• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.99-103
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• 2014

Recently unemployed construction workers are increasing because of construction recession. But the lack of manpower occurs at the same time, in construction sites. So, the excess of workforce supply and demand exists in construction sites. Construction companies have a difficulty in seeking young skilled workers due to this problem. In this study, construction accidents reported by Korean Occupational Safety and Health Agency from 2007 to 2010 were analyzed. It has shown that 50-54, 45-49 and 55-59 year old workers formed 22%, 18% and 17% respectively. This means that old workers becomes a real problem in construction. This research has shown that old workers didn't have much more accidents than young workers, construction accidents related to the employment period of workers.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.151-155
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• 2015

The study was designed to identify any trends of injury type as it relates to the age and trade of construction workers. The participants for this study included any individual who, while working on a heavy and highway construction project in the Midwestern United States, sustained an injury during the specified time frame of when the data were collected. During this period, 143 injury reports were collected. The four trade/occupation groups with the highest injury rates were laborers, carpenters, iron workers, and operators. Data pertaining to injuries sustained by body part in each age group showed that younger workers generally suffered from finger/hand/wrist injuries due to cuts/lacerations and contusion, whereas older workers had increased sprains/strains injuries to the ankle/foot/toes, knees/lower legs, and multiple body parts caused by falls from a higher level or overexertion. Understanding these trade-related tasks can help present a more accurate depiction of the incident and identify trends and intervention methods to meet the needs of the aging workforce in the industry.

• International journal of advanced smart convergence
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.159-166
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• 2023

Due to the aging workforce in the construction industry in South Korea, the accident rate has been increasing. The cognitive abilities of older workers are closely related to both safety incidents and labor productivity. Therefore, there is a need to improve cognitive abilities through personalized training based on cognitive assessment results, using cognitive training content, in order to enable safe performance in labor-intensive environments. The provided cognitive training content includes concentration, memory, oreintation, attention, and executive functions. Difficulty levels were applied to each content to enhance user engagement and interest. To stimulate interest and encourage active participation of the participants, the difficulty level was automatically adjusted based on feedback from the MMSE-DS results and content measurement data. Based on the accumulated data, individual training scenarios have been set differently to intensively improve insufficient cognitive skills, and cognitive training programs will be developed to reduce safety accidents at construction sites through measured data and research. Through such simple cognitive training, it is expected that the reduction of accidents in the aging construction workforce can lead to a decrease in the social costs associated with prolonged construction periods caused by accidents.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.298-304
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• 2012

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has experienced tremendous economic and industrial growth in the petroleum, airline, maritime and construction sectors, especially since the discovery of oil reserves. Mass recruitment of low skilled or unskilled laborers from less-developed countries has been utilized to satisfy the manpower demands of these fast paced industrial developments. Such workforce recruitment has created an unusual populace demographic, with the total UAE population estimated at 8.3 million, composed of 950,000 Emiratis, with the remainder being multinational expatriate workers, with varying educational qualifications, work experience, religious beliefs, cultural practices, and native languages. These unique characteristics pose a challenge for health and safety professionals tasked with ensuring the UAE workforce adheres to specific occupational health and safety procedures. The paper discusses two case studies that employ a novel multimedia approach to raising health and safety awareness among a multinational workforce.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.65-72
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• 2013

While growth of domestic CM market has slowed down due to economic recession, it recently shows sign of scale as some public agencies are relocating their headquarters. Since the introduction of CM system, a number of client organizations have acquired construction project management capabilities, however, sufficient efforts are not made to estimate the size of construction project management organization. This study drew a method for estimating the size of the organization managing construction project by utilizing statics analysis and project costs per member based on 10 public construction projects and tried to review applicability through case studies. With this study, we would like to make a contribution to achieving smoother work performance and success of the construction project by estimating and allocating proper scale of management workforce.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.83-93
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• 2010

Recently there has been a trend of hiring more foreign labors in the Korean construction sites after the introduction of the government policy for foreign workers since 2007, called Employment Permit System(EPS). With the trend in the sites, the skilled and unskilled foreign workers would have become a main resource in the construction site workforce. This study aims to analyzing the effectiveness and the reality of working status for the foreign workforce. In doing so, both mail questionnaire survey and face to face interview with site managers and foreign labors in 38 apartment construction sites around Seoul region have been performed. The results of survey has been compared to the former research, which has been done for foreign labors hired under the old government policy, called Industrial Trainee System. This study found that there still exist many problems in reality of utilizing foreign workers in the sites, and proposed various recommendations for the effective use of foreign labors in the Korean construction industry.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2018.05a
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• pp.6-7
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• 2018

Although the importance of the construction lift is increasing, no improvements are being made to its operating system. This study proposed an optimal call-response algorithm of the construction lift for high-rise building construction by using image sensing technology, height measuring sensor, and load cell. This algorithm makes turn-around decision of the construction lift by considering the information and the number of user. It occurs when the call comes from a floor where the construction lift already have passed. The purpose of this study is to reduce the total latency of the construction lift user. Furthermore, it is possible to prevent delay in construction duration by carrying out a priority operation of the construction lift for the critical workforce.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2019.11a
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• pp.46-47
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• 2019

The construction industry has a higher dependency on manpower than other industries, requiring a supply of high quality skilled workers. But negative perceptions regarding the construction industry have continued to reduce the inflow of young workers into the industry, and the existing skilled workforce is aging. In response, as a solution for training young construction skilled manpower, training programs for young construction skilled workers have been implemented by specialized high schools. But the current status of career paths chosen by the graduates of these specialized high schools did not show a substantial influx of workers into the construction industry. In this regard, with the purpose of promoting an influx of young construction skilled manpower into the industry, this study analyzed the goals and problems of construction education in specialized high schools in South Korea, and suggested a method for improvement.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.329-336
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• 2012

Objectives: The aim of this study is to analyze main problems on occupational safety and hygiene in construction sites and to suggest some improvement methods. In order to decrease industrial accidents, I emphasize the approach paradigm shifts according to characteristics of construction workers. Methods: Pointing out the irrationality of current institutions by comparing bad outcomes of occupational safety and hygiene in construction industry and characteristics of construction workers. Results: In order to decrease industrial accidents, we need some approach paradigm shifts; the supply method of industrial safety and health fundamentals on the construction industry level, the accident rate calculation by using the actual construction workforce instead of an estimation, institutionalizing the prevention efforts themselves for industrial accidents, securing enough production costs for the precondition of occupational safety and hygiene in construction sites. Conclusions: I ascertain the need of the approach paradigm shifts for decreasing industrial accidents in the construction industry.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2015.10a
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• pp.150-153
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• 2015

The construction industry is an integral part of any nation's economy, whether measured by dollar volume or workforce size. In spite of its strong influence, there has been very little specifically aimed at evaluating the current industry performance. This research investigates the macroeconomic performance of the construction industry by accounting for crucial performance affecting factors such as labor productivity and gross margin. A clustering analysis, followed by a series of statistical analyses, yielded a notable finding that labor productivity is the most important factor that affects industry's profitability. The results of the analysis also revealed that the states with the strongest labor productivity show the highest level of profitability in terms of gross margin. This study should be of value to decision-makers when plotting a roadmap for future growth and rendering a strategic business decision.