Förekomsten av ohälsa är mer vanligt i byggarbetabranschen än i andra branscher, p.g.a. arbetsolyckor och övriga förhållanden i arbetet. En av de viktiga resurserna till att förebygga skada och upprätthålla hälsa i arbetslivet, är företagshälsovård. Syftet med denna kvalitativa intervjustudie var att beskriva byggarbetares upplevelser om deras arbetshälsa/arbetsmiljö och om vad företagshälsovårdens hälsokontroller har haft för betydelse för deras beteendeförändring.   Fem byggarbetare som genomgått en hälsokontroll via företagshälsovård och åstadkommit en potentiell beteendeförändring som förbättrat hälsan, intervjuades. Den tematiska analysen av intervjuerna resulterade i fyra huvudteman: ”möjliggörande faktorer till en god arbetshälsa i byggarbetarens yrke”, ”begränsade faktorer till god arbetshälsa i byggarbetarens yrke”, ”konkreta resultat av företagshälsovårdens hälsokontroller” och ”fördelarna med företagshälsovårdens hälsofrämjande arbete”. Studiens resultat visar att byggarbetare upplevde sin arbetshälsa/arbetsmiljö som både positivt och negativt. Det positiva med arbetet var den sociala kontakten med kollegor och arbetsgivare och det negativt var arbetsmiljön som bidragit till sämre hälsa p.g.a. av muskuloskeletala skador och stress. Hälsokontroller bidrog till beteendeförändring som kan förebygga sjukdomar bland byggarbetarna.   Hälsokontrollen upplevdes som meningsfull då ett gott bemötande möjliggjorde en beteendeförändring samtidigt som en ökad insikt av att förbättra sin egen hälsa skett, efter negativa provsvar. Vidare forskning behövs om hur byggarbetares arbetshälsa kan förbättras genom företagshälsovårdens insatser. / The incidence of illness among construction workers is higher than average in other industries, because of accidents and other conditions at work. One of the most important resources to prevent injury and maintain health in the workplace, is the occupational health care. The aim of this qualitative study was to describe the construction workers experiences of their occupational health and work environment and about whether occupational health check-ups have had any significance for their behavior change. Five male construction workers who had underwent a health check and after that performed a behavior change, was recruited via an occupational care center. Data was collected by face to face and telefon interviews, that were subsequently transcribed and analysed by thematic analyse. The tematic analyse resulted in four main themes: "enabling factors for good health of the construction workers professional”, ”restricted factors to the good health of the construction worker's occupation", "benefits of occupational health promotion" and "concrete results of occupational health check-ups".   The construction workers experienced their occupational health and work environment as both positive and negative. The positive about work was the social contact with colleagues and employers, the negative was that the work environment contributed to poor health due musculoskeletal of injury and stress. Health check-ups contributed to behavior change and pontential prevention of diseases among construction workers.   The health check-ups was considered as being meaningful and enabled a change in behavior after understanding that they must change their lifestyle to avoid disease. Further research is needed on how to improve construction workers occupational health through occupational health services.

This research report was submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science (Building) in Project Management to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Construction Economics and Management at the University of the Witwatersrand , 2017 / Problem Statement: Organisational culture determines employee remuneration, opportunities for promotion, interaction between employees and their job in general. It has a potential to affect the degree to which employees are satisfied with their jobs. If the impact is negative, this will create a problem of low employee morale, reduced performance, and hence low production levels. If this effect is positive, this may boost the morale of employees and increase performance and production. It is, therefore, important to understand the relationship between organisational culture and employee job satisfaction to maximize the benefits and reduce the negative impact. Purpose: The aim of this research was to find out if the prevailing organisational culture has an influence on employee job satisfaction with specific reference to the Botswana construction industry. The objectives of the research were to establish the prevailing and preferred organisational cultures, establish employee job satisfaction, and determine the relationship between organisational culture and employee job satisfaction. Methodology: Focusing on the Botswana construction industry and using a cross sectional study, two concurrent surveys were conducted to collect quantitative data for organisational culture and employee job satisfaction from three construction organisations selected to represent small, medium, and large organisations. Findings: The prevailing organisational culture in all the three organisations was found to be the market culture. The clan culture was found to be the preferred organisational culture in two of the organisations (the medium and large). The hierarchy culture was found to be the preferred organisational culture in the small organisation. Despite employees preferring different cultures (clan and hierarchy) to the prevailing culture (market), employees were generally satisfied with their current jobs, suggesting that there might be no relationship between organisational culture and employee job satisfaction and pointing to the possible existence of a third variable. Implications: The market culture which was found to be prevailing in all the three organisations is characterised by aggressive competition and a focus on winning a share of the market. This indicated that the construction industry was reacting to the current harsh economic conditions by adopting an aggressive survival strategy. By rejecting the prevailing market culture, employees might have felt neglected since the market culture does not focus on employees. Employees remained satisfied with their current jobs despite rejecting the prevailing organisational culture and this might be an indication that jobs are not available leaving employees with no option but to like the only jobs which they have. / MT2018

This MSc (Eng) Investigational Project Report entails the evaluation of the Sekhukhuneland Development Programme (SDP). The SDP is a joint initiative of the Donaldson Trust and the Research Centre for Employment Creation in Construction (WORK). Its objective is: to increase the use of labour-intensive methods in the rehabilitation and maintenance of rural roads and other infrastructure in order to contribute to employment generation, skills development, provision of infrastructure and poverty alleviation. In order to achieve this objective an “Association not for gain” called LITE (Labour Intensive Training and Engineering) was formed; the Donaldson Trust provided the finance, and the expertise was provided by The Research Centre (WORK) but with additional support by Employment Intensive Engineering Consultants (EIEC). As the contracting organisation evolved from nothing into the training and engineering company LITE, the number of employees rose from none to fourteen. The University of the Witwatersrand provided a number of students to the project site at Mohlaletse in Sekhukhuneland where they provided voluntary assistance as part of their studies. Many of these students were from the University of Twente in the Netherlands, and it was largely due to their commitment that the project enjoyed such healthy growth. Considering the meagre resources this growth was a remarkable achievement, and it was made possible, not only through the efforts of the students, but also through the acceptance and support of the community. This support included providing accommodation for both students and site management. With a minimum of resources local community members were trained and employed by the SDP over a prolonged period of three years. The SDP evolved into a new programme, the Mohlaletse Youth Service Programme (MYSP), funded by the Umsobomvu Youth Fund. Of the R1.700.000 donated to the SDP, R1.690.000 was used during the evaluated period. Of this sum approximately 50% was spent directly within the Mohlaletse and Monametse community. The SDP consisted out of three main phases. The organisation evolved during the first two phases from no organisation into LITE Section 21, an organisation that could deal with training and engineering based on a strong labour-intensive focus. During the Pilot Phase the programme focused on establishing contact with the community and proving that labouriii intensive construction method could work. The next phase was the Training Phase where the necessary team leaders were trained to perform a variety of construction techniques. These techniques range from drainage structure to roads and buildings. The last phase is the Construction Phase during which the construction went ahead as planned using fully trained team leaders from the local community. The total setting of the SDP was as follows: SDP Phases SDP Periods Organisation SDP Projects - Pilot Phase: Period 1999H None Period Projects Period 2000A Point-of-Fact (Pty) Ltd Period Projects - Training Phase: Period 2001A Period Projects Mohlaletse Money-Cant-Buy Section 21 Period Projects Monametse Period 2001H Period Projects Mohlaletse LITE - Section 21 Period Projects Monametse Period Project Compound - Construction Phase: Period 2002H Period Projects Mohlaletse Period Projects Monametse Period Project LITE-House and LITE-School The main reason for the success has been the substantial involvement of the local Mohlaletse community and the acceptance of the Site Management within the Community. Within the constraints of the programme definition and objectives, the SDP has been a success to its sponsors and beneficiaries. Major problems were encountered within the fields of Labour-Intensive Construction Methods and the Project Management Areas of Knowledge. These should be taken into consideration when a new Constructing-Training Programme is started in future.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Engineering, 11 August 2015 / This research set out to investigate two relationships; the relationship between technical qualifications and emerging contractor project performance, and the relationship between experience and emerging contractor project performance. The focus was on emerging contractors in the public sector. This study was motivated by the notion that emerging contractors generally fail and have poor project performance. The objective of the report was to determine the general factors that affect emerging contractor performance and demonstrate the relationship between competence and project performance. Information pertaining to progress and performance for thirty projects from a government institution in Mpumalanga Province was collected. This information included contact details of the contractors who conducted the 30 government infrastructure projects. The contact details were used to collect contractors’ curriculum vitaes and company profiles in order to extract information on qualifications and experience. Literature has shown that the most prevalent issues facing emerging contractors in South Africa can be attributed to the contractors’ competencies. These competencies include skills, experience, qualifications and project management knowledge. Other factors that affect emerging contractor performance include project delays caused by late payments by clients, shortage of labour and lack of financial resources and equipment. The results of this study showed that contractors with technical qualifications and experience generally perform better than those with no technical background. It was also found that where there is no technical background, the level of education also affects the level of project performance. This study demonstrated the importance of the number of technical or construction related projects conducted by an emerging contractor company as compared to the number of years that the company has been in operation. The number of projects conducted, regardless of timeline, is more beneficial to project performance than the number of years in operation in the construction industry. This study recommends that focus should be drawn to the definite need to develop emerging contractor competence through skills development, training, collaborations and knowledge sharing. Competence development should focus on transferring technical knowledge and experience through policy formulation, collaboration of government and educational or training institutes. Focus should also be drawn to developing project management competence of emerging contractors in the South African public sector.

This dissertation relies on anthropological, historical, and archaeological research in order to describe the historical archaeologies associated with Chinese immigrants to the United States who worked on the first transcontinental railroad in the mid-nineteenth century. The region of focus in the High Sierras region to the west of Truckee, California, in and around the Tahoe National Forest

As the work force ages and workers retirement age increases, the number of workers suffering from Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs) has increased. In a recent study, the U.S Bureau of Labor reported that 6.9% of all WMSDs affected shoulders. Electricians, carpenters, and related construction crafts appear to experience higher incidence of these injuries due the nature of their work that require them often to use Awkward shoulder postures. This research aims to develop a new monitoring system that measure the amount of time workers spend in awkward shoulder postures to help decrease the prevalence of cumulative shoulder injuries and to reduce the number of cases of shoulder WMSDs among construction workers. The monitoring system was designed and a feasibility study was conduct to compare the monitoring system with a state of the art motion tracking system. Overall the monitoring system was able to count the time spent in awkward posture as a discrete state sensor and it can be implemented in the field. However, results showed that the monitoring system in its current configuration require some future work for it to produce quantitatively precise results that can be used in the fields of biomechanics, robotics, and ergonomics.

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As the work force ages and workers retirement age increases, the number of workers suffering from Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs) has increased. In a recent study, the U.S Bureau of Labor reported that 6.9% of all WMSDs affected shoulders. Electricians, carpenters, and related construction crafts appear to experience higher incidence of these injuries due the nature of their work that require them often to use Awkward shoulder postures. This research aims to develop a new monitoring system that measure the amount of time workers spend in awkward shoulder postures to help decrease the prevalence of cumulative shoulder injuries and to reduce the number of cases of shoulder WMSDs among construction workers. The monitoring system was designed and a feasibility study was conduct to compare the monitoring system with a state of the art motion tracking system. Overall the monitoring system was able to count the time spent in awkward posture as a discrete state sensor and it can be implemented in the field. However, results showed that the monitoring system in its current configuration require some future work for it to produce quantitatively precise results that can be used in the fields of biomechanics, robotics, and ergonomics.

Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1988. / Bibliography: leaves 374-398. / Microfilm. / xviii, 398 leaves, bound ill., maps 29 cm

Major paper (M.U.R.P.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1991. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-77). Also available via the Internet.