There is no doubt that US construction safety records have been improving over the years, yet hundreds of deaths occur annually as a result of jobsite incidents. This continuing injury trend requires further understanding of the causes of safety issues as well as what magnifies safety risk. This study aims to investigate the extent of the impact of different factors on worker safety risk. The factors, namely human, site conditions, psychological, environmental, social, economic, regulatory, ergonomic, and organizational, were developed as part of recently formulated degrees of connectivity (DoC) model scenarios utilizing the risk perception of different specialists. The risk perceptions associated with the factors as provided by construction safety university professors and practicing safety engineers are explored for comparison. The Delphi method was adopted to collect the required data from both mentioned groups. The results show that the participants perceive that site condition factors create the highest impact whereas the worker economic factor adds the lowest impact. No significant difference was observed between the two groups in terms of risk perception, nor was there a clear impact of participant experience on the risk perception process and the factors under investigation. Safety planners can benefit from the study results by considering the level of impact that the factors have on worker safety. Moreover, when addressing safety on a project, both professors and engineers can contribute equally.

Building information modelling (BIM) enables the creation of a digital representation of a designed facility combined with additional information about the project attributes, performance criteria, and construction process. Users of BIM tools point to the ability to visualize the final design along with the construction process as a beneficial feature of using BIM. Knowing the construction process in relationship to a facility’s design benefits both safety professionals when planning worker safety measures for a project and designers when creating a project’s design. Success in using BIM to enhance safety partly depends on the familiarity of project personnel with BIM tools and the extent to which the tools can be used to identify and eliminate safety hazards. In a separate, ongoing study, the authors investigated the connection between BIM and safety to document the opportunities, barriers, and impacts. Utilizing an on-line survey of project engineers who work for construction firms together with a comprehensive literature review, the study found those who use BIM feel that it aids in communication of project information and project delivery, both of which have been found to have positive impacts on construction site safety. Further, utilizing the survey results, the authors apply the binary logistic regression econometric framework to better understand the factors that lead to safety professionals believing that BIM increases safety in the work place. In addition, according to the survey results, a large percentage of the engineers who use BIM feel that ultimately it helps to eliminate safety hazards and improve worker safety. The study findings suggest that improvements in safety performance across the construction industry may be due in part to increased use of BIM in the construction industry.

One important need in the construction industry is to visualize the project during its life cycle phases, enabling stakeholders to change/adjust the project before spending more money for unwanted details. Building information modelling (BIM) and 3D laser scanning are two examples of rapidly evolving technologies that can help achieve this purpose. Researchers are conducting an ongoing study to: (1) determine the general knowledge state for these technologies among construction project management personnel; (2) determine the benefits and shortcomings of these technologies; (3) explore barriers to and enablers of these technologies and compare the barriers and enablers with those found in earlier studies; and (4) identify awareness and demand statuses of using these technologies. The study utilizes a survey questionnaire distributed among project management personnel. The research results show that there is generally a high level of knowledge about BIM among construction management personnel; however, this is not the case with 3D laser scanning. BIM and 3D laser scanning help in resolving issues on construction jobsites and there is increased demand for using BIM in the industry; however, amongst the owners surveyed, there is not as much demand for using 3D laser scanning. A lack of experts and high cost are the most cited reasons for not using these technologies on a wide range of projects. The findings contribute to the knowledge in this research area by providing additional information about the current practice related to BIM and 3D laser scanning technologies along with evidence of the current barriers to further diffusion of the technologies throughout the industry.

Public services in Iraq have been deemed to perform unsatisfactorily. In this study, the theory of total quality management (TQM) is used to identify the quality shortcomings of public service projects in Iraq. Accordingly, data derived from 55 online completed surveys were used to assess the TQM of public service construction. The elements of TQM that were assessed are leadership, communication and cooperation, workforce management, process management, continuous improvement, and client satisfaction. The collected data were analyzed utilizing standardized scores to measure the relative shortcoming of TQM’s variables. The results show that, in general, Iraqi engineers perceived the existence of citizens’ satisfaction as being relatively higher than other elements. Furthermore, the results suggest that several key performance indicators (KPIs) scored relatively lower than others. Thus, the study highlights where improvements are needed most for TQM of public service projects in Iraq. In addition, there is a lack of quantitative research that supports TQM benefits within the construction context. Therefore, this study contributes to the body of knowledge regarding the usability of TQM within the construction industry.