While smoking prevalence among the general Canadian population has declined to 17%, declining rates have not been achieved equitably across all sub-populations (Statistics Canada, 2011). Smoking prevalence is particularly high among blue-collar workers, and individuals employed in the construction industry have the highest smoking prevalence (34%, Conference Board of Canada, 2013). Though studies have attempted to understand these disparities and how to combat them, research is necessary to understand the social contexts in which construction workers smoke. This study sought to understand these contexts by exploring experiences and meaning of smoking. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 14 construction workers living and working in Southern Ontario. Qualitative inductive analysis was conducted in three phases: (1) simultaneous data gathering and generating nodes, (2) coding and subgroup analysis, and (3) limited theory development. Grounded theory approach to analysis identified six main categories encompassing various subthemes. These included: day-to-day workplace experiences, experience of smoking, reasons for smoking, sociability of smoking, mechanisms associated with continued smoking, and experiences with quitting or cutting back. Sub-group analyses identified differences between participants depending on age, skill level (unskilled worker versus skilled tradesperson), and job sector (residential versus commercial/industrial). Social theories and concepts identified in the literature review were referred to, including the Social Contextual model by Sorensen and colleagues (2004). A potential set of contextual factors and modifying mechanisms that may be impacting construction worker’s tobacco use on or off jobsites are presented. The findings indicate that smoking is a complex issue among construction workers. For many, smoking goes hand-in-hand with working. Smoking is a social experience, and common on worksites. Workers experience various smoking policies on different jobsites. Policies may or may not be followed or enforced. Smoking has different meanings for different workers. However, factors external to the workplace must also be considered (e.g. partner smoking status). Supports that could be offered in workplace contexts include incentives, coverage of quitting aids, and limiting smoking (e.g. smoke-free policy). These findings have implications for policy and practice. Further research, including collaborative intervention development, is necessary to address high and persistent rates of tobacco use among construction workers.

Little is known about the work life of those employed in the residential construction sector or the conditions under which they work that might influence the quality of the house they build. The main goals of this investigation were to uncover the work-life balance issues faced by male residential construction workers and how the structural organisation of residential construction work impacted them. While a growing body of literature exists on work-life balance, most of it has concentrated on working women and/or those employed in professional occupations. In semi-standardised interviews conducted with new home construction workers in Southern Ontario, it was found that these men were, for the most part, content with their work-life balance. It would seem that a culture of long work hours remains predominant in home construction, which is problematic for an industry seeking to recruit young workers and women workers, who may want a better work-life balance.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2008. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 244-253). Also available on the World Wide Web.

The author's Habilitationsschrift--Universität Regensburg, 1984, presented under the title: Vorindustrielle Bauwirtschaft vom 16. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert in der Reichsstadt Nürnberg und ihrem Umland. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 280-295) and index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1959. / Typescript. Abstracted in Dissertation abstracts, v. 20 (1959) no. 7, p. 2611-2612. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 510-522).

Thesis (MTech (Construction Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2005 / Workers in the construction industry are often exposed to ergonomic challenges. Some of the most unfavourable ergonomic practices include bending and twisting of the body, lifting and handling of heavy materials and equipment. Working above shoulder and head and below the knee levels. Despite provisions made in various legislations about compliance with the health and safety of the construction workforce, many employers still do not comply and are not changing the way construction activities are carried out. It was argued that some of the unfavourable ergonomic challenges such as repetitive and awkward work routines might lead to strains, sprains, musculo-skeletal disorders and carpal tunnel syndrome and that these problems could contribute to absenteeism and reduced site productivity. This study sought to establish the pervasiveness of ergonomic challenges and the extent to which the construction workforce are exposed to these challenges. Empirical studies using the philosophically positivistic paradigm and epistemologically objectivist method of on-site observation of construction workforce activity were conducted on purposively chosen samples of bricklayers, plasterers, painters and their helpers. The purpose remained to count and record body movements of the said workers over 30 minute intervals. Alongside the observations, interviews were conducted to establish what views and perceptions the workmen had with regard to the effect their daily work had on their bodies. The results revealed that the extent and effect of unfavourable ergonomic exposures vary from trade to trade. For instance, bricklayers bent their bodies more than any other worker while plasterers did more work below the knee than their counterparts. In the same vein painters stretched their bodies and worked above their shoulders and heads more than their counterparts. Further extrapolation of the data over the working life of the tradesmen and their helpers exposed the magnitude of the ergonomic exposures and the likely effects that these exposures would have on their bodies and health. For instance, the bricklayer and plasterer would have to bend and twist their bodies a record 5 million times in their 20 year working lives. The painter would be exposed to 3 million and 4 million times respectively of bending and twisting his/her body within the same 20-year period. The main conclusion was that currently construction activity exposes the workforce to unprecedented unfavourable ergonomic practices. The recommendations were that management should take the health and safety of their workforce seriously and that the worker cohort should have direct intervention into the design and implementation of favourable ergonomic work practices at their workface.

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Construction Management in the Faculty of Engineering at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology 2014 / The study investigates the predominant factors that adversely affect the efficiency of construction labour in the South African construction industry. There is a significant number of studies on construction labour efficiency and productivity. Nonetheless, construction labour efficiency in developed and developing nations is widely reported to be inadequate, and thus adversely impacts the delivery of construction projects. Adequate utilisation of basic construction resources (construction materials and machinery) is significantly dependent on the efficiency of human assets in the construction industry. Hence, the utilisation of construction resources to achieve project objectives in the construction sector cannot be disconnected from the efficiency of construction employees. As a result, the study identified five objectives directed towards improving the efficiency of employees in the construction industry. The first objective identified construction-related factors affecting construction workers’ efficiency; the second objective highlighted design-related factors reducing the efficiency of construction labour; the third identified the impact of construction resources on construction labour efficiency; and the fourth ascertained the external factors affecting the efficiency of human assets in the construction industry. Finally, the last objective is directed towards developing a framework for improving the efficiency of the South African construction workforce. The research adopted a mixed methodological approach, utilising a quantitative questionnaire completed by construction professionals (architects, quantity surveyors, site engineers, project managers, contract managers and site manager). Due to the high level of awareness of site supervisors on labour performance in construction, the quantitative data obtained from construction professionals was subsequently validated using semi-structured interviews with site supervisors. The research questionnaire was designed to elicit the perceptions of construction professionals on various identified factors affecting construction workers’ efficiency on Gauteng and Western Cape construction sites in South Africa. With the aid of 35 unstructured questionnaire surveys, an exploratory study was undertaken within construction firms in Cape Town to ensure the validity of research instruments, where the inputs and comments of respondents were duly considered in formulating the questionnaire for the main study. In the main study, two hundred and sixty-five (265) questionnaires were administered via hand-delivered and electronic mail to construction professionals in the Western Cape and Gauteng provinces, South Africa. Sixty-two (62) questionnaires (23.39%) were duly completed, returned and analysed with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22. Cronbach's alpha coefficient reliability test was subsequently conducted on scaled research questions to ensure reliability of the research questionnaire. The findings revealed that the major factors contributing to the shortfall of construction workers’ performance include; missing details in architectural working drawings, the communication ability of site managers, site managers’ coordinating skills, the effect of strikes on construction operations, the planning ability of site managers, slow response of architects to drawing questions, slow response of structural engineers to drawing questions, construction skills of site supervisors and, finally, shortages of construction materials. Improved construction productivity is a product of construction labour efficiency and enables the achievement of construction project objectives. Therefore, an adequate implementation of the framework presented in this study will not only enhance construction labour efficiency and heighten construction productivity during building production process, but will also increase the satisfaction of construction stakeholder on Gauteng and Western Cape construction projects.

M. Tech. / The objectives of the study were: • To measure the extent to which clients understand their role in health and safety on site and accept it as their responsibility from the inception phase through to the maintenance phase; • To establish to what extent clients actively influence construction health and safety performance on their project; • To determine whether clients address health and safety in all phases of their construction projects; • To establish whether clients pre-qualify their appointed contractors on the basis of construction health and safety performance; and • To evaluate whether there is a correlation between client involvement in health and safety and actual health and safety performance. The literature is largely silent on client influence on health and safety during the later phases of a project. Very little has been written about client influence on health and safety and this is further enforced in clients delegating health and safety responsibilities to the consultants and contractor and regarding this as completion of their duties. Further, client should have major influence on the initial phases of construction rather than the later stages as the literature has shown decreased influence on health and safety with project evolvement. Clients regard themselves as most influential in the later phases of a project. The literature found that 63% of fatalities were traceable to pre-construction activities. The reason for poor health and safety is that clients see themselves as being responsible for and addressing health and safety in the later phases of a project.

Stress och dess påverkan på människans arbetsprestationer är väldokumenterade sedan tidigare. Hur den påverkar manliga byggnadsarbetare specifikt under en pandemi är däremot okänt och har därför valts att i denna studie närmare undersökas. Datainsamlingen genomfördes med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer med åtta byggnadsarbetare. Den insamlade datan analyserades därefter genom en tematisk analysprocess där materialet slutligen kom att delas in i sex teman. Temana benämndes: oförutsedda händelser, att tillfredsställa kundens krav, oro över att bli smittad, ökad arbetsbelastning, minskad noggrannhet och säkerhet samt försening av tidsplan. De fyra förstnämnda temana var de stressorer som deltagarna upplevde och de två sistnämnda temana var hur deltagarna upplevde att stressorerna påverkade deras arbetsprestationer. Varje funnet tema i resultatet presenterades av citat ifrån flera deltagare i studien. Den slutsats som kan dras är att byggnadsbranschen hade gynnats av att förbättra byggnadsarbetares psykosociala arbetsmiljö genom exempelvis ökat inflytande för att arbeta förebyggande mot byggnadsarbetares mentala ohälsa.

Workplace safety, if not managed appropriately, can result in human and economic tolls. The need to establish and maintain a safe working environment has probably never been more important. Despite a mounting emphasis on safe work practices, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported a total of 5,702 fatalities in the United States in 2005. Among these fatalities, Latino workers, defined as both foreign-born and native-born (U.S.-born) workers of Latino ethnicity (BLS, 2006; Dong and Platner, 2004), accounted for 16% of those fatalities (BLS, 2006). Researchers are increasingly acknowledging that organizational factors are important in workplace safety (Hofmann, Jacobs, and Landy, 1995; Hurst, Bellamy, Geyer, and Ashley, 1991). However, there is a lack of cross-cultural comparison in this area. With the continuing increase in Latino construction workers and the level of injuries and fatalities, little attention has focused on the comparison of employment relationships between Latino and non-Latino construction workers and their supervisors and work environment. Therefore, this research endeavor used social exchange theory to examine the role of organizational factors in small construction firms to help explain why Latino workers have a disproportionate number of construction casualties compared to their non-Latino counterparts and to design a safety training program to help reduce the number of injuries, accidents, and fatalities in the workplace. The results of this is research endeavor demonstrated that both Latino and non-Latino and Latino groups had relatively equal perceptions of organizational support and distributive justice implying that Latinos and Latinos have identical support needs or that the construction firms' practices meet the support the workers need regardless of ethnicity. In addition, the study found ethnic group differences for safety climate, safety behavior, and cultural dimensions, which may contribute to the disproportionate number of fatalities for Latino workers. After uncovering group differences, this study tested the affect of training on perceived organizational support, distributive justice, safety climate, and safety behavior. This research demonstrated that providing training, of any type, as a source of perceived organizational support increases workers' perception of organizational support. Additionally, the study concluded that embedded sources of perceived organizational support in the training program increase workers' perceptions of distributive justice and safety climate. As a result, guidelines to improve workers' perception of organizational support and safety climate were created. Since high perceptions of safety climate are linked to less risky safety behaviors, embedding perceived organizational support into training programs can have an indirect affect on the workers' safety behavior. For that reason, improving the safety behavior of workers and the workers' perception of a safe work environment can lead to reduced accidents, injuries, and fatalities in the construction industry. / Ph. D.