effectively include all the requirements of sustainable development. This paper serves as a discussion of the current literature concerning the sustainability aspects of the location problem. The aim is to conduct a comprehensive literature review to identify the characteristics of the sustainable facility location problem and propose a framework for classification of sustainability characteristics. The study shows that the location literature has steadily progressed toward considering not only economic but also social and environmental criteria in location decisions; but that many steps remain to be taken toward developing location models that integrate all three aspects of sustainability into decision making. The main motivation for the current study is to provide a foundation from which issues of sustainable development can be built into facility location and siting models.

Purpose This paper aims to propose a modeling and decision-making framework for organizational sustainability excellence of construction firms. This research aims to find how construction organizations can achieve excellence in terms of corporate sustainability. Design/methodology/approach This paper first reviews the literature of organizational sustainability maturity, and then differentiates its approach by focusing on organizational sustainability excellence. Organizational maturity and organizational excellence in sustainability are two approaches to organizational performance management that aim to improve organizational sustainability performance. Findings After a detailed model design and development process, models were run and sensitivity analysis was performed. After running various scenarios, it was shown that both workforce management and knowledge management are key components of People Capability, and they play crucial roles in the viability and sustainability performance of construction firms. Therefore, human resource development and training affect all capability areas of construction organizations without which no capability-building programs can be planned and implemented effectively. Practical implications Organizational excellence focuses on organizational resources, capabilities and knowledge management to determine what is driving the long-term success of organizations, whereas the organizational maturity focuses on organizational processes. This paper presents a modeling approach that can facilitate the process of policy verifications in organizations. Originality/value Organizations may have various options in choosing different policies, and those policies can be planned and expressed in different manners and along different scales. How can an organization determine which scenarios end up producing the desired performance results? The proposed framework presents a practical methodology that can result in the assessment of organizational excellence methodologies.

Purpose This paper aims to find out how construction organizations can achieve excellence and enhance excellence through knowledge and workforce management. The combination of knowledge and workforce management, referred to here as the People Capability, is the key area of concern in this study. Design/methodology/approach The European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model of organizational excellence is used as the basis for organizational excellence assessment and system dynamics is used as the modeling tool. Scenario analysis is conducted to identify the enabling factors that are more significant for organizational excellence, as well as how these factors operate and interact. Findings Based on the outcomes of the model, human resource development and training is the most important enabling factor that enhances organizational capabilities. Both workforce management and knowledge management are key components of People Capability, and they play crucial roles in the performance of construction firms. There is a high degree of dependence on these two components. Human resource development and training affect all capability areas and are key to the effective implementation of capability building programs. Originality/value Organizations might have various options in choosing different policies, and those policies can be planned and expressed in different manners and scales. How can an organization determine which scenarios end up producing desired performance results? Simulation techniques, especially system dynamics, have been used to answer these types of questions due to their ability to model causal relationships among various system components. The results of this research can help construction organizations identify effective knowledge and workforce management policies and capability-building programs that improve their organizational capabilities.

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