• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.16-27
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• 2022

This study analyzed both the legal system regarding fair trade and the types of unfair trade in the construction industry. Then, it derived the factors with which to evaluate the level of fairness. These factors were classified by each type of participant in the construction industry, such as general contractors and subcontractors, and each construction stage, such as bidding, contracting, and construction. The perceived fairness level of factors was analyzed using a survey of 238 employees of general contractors and subcontractors. Next, the study developed a fairness index for the construction industry. The index showed that subcontractors perceived the level of fairness more negatively than general contractors, but both perceived the construction stage of the industry as having the lowest level of fairness. General contractors perceived the bidding and contracting stages as having the highest fairness levels, and subcontractors perceived the contracting stage as having the highest level of fairness. The developed fairness index identified the evaluation factors that need improvement and the fairness level perceived by each type of participant at each stage of construction. The results of this study can contribute to establishing measures that improve the level of fairness in the construction industry.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.4 no.1 s.13
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• pp.75-80
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• 2003

Internet use in the world is rapidly growing. The Internet Is affecting all aspects of life, as we know it. The world of business will probably be changed forever. The construction industry is a major part of the business world It is also seeing changes because of the Internet. This study is to provide the construction industry with an understanding of the current use of the Internet by U.S. general contractors. This study consisted of surveying construction general contractors with regards to their current and future Internet use. The study shows that Internet use by U.S. general contractors is the highest at what was identified as the support level . Use at the corporate level was second, while use at the project level was lower. This study demonstrates that companies of every size are using the Internet somehow in order to remain competitive and to enable improvement of performance.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.62-70
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• 2016

Construction engineers are the core resource for the sustainable development of construction industry and positive images toward construction engineers give much impacts on recruit and retainment of the young and talented. Although previous studies reported on negative aspects of the image of construction industry, the image of construction engineers has not been properly investigated to date. The objective of the study is to compare images of construction engineers as perceived by general public and construction engineers themselves in order to identify key characteristics and implications. The result shows that construction engineers themselves, compared with general public, have more negative tendencies on images of construction engineers. The study suggests that it is critical to enhance the understanding of roles of construction engineers and their morality in order to improve general public's perception on construction engineers images. On the other hand, fundamental measures to be taken to restore the environments of construction industry for construction engineers to improve their self-perception on images of construction engineers.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.2 no.2 s.6
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• pp.37-46
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• 2001

Business boundaries of firms in the construction industry are strictly regulated in Korea. Under the current law, firms involved in construction processes are classified into five categories; general contractors, specialty contractors, architects' offices, engineering firms, and specialized in inspection. Among these types of firms, general contractors are prohibited to enter into specialty contractor's market and vice versa by the basic law in the construction industry. Also general contractors are not allowed to provide architectural services. The purpose of the law is to prohibit unlicensed companies from entering the construction market and to protect customers. However, the law causes critical problems e.g. low efficiency of production and rent creation. Therefore, we identify problems concerning business boundaries of firms in the construction industry and predict structural changes in the them when they are liberalized. So we surveyed general contractors and specialty contractors in Korea to estimate the effects of the liberalization on the construction industry. Most of contractors point to the enhancement of production efficiency as the motivation to integrate other construction process. If current regulations, which limit firms' decisions on business boundaries, are eliminated, firms will choose optimal business scopes taking into account types of contracts adopted by the Government for public works. Based on the cost/benifit analyses, they will decide whether to intergrate other production processes or not.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.201-209
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• 2013

Background: The study was conducted to investigate the current status of the occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS) in the construction industry and the effect of OHSMS on accident rates. Differences of awareness levels on safety issues among site general managers and occupational health and safety (OHS) managers are identified through surveys. Methods: The accident rates for the OHSMS-certified construction companies from 2006 to 2011, when the construction OHSMS became widely available, were analyzed to understand the effect of OHSMS on the work-related injury rates in the construction industry. The Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency 18001 is the certification to these companies performing OHSMS in South Korea. The questionnaire was created to analyze the differences of OHSMS awareness between site general managers and OHS managers of construction companies. Results: The implementation of OHSMS among the top 100 construction companies in South Korea shows that the accident rate decreased by 67% and the fatal accident rate decreased by 10.3% during the period from 2006 to 2011. The survey in this study shows different OHSMS awareness levels between site general managers and OHS managers. The differences were motivation for developing OHSMS, external support needed for implementing OHSMS, problems and effectiveness of implementing OHSMS. Conclusion: Both work-related accident and fatal accident rates were found to be significantly reduced by implementing OHSMS in this study. The differences of OHSMS awareness between site general managers and OHS managers were identified through a survey. The effect of these differences on safety and other benefits warrants further research with proper data collection.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.456-464
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• 2022

Objectives: The Purpose of this study is to improve work environment measurement in construction industry by survey. Especially, this study focused on the defferences between construction staffs(safety manger, health manager) and work environment measurement institution workers. Methods: Survey targets are construction staffs(safety manger, health manager) and work environment measurement institution workers. Respondent was selected by respective councils and conferences. A questionnaire consisting of items on general characteristics and the improvement of work environment measurement in construction industry. Results: Total of 134 people(39 safety managers, 27 health managers, 68 work environment measurement institution workers) responded to survey. Overall, current work environment measurement was deemed unsuitable for construction industry. There was a significant difference between construction staff and work environment institution workers in some question. On the other hand, there was no noticeable significant difference in general characteristics. Conclusions: As a result of survey, current work environment measurement was deemed unsuitable for construction industry in terms of measurement method, measurement timing, and actual site improvement. In addition, there is a statistically significant differences in response between construction staff and work environment measurement institution workers, so it is necessary to reflect both opinions in order to improve work environment measurement in construction industry.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.63-71
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• 2021

The construction guarantee market is a rear market affected by changes in the construction industry and market. As the restructuring of the construction industry's production system is being carried out, such as the abolition of regulations on business field between general and specialty contractors, major changes are expected not only in the construction market but also in the construction guarantee market. In construction guarantee market, there are currently three Contractor Financial Cooperatives, which are divided based on business field and business type(General, Specialty and Plant & Mechanical). The abolition of business field regulation will have various effects on construction guarantee market, such as forming a competitive structure among the three Contractor Financial Cooperatives. Therefore the role of the construction guarantee institutions are also required to change. This study predicted the changes in the construction guarantee market after the restructuring of construction industry and analyzed the ripple effect on the market. This study reviewed the details of the reorganization plan on the construction industry, policies and statistical data related to construction guarantee, and lastly conducted the survey on each member of the three Contractor Financial Cooperatives to analyze the usage behavior in the future guarantee market. Based on the result of this study, the members of both the General Contractor Financial Cooperative and Specialty Contractor Financial Cooperative are not willing to change the existing institutions, but a lot of them are expected to use other institutions in duplicate. The members of the Plant & Mechanical Contractor Financial Cooperative are most willing to use other guarantee institutions.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.88-97
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to forecast future changes in the construction market following the reorganization of the construction production system by analyzing the possible market size in which general contractors and specialty contractors may participate in each other, and by carrying out a survey. The ratio of correlation between general construction and specialty construction industries was derived by analyzing the relevance of work area of general contractors and specialty contractors, the similarity of registration standards, and the market in which general contractors and specialty contractors may be able to mutually participate. In order to overcome the limitation of previous studies which analyze the changes in construction market based on the statistical data, and to analyze in more detail the impact of reorganization of construction production system from market participants' view, a survey targeting general contractors and specialty contractors for their willingness and method of participating in the mutual market was conducted. As a result of the survey, it was found that 52% of general contractors were willing to participate in the specialized construction market and 55.1% of specialty contractors were willing to participate in the general construction market. It was found that there was a high willingness to participate in the earthworks, reinforced concrete works, facility maintenance and management, water and sewage facility works, and interior works, and high competition is expected for projects with a scale of 500 million to less than 3 billion won. Through this study, it will be possible for general and specialty contractors to understand the changes in the construction market due to the reorganization of the construction industry production system, and to respond effectively to these changes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.21 no.3 s.75
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• pp.59-66
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• 2006

Injury Ratio Survey Regulations(IRS) was introduced to the construction industry in the Republic of Korea since 1992 and brought positive effect on occupational accidents reduction. There were tremendous decrease of injury ratios and enforcing of contractors' safety organizations from the beginning of IRS. In spite of these positive results, there were some negative effects such as contractors' shrinking injury reports to keep good injury ratios since these figures had a great impact on pre-qualification stage of bidding when general contractors were competing for new construction projects. Thus, this study aims to devote on lessening construction injury and elimination of above negative impacts through the quantitative statistic analysis of the effectiveness on the occupational accidents prevention of IRS. According to this assessment, there were decrease of from 6.37% to 44.34% in the accident ratios compared to those of non-IRS groups and decrease of from 3.32% to 83.51 % in the accident ratios compared to those of general industry including the unreported accidents.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.399-406
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• 2011

Various construction bonds and warranties critically burden the general contractor. Also, sporadic or cumulative delays of progress payment by the owner can further trap the contractor in a financial quagmire. Facing the possibility of cash flow deficiency and callous response from the banks, most construction firms may become financially incapable of market competition, and attractive project tenders become a bidding game among few deep-pocket players. The downside of such market environment is that the depth of pocket, rather than that of professional competency dictates the choice of market winners. In Taiwan, this has been a potential crisis to the construction industry after the financial crisis which started out since 2008. To encounter this problem, this research will examine the means to better manage the construction industry. Essentially, a credit guarantee system (CGS) is the prime solution to strengthen a bank's confidence in any particular construction firm. Thus establishing a national platform which evaluates and rewards a construction firm's overall credibility is pivotal, and this third-party rated credit can help a bank to render a loan more wisely. Finally, this paper will propose the ideal operating schemes of construction-specific CGS in Taiwan and a credit scoring prototype model for construction industry, as reference for the government and banks, respectively.