Cultural shift towards sustainability in the construction industry of Hong Kong

Sustainable development is forward-looking; it is a continuous mission for future developments of human society. A genuinely sustainable society is one that initiates developments in sustainable ways. The development of a genuinely sustainable society is supported by its citizens who think and act according to a recognized code of conduct - the sustainable culture. Similar to other forms of culture, sustainable culture of a society is not static, but changes over time. The changes found in a sustainable culture are reflections of the status of sustainability in a society and these changes should be measured from time to time. The resulting measurement gives very important information for decision-makers, in the government and in the private sector, to examine the magnitude of changes that have taken place in a given period of time. The results will also enable them to review and adjust policies in order to better accommodate changes according to the trends of society.This paper provides a method – the T-model, to investigate and measure the extent of change of sustainable culture through two extensive surveys among participants of the construction industry of Hong Kong. The change in sustainable culture is reflected by the change in attitude and practice among construction participants, this can be found in their performance in project development, design and construction operations. The data of these changes are collected and converted to numerical scores. The T-model synthesized these scores and revealed the change of sustainable culture within the specific study time frame.     

Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Audit in Large-Scale Public Infrastructure Construction: The Case of the Qinghai–Tibet Railway

Large-scale public infrastructure projects have featured in China’s modernization course since the early 1980s. During the early stages of China’s rapid economic development, public attention focused on the economic and social impact of high-profile construction projects. In recent years, however, we have seen a shift in public concern toward the environmental and ecological effects of such projects, and today governments are required to provide valid environmental impact assessments prior to allowing large-scale construction. The official requirement for the monitoring of environmental conditions has led to an increased number of debates in recent years regarding the effectiveness of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and Governmental Environmental Audits (GEAs) as environmental safeguards in instances of large-scale construction. Although EIA and GEA are conducted by different institutions and have different goals and enforcement potential, these two practices can be closely related in terms of methodology. This article cites the construction of the Qinghai–Tibet Railway as an instance in which EIA and GEA offer complementary approaches to environmental impact management. This study concludes that the GEA approach can serve as an effective follow-up to the EIA and establishes that the EIA lays a base for conducting future GEAs. The relationship that emerges through a study of the Railway’s construction calls for more deliberate institutional arrangements and cooperation if the two practices are to be used in concert to optimal effect.     

南京市建筑扬尘排放清单研究

统计分析了2010年南京市各行政区建筑场地面积和工期,结合扬尘排放因子,建立了南京市建筑扬尘排放清单。研究表明,2010年南京市建筑扬尘TSP、PM10和PM2．5的排放量分别达2．53万t、1．40万t和0．95万t,占工业烟（粉）尘排放量的23％、13％和8．6％。郊区县建筑扬尘排放量较大,约占全市 TSP、PM10、PM2．5排放总量的72％;主城区排放强度较高。对不同建筑工程类型扬尘排放量估算表明,城市建设工程和市政工程是建筑扬尘的主要来源,城市建设工程中又以住宅类建设工程为主。对不同研究获得的建筑扬尘结果比较,发现扬尘排放因子选择和污染源活动水平统计是影响建筑扬尘结果的关键因素。     

燃煤电厂建设项目环境监理实践与探析

简述了燃煤电厂项目工程特点与环境监理现状,结合燃煤电厂环境监理工作的实践,主要归纳总结了对燃煤电厂建设项目施工阶段环境监理的主要内容和方法,并提出了深刻领会环评及其批复要求的精神实质,编写好环境监理方案和环境监理实施细则;全面细化环评报告书及其批复提出的要求,逐一核实实施情况;不断深化环境监理的内容,确保各项环保措施落实到位,保证各类环保设施运行效果的建议.     

关于核燃料循环建设项目竣工环境保护验收监测的思考

针对核燃料循环建设项目竣工环境保护验收监测活动中存在的问题作探讨,明确了验收监测活动的起点,建议加强验收监测方案编制的培训。指出应重视流出物的持续监测和环保设施运行效率的验证,验收监测方案应参考环评文件中的环境监测计划,结合设施运行后的现状合理编制,并重视与污染源项有关的其他监测问题。提出了进一步完善核燃料循环标准体系、持续加强环保验收能力建设等建议。     

论循环型城市的法制建设

循环型城市是循环经济理论应用到城市的具体体现,循环型城市的建设战略要通过正确的法律法规贯彻执行。文章分析了循环型城市法制建设的必要性和原则,重点论述了循环型城市法制建设的具体措施。     

建筑施工过程中环境保护措施应用研究

在改革开放高速的社会发展环境下,各行各业都在不断的变化,随着我国经济与科技的飞速发展,我国对各行业的环境保护越发重视,其中建筑行业是环境保护中的重要一环。本文对于建筑施工过程中环境保护技术的重要性进行了阐述,研究现代房建工程施工中普遍存在的环境问题,从而提出改善方案,保障建筑施工过程中环境保护技术措施的有效应用。     

The association between subcontractor safety management programs and worker perceived safety climate in commercial construction projects

Problem: Safety management programs (SMPs) are designed to mitigate risk of workplace injuries and create a safe working climate. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the relationship between contractors’ SMPs and workers’ perceived safety climate and safety behaviors among small and medium-sized construction subcontractors. Methods: Subcontractor SMP scores on 18 organizational and project-level safety items were coded from subcontractors’ written safety programs and interviews. Workers completed surveys to report perceptions of their contractor’s safety climate and the safety behaviors of coworkers, crews, and themselves. The associations between SMP scores and safety climate and behavior scales were examined using Spearman correlation and hierarchical linear regression models (HLM). Results: Among 78 subcontractors working on large commercial construction projects, we found striking differences in SMP scores between small, medium, and large subcontractors (p < 0.001), related to a number of specific safety management practices. We observed only weak relationships between SMP scales and safety climate scores reported by 746 workers of these subcontractors (β = 0.09, p = 0.04 by HLM). We saw no differences in worker reported safety climate and safety behaviors by contractor size. Discussion: SMP only weakly predicted safety climate scales of subcontractors, yet there were large differences in the quality and content of SMPs by size of employers. Summary: Future work should determine the best way to measure safety performance of construction companies and determine the factors that can lead to improved safety performance of construction firms. Practical applications: Our simple assessment of common elements of safety management programs used document review and interviews with knowledgeable representatives. These methods identified specific safety management practices that differed between large and small employers. In order to improve construction safety, it is important to understand how best to measure safety performance in construction companies to gain knowledge for creating safer work environments.     

Data mining for occupational injuries in the Taiwan construction industry

There is a higher rate of occupational injury in the construction industry than most other industries on average. However, steps can be taken to reduce worker risk through effective injury prevention strategies. In this article, association rule mining is employed in identifying the characteristics of occupational injuries in the construction industry. Accident reports during the period 1999–2004 are extracted from case reports of the Northern Region Inspection Office of the Council of Labor Affairs of Taiwan. In addition to general factors, several factors related to weather conditions are included in this article. The results show that there are some patterns of occupational injuries in the construction industry. The effect of rain on the occurrence of fatalities is of great significance. Proposed inspection plans should be in accordance with the type of construction and environmental evaluation. The findings identified in this article provide a direction for more effective inspection strategies and injury prevention programs.     

Hydrogen sulphide removal from landfill gas

Control of odours should be considered to be a fundamental issue in order to site, design and manage sanitary landfills. With regard to construction and demolition (C&;D) debris, landfilling was the mainly adopted solution in many European Countries; in particular, gypsum drywalls can produce high concentrations of hydrogen sulphide (H₂S) in landfill gas ranging from 7 ppm to 100 ppm. In some cases also dangerous concentrations until to 12,000 ppm were detected. In this paper H₂S removal efficiency in a lab-scale vertical packed scrubber was investigated. Hydrogen sulphide abatement was evaluated for inlet H₂S concentrations of 1000–100–10 ppm, adjusting scrubbing liquid pH in the range 9–12.5 by means of caustic soda (NaOH 2N solution). Moreover, best operating conditions for the system were defined as well as H₂S abatement along the tower and liquid recirculation effectiveness in case of inlet H₂S concentration of 10 ppm (typical odour concentration). Results showed that pH of 11.5 in scrubbing liquid could be considered the best value for removal of different inlet H₂S concentrations, also taking into account parasitical consumption of NaOH due to CO₂ absorption. Moreover, in case of continuous working of the system at H₂S concentration of 10 ppm, strong removal efficiency was already obtained with a packed bed height of about 70 cm. Significant performances were ensured after 1 h of constant activity, consuming about 3 ml of soda per cubic meter of polluted air. Subsequently liquid blowdown was necessary.