Project Life Cycle Sustainability Indicators

Project Life Cycle Sustainability Indicators INTRODUCTION A typical meaning of sustainability is hard to build, which represents a test when endeavouring to achieve agreement on the most ideal route in which it might be accomplished, (Mog, 2004). Various stakeholders have begun to adopt the technique of sustainable building, (Zhang, 2014). Developing consideration and interest over the social and environmental impact of business and how the social and environmental (surroundings, habitat, climate) issues affect business has led some companies to strongly report and take care of their sustainability footprint, (Adams and Frost 2008). The building sector has dependably been viewed as an extremely noteworthy front line for advancing sustainable development by more feasible practices in the procurement, planning, design, construction and office administration stages, (Zhang, 2014). Different advances are accessible for implementation in creating sustainable projects over distinctive phases of the projects, including planning, designing and maintenance, (Zhang, 2014), perception of sustainable implementation of projects is essential because of the effect it has on surroundings and environs and also concerns various parties (Bueno et al., 2013; Jeon and Amekudzi, 2005; Litman, 2007). Several indicators have been developed to be able to identify project sustainability at various levels of the project life cycle. SUSTAINABILITY The triple bottom line has been made reference to in several research works, this is often referred to as the 3P’s (people, planet and profit) or sometimes as 3BL, the triple bottom line is referred to as the foundation of sustainability and it emerged in the mid 90’s. Sustainability has been defined in so many ways by so many authors in their research work, but there is still a similarity in the definition, sustainability is about preserving natural resources, the environment for future generations while utilising it, the concurrent development of social, technological, environment and ecology are general requirements for sustainability, (Pons and Aquado, 2012; Terio and Kahkonan, 2011; Abeysundara and Babel, 2010). Kleindoorfer et al., 2005 defines sustainability as the . Since the ideology of sustainable development was introduced in 1987 by Bruntland, a lot of gradual events have taken place to boost the attention on environment and sustainability program, (Zainul A bidin, 2008). Abidin, (2010) mentioned awareness and knowledge as factors that boost sustainable movement, interest, demand and implementation comes after (Du Plessis, 2007). Civil engineering projects has a large percentage of contribution to the environmental sustainability, in construction organisations, sustainable development has been an important issue, (Holton et al., 2010), in an annual report in UK, 42 construction companies were reviewed to have little information on sustainability, (Myers, 2005). Considerable changes related to materials, management, skills, technique and innovations needed in the construction organisation are as a result of sustainable issues, (Glass et al., 2008). The issue of sustainability and how it affects the projects progress has been a rising issue among management teams, in order to address the need towards sustainable development, sustainable evaluation frameworks have been executed by the development industry (Clevenger et al., 2013), several frameworks for assessing infrastructural sustainability of projects has been developed, (Lim, 2009; Clevenger et al., 2013), these sustainable assessment are created either by non-governmental, government or by joint work with academic bodies, some of these assessment schemes are available in state system and also some are available at national level, (Hezri, 2004). Companies that comply with the sustainability regulation are likely to experience loss of income, (Tan, Shen and Yao, 2011), sustainable buildings are expected to have less impact on the environment, although the efficacy of the delivering process would be affected by complications in delivering sustainable building projects, (Horman et al., 2006; Salkin et al., 2012). Several sustainability factors for assessing sustainability have been developed; Lim (2009), suggested some sustainability factors and the impact its implementation has on road infrastructure projects, also sustainable factors for assessing built infrastructural projects were suggested by Ugwu and Haupt, (2007) in their research work; these built infrastructure categorised under project management, economy, resource utilisation and the environment. Several means of monitoring sustainability in projects have been developed, sustainability indicators have been developed by various authors to monitor sustainability at various levels in a project, Dasgupta and Tam in 2005 developed a sustainability indicator (Technical sustainibilty index) based on existing research, also (Ugwu et al., 2006) in their research work proposed a sustainability indicator called the Sustainability appraisal in infrastructural projects. CIVIL ENGINEERING PROJECTS Various civil engineering projects impacts on the environment, Zhang, Wu and Shen, 2014 reported that construction projects expend a large amount of energy, resources, land and water, this leads to consumption of resources and energy. To achieve a sustainable development in construction projects, it is necessary to have a sustainable performance across the project’s life cycle, (Shen et al., 2007), due to the evolving interest in the preservation of nature, construction projects are faced with the challenge of producing a sustainable project, for a construction project to be termed sustainable it must consist of social, economical and environmental factors (Abidin, 2008). In implementing sustainable projects, previous research work has indicated that although it can be time consuming, the cost of its implementation is not as expensive as it seems. Cost, time and quality has been generally described as an essential factor in measuring the performance of construction projects, ( Chen and Chen, 2004), for construction projects to be completed on time is a requirement, although previous research prove that construction projects are hardly completed on time, (Hussin, Rahman and Memon, 2013), Amu and Adesanya, 2011 reported that with a total of 3,407 projects in Nigeria, 1812 were abandoned, 1517 were delayed while only 24 projects were completed on time, also in Vietnam, it was recognised by their government that the completion of projects on time especially government funded projects was a hassle, (Le-Hoai, Lee, and Lee, 2008). Towhid and Amiruddin, (2012) identified that the cause of the delay in project delivering is inadequate planning, delay in design approval, disagreement with design report. FEASIBILITY Notwithstanding, advancing the sustainability in any business area has gotten to be progressively vital and at the operational level inside organizations. In accordance with this advancement, there is a developing worry that social and financial issues have been exceeding natural issues in the current practice of directing project feasibility study, (Jorgensen, 2008). Shen et al., (2010) described feasibility study as a priority before commencing project design and construction, also mentioned in their research work is that the progress of a project is directly affected by the efficiency of the feasibility study. PLANNING Planning is very essential in projects, for a project to be executed successfully it has to be planned properly, (Nowak and Nowak, 2013), linked the success of project to the righ plan at the beginning of the project, also Litman and Burwell, 2006 reported in their work that the need for organised planning in different sectors is brought about by the emphasis on sustainability with respect to human activities. Every project is different and because of this it is difficult to estimate the duration of the planning process, (Schute, 2005). There are various factors that affect the planning of projects, some of these factors are financial, environmental and internal issues that have to do with the project teams such as misinterpretation and lack of understanding, lack of cooperation among team members, in Sozuer and Spang (2014) research work, planning process (duration and cost) is not only affected by financial issues but also government law on sustainable environment (protecting the h abitat), so many other factors were indicated also to affect the planning process DESIGN Due to lack of integrated structured procedure for sustainable assessment, designers use their previous background in designing projects to make judgements on new project design, (Ugwu et al., 2006). Sustainability issues due to different factors that arise during various projects can be addressed at the design stage. Negative and positive aspects in design are identified at an early stage through the use of sustainable appraisal, this early detection makes it easy for problems to be addressed and also to further modify and improve the project design, (Kumar, Rouquette and Lerner, 2012), Mulder (2006) described sustainability with regards to design in his research work as an attribute a design ought to meet rather than a extra precedent. Issues surrounding sustainability should in this manner be considered by engineers amid all design phases of a project through generally incorporated supplements to the ordinary methodology IMPLEMENTATION/BUILDING Few researches recommended that while implementing construction projects, sustainable principles should be embraced, as this can contribute to profit making, (Turk, 2009), however cost appears to be an issue when implementing sustainable civil projects, Zhang, Wu and Shen, 2014 identified cost as the most important factor which affects project teams when they make decision, cost was also identified in their research work to be increased during sustainable (green) construction implementation, Ofori and Kien, 2004 reported in their research also that in implementing sustainable constructions, cost was seen as a limitation. Numerous designers are not eager to push the limit particularly when it implies they need to move the ordinary method for development and wander into another domain of engineering which may bring about more forthright expenses, (Abidin, 2008). The term ‘green’ has been used generally to describe sustainability and protection of the environment either by using recycling materials and / or environmental materials in our daily activities. Green has been introduced in the construction industry as a means to reduce the harm imposed on the environment, in the implementation of this ‘green’ construction, four areas of concentration were listed; the proper utilisation of energy and natural resources, the use of environmental friendly equipments, recycling and environmental awareness, (Zhang, Wu and Shen, 2014), Shi et al., 2013 describes green construction as the use of technology and scientific management to ensure safety and proper utilization of natural resources in engineering construction and also to reduce the adverse effect the construction process would have on the environment. In implementing green construction, three factors were identified to limit the effectiveness of these; cost increase, added time and a finite amount of green resources, Shi et al., 2013.

Different Research Methods Essay

â€Å"When it comes to their health, workers always know best.† (Workers Health International Newsletter No. 42).† Analyse the different research methods that unions and workers use to identify ill health caused by work. Introduction The topic I have chosen to look into for this assignment will be â€Å"When it comes to their health, workers always know best.† (Workers Health International Newsletter No. 42).† Analyse the different research methods that unions and workers use to identify ill health caused by work. I have chosen to look into this subject to see what different research methods are out there and what kind of information we can gather from them. I will do this by analysing and evaluating each known method, and then establishing which is more suitable for my own workplace. I intend to be able to use some of these research methods on my members and in my workplace, to see if there are any potential hazards in the workplace. After trying out some of these research methods I will collate the data and if an issue is raised create a plan of action to eliminate the problem. I also intend to share my findings with my members and present this data at the next health and safety meeting. What types of research method is there? A simple research method would be to â€Å"look and listen† by this I mean observe your surroundings, listen to members concerns, check things like the accident book or has there been a number of claims? Another type of research can be to do comparisons between different things in the workplace for example does one area have more accidents then another or does an area have additional hazards compared to others. A really useful research method for trying to find out if there is a specific health problem with your work is body mapping. Body mapping is a way of identifying common patterns of health problems amongst workers in a particular workplace or doing the same job. Whilst it is not certain that any such common ailments are work-related, it highlights areas for further investigation. A similar technique is risk mapping/hazard mapping where instead of highlighting areas of pain on the body like a body map does this highlights risks on a map of the workplace. From this map you will be able to build up a clear picture of where the hazards lie in the workplace. One of the most popular types of research is to do a survey, this may be because there are lots of different ways you can do surveys and you can tailor them to be as specific as you want. You don’t even have to come up with the questionnaire yourself as there are a lot of pre made ones online which may fulfil your needs. Another research method is to examine records to see if you can find any anomalies or similarities in the data. Records can range from asbestos registers to pesticide passports. Pros and cons of research methods Body mapping One of the pros of body mapping is that it is a simple starting point to be able to identify health problems within the workforce. Another advantage is that it is very easy to set up, and very quick to be able to participate in, even those with disabilities and those who are not English speaking can partake, which should encourage people to take part. The results can be swiftly obtained, and are clear and easy to present to management. A strength of using this method is that it can raise health and safety awareness in the workplace, and then finally body mapping can be anonymous, hopefully encouraging more members to get involved. A weakness of the body mapping method is that it is only a starting point for investigation, and it is hard to pin down to work issues, and so you would need to follow it up with different research methods, for example: surveys and discussions to try and highlight what the hazard may be. A disadvantage is that all employees’ who have taken part would need to do the same job in order for the data to work or you have to do multiple body maps (the hazards may vary from job to job). Surveys One of the advantages of using the survey method is that it can be conveyed in multiple ways, such as email, internet, paper or post. This style of research makes it easy to target large populations of people. Another pro is that the survey can be as specific or general as you like, dependent upon the questions you wish to ask. You can ask open questions which will give you detailed responses, or closed questions which are quick to interpret data from and you will get fast results. By using this method you can repeatedly use the same survey over a period of time to assess any changes that may be taking place. A disadvantage of this method is that survey design often requires special skills from the researcher in sampling proper question design and analysis. Another weakness is open questions can create a lot of data which is time consuming to analyse and it may also put people off participating. Surveys might not be accessible to all members, such as foreign workers or people with disabilities. Another drawback is that it is difficult to get people to participate as it takes too much time to complete or they cannot be bothered. Risk mapping By using the risk mapping method, it can highlight to workers any potential hazards that they may be exposed to, and any physical, chemical or biological problems that might arise when doing the job. Workplace risk mapping is a technique where workers can get together to get these concerns down on paper. This approach takes the control away from experts like health and safety professionals, by using the knowledge of workers and acknowledging the essential contribution they make, and are developed from everyday experiences. Risk maps can be enhanced if the hazards are coded using colours or symbols, it may even be possible to match these codes to areas with body mapping results. An advantage of using this method is that it can allow workers to keep track of management’s activities to remedy the hazards the map has identified. A disadvantage of the risk mapping method is workers may lack interest in the process, and wish to ignore hazards in their work area, especially if they have been doing the job for a long time, not wishing to change from what they have been doing (they may be scared of change). A weakness can be seen to be employers not enforcing the findings of the risk mapping, therefore encouraging members to work unsafely. There could be an issue with members not wanting to take part due to a worry of pressure from management to ‘get the job done’. A weakness could be that if there is a lack of commitment from employers once issues have been highlighted, there could be a delay in the risk being removed or controlled. Conclusion and recommendations After analysing various types of research methods, it is clear that no method is perfect. It seems that depending upon the type of data required, this may determine which method is best to be rolled out. Even the possibility that one research method might not be enough to get all data required (the body mapping method may only be a starting point), and so more than one method may be suitable in certain cases. From analysing this data, when approaching the workforce it may be better to use more than one approach in order to accurately report potential risks to management. This approach will not only make the data more precise, but also make the case more conclusive. After looking into all the different research methods I intend to recommend that either the TU or the company, or both utilise some of the research methods, starting with body mapping and leading on from there to other techniques.

War And The Cold War - 1879 Words

Despite the high costs of war both in monetary value and in terms of potential life and infrastructure lost states and their actors despite their supposed rationality still seek war at times. Sometimes war is unavoidable given the situations that actors find themselves in. States prior to war will attempt several options such as bargaining and it is that failure in bargaining that tends to result in conflict or war. Especially following the events of the Cold War numerous scholars have given their reasons as to why conflict is sometimes beyond prevention. War is described as an actual widespread and deliberate armed conflict between political communities. Following the Second World War and the Cold War, interstate war is mostly rare†¦show more content†¦This failure in bargaining is a study on its own. For instance in the process of bargaining many states find it difficult to trust their rivals because of the potential for incomplete information. Often, actors will strategic ally misrepresent information as a means to extract certain demands when actors cannot reliably trust in who they are bargaining with. This distrust between actors also leads to commitment problems. In situations when there is a potential power shift and goods could potentially be exchanged or divided there is concern over what could possibly alter in the future. Power changes such as this can lead to preventive war or attempts at first strikes which is when one actor might seek action as a means to prevent war or to have an early advantage. Often the neutrality of outside actors is necessary for bargaining to succeed or to prevent one side from future exploits. Furthermore, intrastate conflict which is often ethnic conflict has a greater tie to territory and resources. Things like territory for an ethnic groups has specific relation to identity likewise for the state territory in the resources that come for it are their sign of power. This makes territory an indivisible good that c annot be divided unless one actor suffers a significant loss making war almost inevitable because conflict becomes all or nothing. However, some literature rebuffs ideas that conflict is unavoidable by presenting evidence of how actors irrational behavior can be

Deja Vu Informative Essay - 891 Words

Dà ©jà   vu The mind is a wonderful thing – there is so much, which remains a mystery to this day. Science is able to describe strange phenomena, but cannot account for their origins. We all have some experience of familiar feelings, which comes to us occasionally, about what we say and do, what we know and see, what we listen and hear. When you walk into the house of a new friend, you realise something strange. The place looks familiar though you have not been there and the people look familiar though you have not seen them. You have been there before, but not exactly in person. A serious recollection makes you realise that it was in a dream, a dream that perfectly portrayed with every small detail the exact room you’re now standing in.†¦show more content†¦Two days after early in the morning I smelt something burning and woke up instantly to find out that my dream had come true†¦.. All the huts were burning down, I instantly went looking for my son, but it was too late†¦ my son was already dead. I wish I would have known before.†- Brazil, favelas. What is your theory on why we experience Dà ©jà   vu? â€Å"The electrical signals that allow us to store memories in our brains can take a number of different routes to arrive at their final destination. If a memory in the form of an electrical signal takes a couple of different routes at the same time, it is possible that if one route is longer than the other, it arrives in the memory part of your brain only to find that the same memory has already arrived by a shorter route. This would make you think that you had already experienced the event on a previous occasion. It is a bit like hearing an echo when a sound wave has been reflected via different paths. That’s my theory, and I m happy with it. - Says Philip Carter, Researcher and Sociologist in UK. â€Å"I think that at some point in our dreams we have dreamt about a face, place or situation and at some point when we are awake we could be doing something similar to our dream that triggers the brain into thinking that we have done this before.†- Says Dean Ferdje, Head psychologist