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Occupational Health and Diseases in Built Environment
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Occupational Health and Diseases in Built Environment

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Construction Management, and Computers & Digitization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2022) | Viewed by 19350

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Riza Yosia Sunindijo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Built Environment, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Interests: work health and safety; mental health; leadership; women in construction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is well known that health and safety performance in the construction industry is poor. Past efforts to improve health and safety performance in the sector have tended to focus more on the safety aspect, particularly on reducing and eliminating physical injuries. Although this is certainly a worthy endeavour, there is also a need to focus on improving the sector’s health performance. Occupational health in construction tends to be neglected because it is usually invisible, and its impact does not manifest immediately. Furthermore, the end products of the construction industry are our built environment, comprising buildings, infrastructure, and facilities that we use daily. The impact of this built environment on health and wellbeing is significant since the built environment itself will typically last for decades. Therefore, this Special Issue entitled ‘Occupational Health and Diseases in Built Environment’ aims to bring together up-to-date research in this significant, yet underexplored area. Examples of research themes are:

  • Mental health and wellbeing in construction;
  • Occupational diseases in construction, such as musculoskeletal disorders, muscular stress, cardiovascular diseases, etc.;
  • The physical and psychological health of building users;
  • The impact of built environment on community health and wellbeing;
  •  Post-occupancy health and wellbeing evaluation of buildings and facilities.

Dr. Riza Yosia Sunindijo
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • occupational health
  • mental health
  • wellbeing
  • occupational diseases
  • stress anxiety
  • built environment
  • musculoskeletal disorder
  • depression

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Editorial

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2 pages, 158 KiB  
Editorial
Occupational Health and Diseases in Built Environment
by Riza Yosia Sunindijo
Buildings 2023, 13(4), 961; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13040961 - 4 Apr 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1181
Abstract
Past efforts to improve health and safety performance in the construction sector tended to focus more on the safety aspect, particularly on reducing and eliminating physical injuries [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Occupational Health and Diseases in Built Environment)

Research

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24 pages, 1855 KiB  
Article
The Impact of Coping Strategies and Individual Resilience on Anxiety and Depression among Construction Supervisors
by Janet M. Nwaogu and Albert P. C. Chan
Buildings 2022, 12(12), 2148; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12122148 - 6 Dec 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 5595
Abstract
Psychosocial working conditions such as long work hours, low job control, and work–life imbalance faced by construction professionals in site management positions subject them to elevated work stress and poor mental health. This study explored the protective ability of resilience and coping strategies [...] Read more.
Psychosocial working conditions such as long work hours, low job control, and work–life imbalance faced by construction professionals in site management positions subject them to elevated work stress and poor mental health. This study explored the protective ability of resilience and coping strategies in mitigating mental ill-health among construction supervisors in Nigeria. By adopting a mixed methodology, validated psychometric instruments were used to collect data from 174 construction supervisors, and semi-structured interviews involving 13 participants were used to understand better how supervisors cope with stress. The quantitative data were analysed using mean and univariate logistic regression, while qualitative data were thematically analysed. Univariate logistic regression revealed that individual resilience and problem-focused coping (PFC) strategies related to planful problem-solving, positive reappraisal, and seeking social support reduced anxiety symptoms. Aside from the coping skill considered in the quantitative survey, two additional skills adopted by the supervisors were deduced following thematic analysis. On average, the respondents’ depression, anxiety, and resilience levels were within the mild, minimal, and normal range, respectively. Resilience moderated the relationship between coping skills and anxiety by showing that a stronger relationship between the coping strategy and anxiety will be observed among people with a high level of resilience. Resilience, planful problem-solving, positive reappraisal, and seeking social support coping behaviours are significant predictors of mental health. This study highlights the need for resilience-building as an integral part of stress-reduction and management interventions aimed at construction supervisors in the construction industry. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Occupational Health and Diseases in Built Environment)
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Graphical abstract

15 pages, 1762 KiB  
Article
The Integration of NOSACQ-50 with Importance-Performance Analysis Technique to Evaluate and Analyze Safety Climate Dimensions in the Construction Sector in Saudi Arabia
by Mohammed Alamoudi
Buildings 2022, 12(11), 1855; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12111855 - 2 Nov 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2506
Abstract
In Saudi Arabia, one of the fastest-growing sectors is the construction industry. With the increasing numbers of accidents, it is worth reviewing the preventive solutions to the threats that have been identified. Therefore, the aim of this study was to apply the NOSACQ-50 [...] Read more.
In Saudi Arabia, one of the fastest-growing sectors is the construction industry. With the increasing numbers of accidents, it is worth reviewing the preventive solutions to the threats that have been identified. Therefore, the aim of this study was to apply the NOSACQ-50 survey to measure the safety climate (SC), and to dissect the strengths and weaknesses of each dimension in the survey using the importance-performance analysis (IPA) method. Based on the results, several strategies for improving the SC were recommended. A total of 296 construction workers were involved. According to the proposed method, the major strengths were management and worker commitment to safety, prioritizing safety during work, workers’ trust safety systems, and management competence in safety. The weaknesses were unstrict judgment in safety issues, the absence of workers’ suggestions in establishing safety rules, and near-miss incidents that went unreported. To mitigate these gaps, management should focus on strict judgement in safety-related issues, reporting all incident types, periodic meetings or reports with the workers, improved safety training, and checkup rounds. The outcomes of this study will assist organizations by providing a new validated SC assessment methodology that will help in determining aspects of strength and weakness that affect their SC, which will improve safety behavior and reduce accidents. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Occupational Health and Diseases in Built Environment)
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Graphical abstract

12 pages, 7796 KiB  
Article
A Post-Analysis of the Introduction of the EU Directive 92/57/EEC in the Swedish Construction Industry
by Leif Berglund, Jan Johansson, Maria Johansson, Magnus Nygren, Björn Samuelson and Magnus Stenberg
Buildings 2022, 12(10), 1765; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12101765 - 21 Oct 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1905
Abstract
The EU directive 92/57/EEC focuses on ensuring that health and safety-related matters are taken into consideration during every stage of construction-related work and has been introduced into the regulations of the member countries. In 2006, Sweden was tasked by the European Commission to [...] Read more.
The EU directive 92/57/EEC focuses on ensuring that health and safety-related matters are taken into consideration during every stage of construction-related work and has been introduced into the regulations of the member countries. In 2006, Sweden was tasked by the European Commission to clarify its implementation of the directive, including which management roles and responsibilities were to come into effect during both the planning and eventual execution of construction work—changes that ultimately were introduced into the national regulations in 2009. Focusing on the accident trends in the construction industry in the years immediately following these regulatory changes, we find that the new management roles and responsibilities had no apparent effect on the accident rates. Furthermore, we argue that there is a need to broaden the analysis regarding the implementation of the EU directive 92/57/EEC to also include nation-specific changes to health and safety management and policy. These qualitative studies should also include a dedicated focus on how changes to management structures and processes may affect the prevalence of occupational diseases specifically. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Occupational Health and Diseases in Built Environment)
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Review

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22 pages, 1573 KiB  
Review
Coping with Psychosocial Hazards: A Systematic Review of Young Construction Workers’ Practices and Their Determinants
by Samuel Frimpong, Riza Yosia Sunindijo, Cynthia Changxin Wang, Elijah Frimpong Boadu, Ayirebi Dansoh and Rasaki Kolawole Fagbenro
Buildings 2023, 13(1), 22; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13010022 - 22 Dec 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3240
Abstract
Young construction workers employ different practices to cope with psychosocial risks, most of which prevent them from achieving mental well-being. Managing this problem has been a challenge because research on the topic is fragmented. To contribute to addressing this problem, we systematically reviewed [...] Read more.
Young construction workers employ different practices to cope with psychosocial risks, most of which prevent them from achieving mental well-being. Managing this problem has been a challenge because research on the topic is fragmented. To contribute to addressing this problem, we systematically reviewed the literature on young construction workers’ coping practices using meta-aggregation guided by the PICo and PRISMA frameworks. We sought to identify young construction workers’ coping mechanisms and the factors that influence their choice of coping practices. A total of 345 studies were retrieved, and 24 studies published between 1993 and 2022 met the inclusion criteria. Using deductive thematic analysis, we identified 28 coping practices and categorized them into eight mechanisms and three domains. Eleven determinants of young construction workers’ coping choices emerged and were classified as personal and environmental factors. This review provides knowledge for building theory on young construction workers’ coping and stresses the need for further studies on the role of influencing factors such as age, individual resilience, coping experience, religion, and spirituality. Findings from this review can serve as an evidence base for researchers, occupational health practitioners, and policy-makers for developing interventions that can promote the uptake of beneficial coping practices by young construction workers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Occupational Health and Diseases in Built Environment)
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Graphical abstract

28 pages, 3171 KiB  
Review
The Impact of Visual Stimuli and Properties on Restorative Effect and Human Stress: A Literature Review
by Alireza Sedghikhanshir, Yimin Zhu, Melissa R. Beck and Amirhosein Jafari
Buildings 2022, 12(11), 1781; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12111781 - 24 Oct 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3986
Abstract
Restorative environments are known as places where human stress can be decreased through restoration of depleted psychological resources. Since the efficiency of natural environments in restoration is supported by the literature, designing a restorative built environment can be obtained by integrating natural objects [...] Read more.
Restorative environments are known as places where human stress can be decreased through restoration of depleted psychological resources. Since the efficiency of natural environments in restoration is supported by the literature, designing a restorative built environment can be obtained by integrating natural objects into built environments. However, various factors may lead to the failure of design intentions in real restorative environments such as visual stimuli and their properties. In addition, previous literature has widely used images and immersive virtual environments (IVEs) to deliver restorative environments in the design stage, and the impact of the delivery methods on visual properties needs to be considered. Therefore, the key to this study is to investigate the impact of visual stimuli and their properties on restoration along with the type of delivery method. To achieve this objective, the authors performed a literature review in two main steps. During the first step, the authors reviewed restoration and visual studies separately to understand the restoration and visual processes. Then, the second step of the review was conducted based on the results from the first step to review studies investigating the impact of different visual stimuli and properties on restoration. The literature review was conducted by combining scientometric analysis with a systematic review. In total, 1608 publications were retrieved from the Web of Science for scientometric analysis after applying search criteria. Then, the authors explored cluster reports generated by scientometric analysis to find publications for a systematic review based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. According to the results from a systematic review of 65 publications, the authors developed a restoration pathway and a visual processing framework for the first step, and a framework of visual stimuli, visual properties, and restoration for the second step. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Occupational Health and Diseases in Built Environment)
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