Attitude of Construction Workers towards Building Material Wastage

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Date
November, 2014
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Abstract
Construction materials form an important part of every construction project. Without them the objectives of the project cannot be realized. The management of construction materials has been problematic over the years leading to shortage of materials during construction and delay in completion of projects as a result of wanton generation of construction waste. One area of construction waste investigation which has eluded the radar of construction researchers is the attitude of construction workers towards construction waste generation. It is intended that this investigation should promote sustainable construction. In order to achieve the above aim, this study adopted a quantitative approach by using structured field survey questionnaire as the key tool for data collection which gave a response rate of 95%. The SPSS was used in packaging the data for analysis. The main technique of data analysis was descriptive statistics focusing mainly on the mean score, standard deviation, and indexes. The chi square which is a non-parametric tool was also used to ascertain the significance of result. The findings of the study indicate that construction workers have not developed sympathetic attitude towards the wastage of construction material. Attitude related factors among construction workers to material waste generation include rework due to workers mistakes/poor workmanship; poor communication among the parties involved in a project; human error and carelessness; improper interaction between engineers and workers; and provision of insufficient information to project participants among others. Similarly, the study uncovered project cost as the key aspect of construction projects severely affected by the construction waste as far as the attitude of construction workers is concerned. The most wasted materials uncovered by this study consist of mortar, cements, plaster and grouting; timber construction products; bricks and blocks; and ceramics. Key guidelines proposed for adoption to curb construction material waste include the use of bar-code system for material management for delivery and return; use of reward system and punishment; waste audit; and issuance of certificates to construction firms for waste minimization. It is believed that this study will ignite a wind of change in the construction industry as far as construction material wastage is concerned. For instance, bar coding technology can be adopted to track the movement of construction materials from source to final placement on site. This study has the potential of fostering other studies in the future within the framework of attitude of construction workers.
Description
A Thesis submitted to the Department of Building Technology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Construction Management.
Keywords
Attitude, Construction, Waste, Material, Workers, Building
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