• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.49-53
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• 2013

If industrial safety statistics are analyzed, among the total of 2,114 dead people from industrial disasters in 2011, construction workers took 29.4% with 621. The construction industry makes a lot of efforts to reduce the death toll. However, since the measures are not from the analysis of root causes but from superficial countermeasure plans near general matters, it is in a situation that the actual effectiveness is marginal. Therefore, in this paper, improvement measures were intended to be prepared in order to reduce accidents, by inspecting safety control systems of target companies with high accident rates among major construction firms and extracting overall problems of them.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2012.11a
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• pp.287-289
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• 2012

The building construction industry of Korea was going through difficulties in improving productivity and competitiveness in international market. Therefore we expected to see the improvement in productivity by applying six-sigma based approach to general reinforced concrete construction work. As a result of applying DMAIC method, one of 6 sigma tools, we found that the most effective inspection items are 'Gap of forms' and 'status of clean'. We could see from this case study that the percentage of additional work days has decreased to 37.7% as a result of applying six-sigma based approach to reinforced concrete construction.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.537-543
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• 2009

Noting the changes within the Singapore construction industry, fuelled by the government's 'green' initiatives in tandem with the prolonged effect of the 1997-2005 recession, this paper investigates Singapore contractors' attitudes towards environmental sustainability. Data were collected from 34 interviews with senior management of large and medium-sized general building contractors and the firms' archival records. The results show that the majority of the contractors embrace positive attitudes towards environmental sustainability. The respective contractors explicitly express their environmental drives by incorporating keywords such as 'quality', 'sustainability' and 'environmental and social benefits' into their firms' mission statements. The results also show that three environmental-related measures implemented by all contractors are: (i) stricter housekeeping procedures in construction sites; (ii) stricter wastage rates for construction materials; and (iii) greater focus on Just-In-Time delivery to minimise materials deterioration due to inappropriate site storage.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.2D
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• pp.235-244
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• 2009

Design Value Engineering (VE) has become an import part of the daily design process since it has been introduced in the construction industry. Design VE is usually conducted in the general and execution design stages respectively. In order to increase the effectiveness of the VE process, the outcome from the general design VE activities should be integrated into execution design. The outcome from the execution design should be used again for construction. In this study, a consecutive VE process model has been presented as a way to improve the current practice of design VE activities in the construction industry. In the presented model, follow-up activities are emphasized to increase values from the life-cycle perspective of a construction project. The model was tested in a case study of an actual design VE process. The result of the study demonstrates that the model can: 1) effectively incorporate owners requirements; 2) assist decision making in selecting better construction; 3) increase the interface between general and execution design stages; and 4) trace the value flow more efficiently. Overall, the study results indicates that a the consecutive VE process model can be effectively applied when construction project are contracted for the life-cycle management of construction projects.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.53-58
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• 2018

Background: Since the Republic of Korea became a labor-force-importing country, the number of foreign workers has increased gradually, especially in the construction industry. The main objective of this study was to examine the differences in safety perception between domestic and foreign workers at Korean construction sites. Methods: A total of 891 Korean and foreign workers were surveyed: 140 foreign and 751 Korean workers. The general characteristics and 25 factors influencing safety perception were considered in the questionnaire. Regression and correlation analyses were conducted to examine the variables of workers' safety perception. Results: Differences of nationality (F = 7.379, p < 0.001) and workplace accidents were statistically significant for both domestic (F = 1.503, p < 0.05) and foreign workers (F = 7.868, p < 0.05). In contrast, age, education, and Korean language level were significant variables only for foreign workers. Correlation coefficients of $0.428^{**}$ for Korean and 0.148 for foreign workers between two items - namely, "management's commitment to safety" and "blaming staff when they make mistakes" - support the conclusion that foreign workers do not trust management's commitment to safety, while Korean workers have confidence in these commitments. Conclusion: Foreign workers' level of safety perception should rise to the same level as Korean workers, especially in terms of obeying safety rules, safety education performance, and safety beliefs. Therefore, an improvement plan for the Korean construction industry is suggested in order to have a better safety level at construction sites with foreign workers.

• IE interfaces
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.421-428
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• 2001

The economic effects of informatization are differently occurred according to industry types. Thus an evaluation methodology which reflects the industry type characteristics of informatization is needed. In this paper, we develop and analyze the indices for evaluating economic effects through informatization according to industry types, such as manufacturing, construction, financial services and marketing services. The factors related to performance of enterprise informatization can be defined as cost factors, effect factors, risk factors and influence factors. Effect factors are defined as quantitative or qualitative performance of informatization and classified into operational effect factors and strategic effect factors. The influence factor is defined as characteristics of informatization for industry types, that is, value chain of business and business products or services. Economic effect indices are classified according to the activity of business value chain. Economic effects indices of this research can be expected to play a role of general and standardized factors for economic evaluation of industry informatization.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute Of Construction Engineering and Management
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• autumn
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• pp.394-397
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• 2003

The Korea construction industry is now in a state where radical innovation is seriously considered. Among a variety of innovation topics, this paper focuses on innovation in public construction clients. The objective of this paper is to analyze GSA's Construction Excellence Program as a case study and to present key characteristics of the program from the perspectives of implications and lessons learned.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Geothermal and Hydrothermal Energy
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.1-6
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• 2014

As Korea's economy is entering a period of gradual growth, rate of growth on the construction market is becoming slow like that in developed countries. Remodeling construction market will be gradually expanded due to change in the social environment and diversification of individual demand. This study aims to promote the status of building equipment field with corresponding strategies based on the current situation that the importance of building equipment field is emphasized. Although it is desirable that building equipment construction companies lead remodeling construction, the building equipment part of general construction companies take the important role may be a advisable way, because the technology of building equipment construction companies is a little insufficient. Though building equipment field has become more important, the number of credits and professor of the field is still small than other fields of architectural engineering. More practical curriculums are necessary to meet the expectation of companies. Mechanical part of building equipment construction does not have independent law otherwise the other parts of building equipment construction. Establishing the independent law is urgent to promote the remodeling construction technology.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.79-87
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• 2011

Cost control is an exceedingly fundamental and important construction business function. Even though enormous research efforts have been exerted in this area, there has been no comprehensive and quantitative study exploring detailed cost control practice of construction companies in terms of practical patterns and trends. This paper identified the variables for practical cost control process first. A survey questionnaire was developed and used in order to collect data from Korean general contractors. Survey results analyzing responses from 45 companies show that engineering aspects of cost management has recently been strongly stressed in the construction industry. Applying various types of progress measurement method are getting popular, and the level of details in collecting job site cost data are prevalent. Cost forecasting are performed more frequently. These trends indicates the recent efforts by Korean general contractors to achieve competitive advantages in the globalized market.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.86 no.2
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• pp.211-220
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• 2023

The textile industry has benefited from nanotechnology in various fields of application as the use of nanomaterials, and nanotechnology is multiplying. Nanoparticles can increase the performance of textiles by up to 100 times when used in finishing, coating, and dyeing techniques, providing them with capabilities they did not previously possess. Nanotechnology is used in the textile chemical industry to produce sports mats with stain resistance, flame resistance, wrinkle resistance, moisture management, antimicrobial quality, and UV protection. The incorporation of nanomaterials into fabrics can have a significant effect on their properties, including shrinkage, strength, electrical conductivity, and flammability. Various inventions and innovations may result from nano-processed textiles in the future, thus leading to the advancement of science. This article presents the construction of sports engineering structures with high resistance to improve the quality of sports training. The mechanical properties of sports mats are improved with the help of nanotechnology. Strength, elasticity, and tear resistance are among these properties. This method enables the production of elastic, durable, and tear-resistant sports mats.