Papers by Rafiq M. Choudhry
Advances in Civil Engineering
Safety management is important throughout the world specifically on building projects, which are ... more Safety management is important throughout the world specifically on building projects, which are prone to accidents due to their unique operations, dynamic and ever-changing nature. In every country, contractors implement safety management systems (SMSs) to avoid accidents and comply with applicable laws, regulations and to provide safe work environments for their workers. Nonetheless, accidents still happen on many building projects in the country. The objective of this work is to measure safety management as perceived on building projects by employing a proactive approach in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to improve site safety. A survey instrument is utilized to gather data from building projects. Another questionnaire is used to conduct interviews with the key managers on the same projects. Analysis of the questionnaire survey is performed after entering the data into SPSS software by applying factor analysis and multiple linear regression. Factor analysis extracted two significant...
Journal of the Construction Division and Management, May 25, 2012
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), 2009
Construction industry is one of the largest and most important industries in Palestine. Quality a... more Construction industry is one of the largest and most important industries in Palestine. Quality and safety in the industry still suffers from ignorance and lack of supervision and accident rate on construction projects is very high. The objective of this paper is to identify the quality and safety factors that relate to safety, and determine their relative importance as perceived by contractors to help reduction of accidents. A survey was conducted by using a 55 item questionnaire which was grouped into 15 major categories. Analysis of the responses found the most important factors that included: "safety organization formed with community culture considers safety is a vital need for people", "all managers are required to go through proper safety management training", "all engineers are needed to go through relevant safety management training", "lack of orientation training of new workers decreases quality and increases risks for them", and "safety organization formed in such a way that workers and top management exercise positive behavior towards safety". The results found that safety training group was categorized as the most important among the 15 categories.
The consulting services are very important to the project life of construction projects. When own... more The consulting services are very important to the project life of construction projects. When owners select the contract type, they need to analyze the design work and the supervision work to be arranged. Is this service to be carried out by a single consulting firm having the required qualification and capacity? This research presents advantages and disadvantages of appointing the design consultant as construction supervision consultant in the construction industry in Saudi Arabia. A questionnaire was designed that comprised of five project phases including the project inception phase, project planning and design phase, project construction phase, project monitoring and control phase, and project closing phase. Responses of 101 valid questionnaires were collected from construction projects and analyzed by using the SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences-21) for Windows software package. The results indicate that owners, consultants, contractors, and researchers strongly supp...
International Journal of Construction Management, 2016
Lack of compliance with Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) has resulted in a relatively higher ... more Lack of compliance with Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) has resulted in a relatively higher construction accident rate in developing countries such as Pakistan. This study attempts to unveil the aspects of OSH that are ignored and discern the differences in the perceptions of key construction stakeholders. Data collected from 195 respondents were analysed using Cronbach's coefficient alpha, Shapiro‒Wilk and Kruskal‒Wallis tests. The results indicate that OSH training is the most neglected factor, followed by non-inclusion of safety in contract documents and workers' non-involvement. Stakeholders have dissimilar perception about three OSH factors, including management commitment to OSH, safety rules/procedures and policies, and OSH training. Regulatory authority is suggested to launch OSH awareness campaigns, announce safety incentives, institutionalize the OSH certification system, and incorporate safety credit points in contractors' registration process. Though this study pertains to Pakistan, the methodology and the recommendations can be generalized for other developing countries with a similar work environment.
Sustainability
The inadequate risk management of public–private partnership (PPP) projects is a principal cause ... more The inadequate risk management of public–private partnership (PPP) projects is a principal cause of project distress or failure. This research seeks to identify and empirically validate measures of effective risk management (ERM) in the context of PPPs in a developing country, a subject that has received scant attention in the extant literature. The research is based on a comprehensive literature review, expert interviews and a questionnaire survey. Mean score ranking and factor analysis were employed to rank and group the identified measures, respectively. Tests were performed to determine the respondents’ agreement and establish the reliability and validity of the survey instrument. Analysis results indicate that all identified measures are important, are distributed over the entire project’s life cycle and exhibit a multi-organizational focus. The most significant measures focus on PPP-specific artifacts and procurement activities that are vital for ERM. Factor analysis establish...
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Construction process is inherently prone to risks. The remedy to manage these risks effectively i... more Construction process is inherently prone to risks. The remedy to manage these risks effectively is in adopting a comprehensive risk management framework. Risk analysis, as the core part of the risk management process enables professionals to quantify and analyze risks which can pose a potential threat to performance of project in terms of cost, quality, safety and time. This research work attempts to identify and analyze the risks associated to bridge construction projects in Pakistan during their construction phase. A structured questionnaire was developed and administered. Risks affecting the performance of bridge projects were identified through interviews with engineers and managers working on various bridge projects. The impact of these risks on cost and schedule is analyzed using a case study which included analysis, results and discussion. The paper also shows insights of Monte Carlo simulation for project risk analysis. Through this research, risk analysis guidelines are pro...
ICCREM 2020, 2020
Construction firms are of crucial importance when it comes to the development of the nation. Give... more Construction firms are of crucial importance when it comes to the development of the nation. Given the complex web of communication and sets of preferences, the construction industry faces innumerable challenges. Of most criticalities that are commonly observed in the industry, it is the time overrun that accounts for most of the adversities faced by the construction industry of Pakistan. These factors may include communication and coordination factors, contract management factors, design and documentation factors, and finance management factors. The concurrent study aims to determine the magnitude and prioritize these designated factors upon the time overruns in the surveyed firms that may further lead to delineations such as cost overruns. To accomplish the research objectives a survey was carried out, being based upon 113 construction projects being run under supervision of respective firms. As per our deduction it was the lack of coordination in the design phase that did account for the time delays in the subjected firms. While contract management factors marked the poor project management as the leading factor to cause the time related adversities. In the similar context, design and documentation factors classified the design changes during construction as important consideration. Whereas finance management factors indicated the monthly payment difficulties from the agencies to lead to the time delay in the construction projects on the national scale. The concurrent study is of vital importance in terms of bridging the contextual gap by surveying the construction firms in a developing nation such as Pakistan. Moreover, the theoretical progression was addressed by the current study by including the designated factors cumulatively in a single model and testing for them statistically.
Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Civil, Structural and Transportation Engineering (ICCSTE'18), Jun 1, 2018
Many risks are associated with construction industry because of its highly diversified nature. Co... more Many risks are associated with construction industry because of its highly diversified nature. Contingency reserves are designed and added to the project's estimate to cater for these risks. Different techniques are used worldwide to calculate contingency but unfortunately, Pakistan's construction industry continues to use the 'traditional percentage methodology'. In this technique, a preset amount, usually 5%-10% of the project's cost is added to the base cost estimate without identifying and analysing the risks. Time contingency is over looked in majority of the projects and if considered, it is based on subjective opinion of experts. This predetermined amount of uncertainty denotes the arbitrariness and becomes a reason for cost and time overrun in majority of projects in the country. This research aims to develop a framework that can circumvent this uncertainty by using probabilistic quantitative risk techniques. It proposes a probabilistic model for predicting total cost and duration of the project by translating the effect of risks. Rational contingency reserves for cost and time are predicted using the model by determining risk contingency factors.
Revista de la construcción, 2020
Construction contracting firms (CCFs) are functioning in a highly volatile and competitive indust... more Construction contracting firms (CCFs) are functioning in a highly volatile and competitive industrial environment making it imperative to bid for the projects that can produce the most return and market share. The decision making process to bid or not is based on various factors that vary from project to project and firm to firm. The aim of this work is to analyze the impact of firm size and experience on extrinsic factors influencing the bid/no-bid decision for construction projects. The questionnaire was pilot tested and designed in three parts. The final questionnaire was sent to 300 CCFs registered with Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) and respondents were asked to rate the factors on a Likert scale. Out of 300 questionnaires, 167 completed responses are returned representing a response rate of 56%. The collected data are then analyzed using Mann-Whitney U test through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Findings show the various degrees of differences between small and large, and young and mature CCFs with regard to factors influencing the bid/no-bid decision. Small firms need to overcome increasing market value and number of competitors in the market. They need to develop relationship with government officials in order to secure their bids. Mature firms need to review the payment practices of clients, politician pressure and business level of the client before entering into the bid. Availability of required material and skilled labor are of prime importance for the mature firms' success.
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 2020
AbstractThe relationship between the perceived fairness of administering projects’ claims and con... more AbstractThe relationship between the perceived fairness of administering projects’ claims and contractors’ reduced potential to disputes is probably missing in published literature in the context o...
Journal of Financial Management of Property and Construction, 2018
Purpose Construction experts face several types of stresses at construction sites. The purpose of... more Purpose Construction experts face several types of stresses at construction sites. The purpose of this study is to recognize and investigate dominant coping behaviors to overcome stress among construction professionals at the Gaza Strip. Design/methodology/approach For the purpose of this paper, a survey which used self-administrative questionnaires was conducted. A total of 320 questionnaires were distributed randomly to construction professionals working at the Gaza Strip. From the total questionnaires that were distributed, 183 were returned. This shows a 51 per cent response rate. Relative importance index and principal component analysis were applied to examine the responses. This study explored two central coping behaviors, namely, problem-focused and emotion-focused behaviors. Findings In relation to the problem-focused behaviors, a factor analysis revealed three underlying factors, namely, planned and constructive review problem-solving, need for social contributory support ...
International Journal of Construction Management, 2019
Influencing factors that indicate the time delay vary from project to project and firm to firm. T... more Influencing factors that indicate the time delay vary from project to project and firm to firm. The aim of current study is to examine the impact of firm size and industry experience on influencing factors that indicate the time delay in the Pakistani construction contracting firms having varied sizes and industrial experiences. The data are collected through dissemination of the questionnaires in the targeted construction firms. A comparative analysis of these data is undertaken for firms of varied sizes and experiences by using Mann-Whitney U test. The results show that firms of varied sizes do not concur over several skilled labour and site operation related influencing factors, whereas firms of varied experiences are in disagreement over several financial management related influencing factors. Small firms need to overcome their weakness in site operation related issues, especially poor site supervision and management, and countering the weather conditions. Young firms need to overcome financial management weakness, including inaccurate estimation of time, variations in material prices, lack of cost planning and monitoring during pre-contract and post-contract phases. Government support is needed to retain the skilled labour in the country, particularly for younger and smaller firms that are more vulnerable to time delay due to lack of availability of skilled labours in market.
Perspectives on Risk, Assessment and Management Paradigms [Working Title], 2019
The construction sector is subject to more risk than many other sectors. Managing risk is the hot... more The construction sector is subject to more risk than many other sectors. Managing risk is the hottest topic of discussion for engineers within the construction sector. It is difficult to imagine managing of projects without risk management in construction. Risk management is concerned with risk management planning, identification, analysis, responses, monitoring and controlling project risk. Risk analysis is an evaluative process that establishes the magnitude of risks on projects. This work is planned to identify and analyze risks in the construction of a bridge project. The data are collected through a survey approach by administering a questionnaire. Professionals involved in the construction of bridges identify the project risks. A case study is utilized to determine the impact of cost and schedule risks. The analysis is carried out using the Monte Carlo simulation. The findings of the Monte Carlo simulation are compared with the actual times and costs of the casestudy project. The results show the actual times and costs fell within the expected distribution of the simulation. The results indicate that risk analysis is helpful in managing costs and schedule risks. Additionally, this work documents guidelines for risk analysis.
International Journal of Sustainable Real Estate and Construction Economics, 2017
Incompetency of masons is a problem because they execute many construction activities. This impar... more Incompetency of masons is a problem because they execute many construction activities. This imparts the need to identify factors that affect the competency of masons on construction sites. Factors related to motivation, skills and personality traits are identified. A questionnaire instrument consisting of 15 factors related to the three categories was forwarded to masons on construction projects. Responses collected on a five-point Likert scale were analysed for relative importance index (RII), which was used as the basis for ranking the factors. 'Resistance to change', 'lack of appreciation', and 'lack of formal training' were identified as the first, second, and third most important factors affecting the competency of masons on construction projects. The impact of the category of motivation was found to be the highest on the competency of masons, followed by skills, and personality traits. These findings may be utilised as an assessment tool for determining the competency of masons and identifying areas that need improvements.
Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and Construction, 2016
AbstractThis research presents a questionnaire based on a study of merits and demerits of appoint... more AbstractThis research presents a questionnaire based on a study of merits and demerits of appointing the same design consultant as construction supervision consultant in the construction industry in Pakistan. The questionnaire comprises five sections corresponding to the project phases including the project initiation, project planning and design, project execution, project monitoring and control, and project closing. Responses of valid questionnaires are analyzed using commercially available software. The results show that clients, consultants, contractors, and researchers strongly support appointing the same design consultant as supervision consultant. Results further indicate that it is not appropriate to employ different professionals on a project for these two services when close coordination is generally required for the successful completion of the same. Research concludes that there is no harm in appointing a third party for proof engineering and design vetting.
Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, 2016
AbstractThe construction industry is one of the most hazardous industries where workers are frequ... more AbstractThe construction industry is one of the most hazardous industries where workers are frequently involved in accidents. These accidents can be reduced by following good safety practices that need to be identified along with their strengths and weaknesses. This study presents the strengths and weaknesses in the current safety practices within the framework of safety benchmarking to improve safety performance in construction. This study is conducted by administering a questionnaire survey comprising of 60 safety practices. Data were collected from 54 construction sites located in 16 different cities in Pakistan. Additionally, interviews were conducted to supplement and validate the findings of the survey. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Safety practices were ranked based on their safety performance index values. Results identify the strengths of current safety practices, which include: (1) inspection of hoists and cranes before their operation; (2) fastening o...
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Papers by Rafiq M. Choudhry