The emergence of new open ended ICT (Information and communication Technology). is often accompanied by optimistic predictions about the technologies inherent capabilities, or “potential”, to solve a wide array organizational related problems. In the building and construction industry, BIM – Building Information Modelling – is such an example. However, unrealistic expectations about a technolog...

The Companhia Siderúrgica Paulista – COSIPA is an integrated steel plant of the Usiminas System located in the municipality of Cubatão, in the coastal region of the São Paulo state, Brazil. This works produces 4.5 millions tons of steel per year; 1.0 million tons of this output are delivered as rolled plates, which meet a wide range of uses, such as those in agricultural implements, industrial ...

The limited duration and the high time constraints facing projects may pose challenges to the development of working relationships in project teams. Relationships can be influenced by the history of interactions and prior ties between team members. Development of trust is crucial but challenging in the context of cross-functional project teams and prior ties can have imperative influence on the...

Data mining is a relatively new data analysis technique that has the ability to discover patterns stored within historical data and is now considered a catalyst for enhancing business processes by avoiding failure patterns and exploiting success patterns. This technique is widely used in business applications including market segmentation, fraud detection, and credit risk analysis as well as ma...

Construction accident research involves the systematic sorting, classification, and encoding of comprehensive databases of injuries and fatalities. The present study explores the causes and distribution of occupational accidents in the Taiwan construction industry by analyzing such a database using the data mining method known as classification and regression tree (CART). Utilizing a database o...

The current study provides a cross discipline comparison of drivers and barriers to construction e-procurement encompassing the views of quantity surveyors, public sector clients, architects and engineers establishing the level of uptake by different disciplines. A telephone survey of 775 organisations mapped the current practice of e-procurement in construction within the United Kingdom. This ...

Workers in the road construction industry include asphalt plant, ground construction, and road paving workers. These individuals can be exposed to a wide range of potentially hazardous substances. A summary of levels of exposure to different substances measured during road construction is presented. In modern road paving, workers typically are exposed to 0.1 to 2 mg/m3 of bitumen fume, which in...

The construction industry is notorious for its (lack of) innovativeness. Many papers, reports and articles have been written on this subject already for more than three decades. The explanations presented can be summarized by such terms as fragmentation, segmentation and segregation when referring to the industries’ structure and by qualifications such as opportunistic, hostile, antagonistic an...