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CEM513 Study of School in Jubail

This document outlines a study conducted to measure construction productivity at a school construction site in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. The study used various metrics like work sampling, crew balance charts, and flow process charts to analyze productivity. Key activities like tiling were observed and recorded. Data analysis identified areas for improvement. Recommendations were made to enhance productivity and safety based on the overall assessment of the contractor's work.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
13 views27 pages

CEM513 Study of School in Jubail

This document outlines a study conducted to measure construction productivity at a school construction site in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. The study used various metrics like work sampling, crew balance charts, and flow process charts to analyze productivity. Key activities like tiling were observed and recorded. Data analysis identified areas for improvement. Recommendations were made to enhance productivity and safety based on the overall assessment of the contractor's work.

Uploaded by

mohamed elbokl
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 27

Table of Contents

Abstract............................................................................................................................................. 2
1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 2
2 Study methodology................................................................................................................... 3
3 The Selected Project................................................................................................................. 5
3.1 Project description ............................................................................................................... 5
3.2 Manpower ............................................................................................................................ 6
3.3 Project Duration ................................................................................................................... 7
4 Data gathering........................................................................................................................... 7
4.1 Activity selection .................................................................................................................. 8
4.2 Data Gathering..................................................................................................................... 9
4.2.1 Crew Balance Chart................................................................................................................................... 9
4.2.2 Five Minutes Rating ................................................................................................................................. 12

4.3 Flow Process Chart............................................................................................................ 13


4.3.1 Sampling (By productivity rating)............................................................................................................. 15

5 Work Improvement and assessment..................................................................................... 21


5.1 Data Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 21
5.2 Improvement and assessment ........................................................................................... 21
5.2.1 Crew balance Chart ................................................................................................................................. 21

5.3 Flow Process Chart............................................................................................................ 22


5.3.1 Overall Work Assessment ....................................................................................................................... 24

6 Safety assessment.................................................................................................................. 25
6.1 Housekeeping .................................................................................................................... 25
6.2 Structures .......................................................................................................................... 25
6.3 Signs and tools .................................................................................................................. 25
6.4 Welding and cutting ........................................................................................................... 26
6.5 Carnes ............................................................................................................................... 26
6.6 Fire prevention ................................................................................................................... 26
6.7 First Aids............................................................................................................................ 27
6.8 Miscellaneous .................................................................................................................... 27
7 Conclusion and recommendations ....................................................................................... 27
Construction Productivity Study Of School in Jubail

Abstract
Constructing any project requires a multi-specialization experience in various fields,
whether, cost controls, progress schedules and productivity measures. Productivity in
construction is as essential as any major determinant of construction process flow.
Recognition of perilous potential of loss in productivity is difficult to be obtained neither
by cost reports nor by schedules solely.
This study presents some of new trends in measuring construction productivity at a
specific construction site and develops ways for potential improvement, finally, it
concludes by assessing an overall contractor work with some recommendations.

1 Introduction
In general, productivity signifies the measurement of how well an individual entity
uses its resources to produce outputs from inputs. Moving beyond this general notion,
a glance at the productivity literature and its various applications quickly reveals that
there is neither a consensus as to the meaning nor a universally accepted measure of
productivity. Attempts at productivity measurement have focused on the individual, the
firm, selected industrial sectors, and even entire economies.
There are, however, a number of different productivity measures that are commonly
used. Choosing between them usually depends on the purpose of the productivity
measurement and the availability of data. In this study researchers used some of these
measures, as the work sampling, five-minute rating, crew balance diagram, and
process flow charts.
This study conducted is to a course of Construction Productivity in the Construction
and Engineering Management in the college of environmental engineering at the King
Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals. This report is entirely oriented to
scrutinize the construction productivity of a contractor and applying trends for the most
promising activates to be improved, considerably, care was taking during the field
study for the interference of work and intrusion in private contractor’s information and
data. A brief explanation on the aim of the study and how it was not to let the workforce
feel uncomfortable about their jobs or statuses came to be a helpful tool which
supported researchers throughout the study.
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Data were collected whether by field video recording, filed walk-thru and interviews
with members involved in the project. These approaches were further utilized in the
analysis of the work productivity and supported factual information during investigating
ways of improvement. The selection of activities was based on interviews made with
project members prior to engaging in the study, both, project management team and
field execution members.

2 Study methodology
Succinctly, the study presents a way in how to measure productivity of contractor’s
work in a specific construction site and develop ways for improving this productivity
according to several trends adopted which would make an easier portray of the
contractor’s status. Figure 1 shows the flowchart of the process including all trends, it
aimed to give an overall picture of the nature of work been done, and, a final image of
the overall assessment.

Fig.1 the flowchart of the process

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Step 1, the research team begun by surveying project members opinions, including,
project manager, site engineers, foremen and labors about the status of work and their
own degree of satisfaction on work done.

Step 2, Study team took up this activity assuming that logically as long as it is the only
major activity.

Step 3, Video-recording, study team squandered days on site to record the proposed
activities.

Step 4, Process Flow Chart and Flow Diagram, a trend used to depict onsite situation
showing available accesses, material flow and movement of work. After analyzing the
graph, it showed some of the problems and areas for possible improvements.

Step 5, Crew Balance Diagram, where it is another trend for depicting relationships of
onsite resource utilization, generally, between labors and equipment. Though, after
depiction a horizontal relationship showed another possible way of improvement.

Step 6, Work sampling, to measure the overall contractor’s performance another


activity been considered to avoid being judgmental in a specific area solely. Tiling in a
corridor of the main building was chosen as a work sampling application to measure
the time and the effectiveness of work been done.

Step 7, Work Improvement and assessment, after combining all results adopted from
previous steps a clear picture of the problem lead to be seen and a possible way of
improvement was also presented with Crew Balance Diagram and Process Flow Chart
with Flow Diagram.

Step 8, Safety assessment, the recognition of contractor’s safety program was done
using a check list which was answered by the contractor’s safety manager, and study
team – RC Engineer – evaluated it according to OSHA – Occupational Safety and
Health Administration - Programs.
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Step 9, Overall project assessment, after doing all previous steps a clear picture of the
work status was evident, and, an overall assessment of the contractor’s work was
developed to show the idea this study was trying to deliver.

3 The Selected Project

3.1 Project description

The project simply is Construction of three elementary schools. Each elementary

school has a gross building area of 4631 m², including a multipurpose hall of 573

m². The school has 25 typical class rooms. In addition it has general science labs.

Language class rooms, computer rooms, art class room, library, administrative

suite, health suite. More over, the girls’ elementary school has home economics

class room and buffet. The structure of the school building is composed of cast-in-

place reinforced concrete foundation, Grade beam, columns, roof beams and slab.

The building is provided with cast-in-site concrete roofing system. Multipurpose hall

has pre-cast concrete double T's roof. The school has a guard apartment at the

entrance and enclosed be decorative CMU boundary wall. In addition facilities such

as car parks, shaded area and playgrounds are also provided. Fig2 shows the

school front side view.

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Fig.2 Building front view

The contractor who constructed the project was Abdulhamid A. Al-Mutawa and
partners CO. in association with Tamimi CO. LTD.

3.2 Manpower
The key of any project is the manpower. The scope of the contract was
constructing of three sites, manpower were moving from one site to another
depending on the need of them onsite. The overall manpower of the project is
shown in the following table:

Site
S/N Description/ Category No. N0. No.
A. Non-Manual
1 Project Manager 1
2 Construction Manager 1
3 Project Engineer 1
4 Q.C Engineer 1
5 Planning Engineer 1
6 Civil Engineer 2
7 Electrical Engineer 1
8 Mechanical Engineer 1
9 Precurment Engineer 1
10 Safety Officer 1
11 Surveyor 1
12 Supervisor 6
Sub-Total 18
B. Manual Farouk Dareen Alhasa
1 Foreman 1 1 1
2 Mason 11 15 15

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3 Carpenter 3 4 3
4 Steel Fixer 5 4 4
5 Electrician 7 7 4
6 Plumper 3 4 2
7 Painter 4 2 2
8 Welder 1 0 0
9 Store Keeper 1 0 0
10 Time Keeper 1 0 0
11 Security 1 2 2
12 H.E Operator 1 1 1
13 Driver 2 1 0
14 Mechanic 1 0 0
15 Labor 65 36 31
Sub-Total 107 77 65
C. Cub-contractor 26 30 20

Total Manpower 343

Table.1 Manpower schedules in Jubail School project

3.3 Project Duration

The duration of the project was 88 weeks for the three schools. But, the one
located in Dareen district handled over to contractor after eight months of the
notice-to-proceed, because, the site was used by another company as temporary
offices for another contract. This delay resulted the contract to be extended eight
months further.
The following table shows the current situation of the three schools:

School Percentage Completed


Al-Farouk 90
Al-Hasa 85
Dareen 10

Table 2 Project Completion Percentage

4 Data gathering
For data gathering process, first, we have to select the activities that will be studied.
After the selection of the activities, we start gathering data, in this study the data

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collection was done by video recording process. After that, the recording activity will be
utilized for the data analysis.
The other way of collecting data will be sampling by walk through approach for all the
sites for ten days to assure covering all activities with different time.

4.1 Activity selection


Team study selected criteria for the selection of potential activities:

1 Repetitive.

2 Less complexity.

3 Manual and equipment execution

4 Reasons behind delay.

5 Potential saving.

The study team explained these criteria to the project team to get their replies.
Eventually, project members agreed that concrete work was the most critical work
onsite which requires more man-hours susceptible to late work and equipment over
consumption. The reasons behind it were explained due:

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1 More labors.

2 More delays.

3 Expensive.

The second activity was selected by different way. Study team went through the actual
construction plan to analyze the activities compatible with criteria.

4.2 Data Gathering


The data was collected by two ways. The first one was by video recording which was
for the slab on grad concreting and terrazzo tile finishing. The second way of collecting
data was sampling by using walk through approach which was for the three sites. The
gathered data will be shown in different format as will be explained in the next few
paragraphs.

4.2.1 Crew Balance Chart


The crew balance chart is an effective way to show the interrelationships
among the activities of all members of a selected crew along with the equipment
used. This study was to monitor operation of Pouring Concrete of slab on grad
on Dareen school and measure the effectiveness of each worker in the crew
and to show the interrelationships among with workers in this operation with the
trucks and pumping machine used.

The crew dedicated for this operation consists of 20 workers in addition to one
foreman, trucks and one pumping machine. The operation simply as follows:

1. The trucks will be registered once reaching the site location.


2. Slump test will be conducted to check the concrete property.
3. Switching to the pumping area and start pouring the concrete.
4. Then, pumping will be started.
5. Group1 was working for distributing concrete.
6. Group2 was working in leveling.
7. Group3 was watching.

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The next crew balance chart representing the present method. The vertical
bars are representing the total cycle time and the ordinate represents each
group of men among the crew that doing the same task and the utilized
equipments.( For more detail please see Video number 1)

Time
(Min.)
35:05 Positioning

33:40 Reg.& Test Waiting Not Working


Positioning
28:12
26:57 Working Not Working

Discharge Pumping
Working
Watching all all
21:47
Positioning And
20:01 Not Working
Reg.& Test Waiting Give The The
18:00 Positioning
17:17 Instruction s

Time Time
Discharge Pumping Working

10:20
Positioning
9:02 Waiting Not Working
Reg.& Test
5:20 Positioning
4:09
Discharge Pumping Working

Truck Pump Foreman Group1 Group2 Group3


Fig.3 Crew Balance Chart for Slab on Grad Concreting on Dareen Site

To clarify the picture of the overall operation, the next figure will show the total
of each activity with the average and the utilization percentage of each
equipment and group.

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Time
(Min.)

11:42

Reg.& Test Working Not Working

7:47 Waiting Not Working


Watching all all

And
Positioning
Give The The

5:25 Instruction s

Time Time

Working
Discharge Pumping

Truck Pump Foreman Group1 Group2 Group3

Fig.4 Crew Balance Chart of the Average Cycle for Slab on Grad Concrete

The following table will show the efficiency of each equipment and group.

Equipment & Group Percentage


Truck 46
Pump 46
Foreman 100
Group1 46
Group2 100
Group3 0

Table3 Efficiency of the Equipment and the Group

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4.2.2 Five Minutes Rating


The purpose of this technique is to create awareness of management of

delays in the job, measure the effectiveness of a crew and to indicate where

more through detailed observations or planning could result in savings.

Observations are not made at the instant but rather the craftsman is observed

for a period of approximately 40 seconds to several minutes and observations

are taken at interval of time "One minute is our study".

The observed crew consists of four workers performing filling tiles gapes .

Results obtained are showing in table # 4.

Case1: Concrete Tiles Placement (filling the gapes of the tile)

Site: Al-Farouk Site

Job Description:

This job is very simple, the labor mixing gypsum with water. After that, they

flash the mixture over the tiles and start to distribute it over the tiles to fill the

gapes between the tiles.

TIME WORKER # 1 WORKER # 2 WORKER # 3 WORKER # 4


14:11 √ √ √ √
14:12 X √ √ √
14:13 √ X √ √
14:14 X √ X √
14:15 X √ √ √
Table 4: Observation Results for Case No 1.

Data Analysis:

Total number of observations = 20

Number of effective work = 15

Percentage of effectiveness = 15/20

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= 75%

Case2: Pouring Concrete of Slab on Grad

Date:

Job Description: Observation was conducted for a crew consists of ten

workers including their foreman. Workers are performing masonry work after

pouring concrete. Observation results are showing in table # 5.

TIME FORMAN WKR WKR WKR WKR WKR WKR WKR WKR WKR
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9
13:15 √ √ X √ √ X X √ X X
13:16 √ X √ √ X √ X X √ √
13:17 √ X X √ X √ √ √ X √
13:18 X X √ √ √ X √ X X X
13:19 √ √ √ √ √ √ X √ X √
Table 5: Observation Results for Case No 2.

Data Analysis:

Total number of observations = 50

Number of effective work = 29

Percentage of effectiveness = 29/50 = 58%

4.3 Flow Process Chart

Flow process chart is a way that makes a relation between the workers, materials, and
the equipments. It shows the complete operation step by step from the beginning of the
activity till the completion of activity. The processes that indicated in this chart are:
1- Transportation which means the movement of material, worker, or equipments.
2- Operation which means the activity to be done by the worker to achieve the final
product of the activity.
3- Storage which means the permanent storage.
4- Inspection that done for equality or any other inspection.
By making the right description of any operation with above process we will have a
clear picture about what is the activity and how can we improve it.
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For our case we used the slab on grad operation to draw the flow process chart ( For
more detail please see video 1)
Flow Process Chart Man Equipment Type
Chart no. 1 Sheet no. 1 Date :
Project: Construction of Three Schools Activity Present Proposed Saving
in Jubail Industrial City Operation 2
Transportation 2
Method: Present Delay
Workers: 20 Inspection 1
Observers: Ghazwi, Abdulraouf Storage
Distance
Time
Description Qty. Dis. Time(min) Symbol Remarks

The Truck Discharge concrete to 1 5:25 For the


the pump truck concrete Truck
The Truck move to be ready of 1 00:35
positioning
Check the slump test 1 3:55

The truck move to the pump 1 1:47


position
The Truck Discharge concrete to 1 5:25
the pump truck

Pump truck pumping the 1 5:25 For the


concrete pump
Pump truck is waiting 1 6:17

Pump truck is pumping the 1 5:25


concrete

Total 11:42 4 4 1 1
Table 6 Flow process table of present operation (slab on grade concreting)

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Fig 5: Flow Process Diagram (actual)

4.3.1 Sampling (By productivity rating)

The data of this part was collected during ten days. The observation covered all
three sites and during different time of the day i.e ( mooring till the end of the day).
The sample size was 400 observations to have 5% error and 95% confident level.
The observations divided to three divisions:
1- Effective work which add value directly to the basic work such as fixing door.
2- Essential contribution which doesn’t add value to the basic work but it is
important to do the basic work such as handling material
3- Ineffective work which doesn’t add any value to the basic work and doesn’t
needed to complete the basic work such as rest.
The following table shows the result of the sampling process.

Ser Effective Essential Ineffective Ser Effective Essential Ineffective


1 √ 201 √
2 √ 202 √
3 √ 203 √
4 √ 204 √
5 √ 205 √
6 √ 206 √
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7 √ 207 √
8 √ 208 √
9 √ 209 √
10 √ 210 √
11 √ 211 √
12 √ 212 √
13 √ 213 √
14 √ 214 √
15 √ 215 √
16 √ 216 √
17 √ 217 √
18 √ 218 √
19 √ 219 √
20 √ 220 √
21 √ 221 √
22 √ 222 √
23 √ √ 223 √
24 √ 224 √
25 √ 225 √
26 √ 226 √
27 √ 227 √
28 √ 228 √
29 √ 229 √
30 √ 230 √
31 √ 231 √
32 √ 232 √
33 √ 233 √
34 √ 234 √
35 √ 235 √
36 √ 236 √
37 √ 237 √
38 √ 238 √
39 √ 239 √
40 √ 240 √
41 √ 241 √
42 √ 242 √
43 √ 243 √
44 √ 244 √
45 √ 245 √
46 √ 246 √
47 √ 247 √
48 √ 248 √
49 √ 249 √
50 √ 250 √
51 √ 251 √
52 √ 252 √
53 √ 253 √

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54 √ 254 √
55 √ 255 √
56 √ 256 √
57 √ 257 √
58 √ 258 √
59 √ 259 √
60 √ 260 √
61 √ 261 √
62 √ 262 √
63 √ 263 √
64 √ 264 √
65 √ 265 √
66 √ 266 √
67 √ 267 √
68 √ 268 √
69 √ 269 √
70 √ 270 √
71 √ 271 √
72 √ 272 √
73 √ 273 √
74 √ 274 √
75 √ 275 √
76 √ 276 √
77 √ 277 √
78 √ 278 √
79 √ 279 √
80 √ 280 √
81 √ 281 √
82 √ 282 √
83 √ 283 √
84 √ 284 √
85 √ 285 √
86 √ 286 √
87 √ 287 √
88 √ 288 √
89 √ 289 √
90 √ 290 √
91 √ 291 √
92 √ 292 √
93 √ 293 √
94 √ 294 √
95 √ 295 √
96 √ 296 √
97 √ 297 √
98 √ 298
99 √ 299 √
100 √ 300 √

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101 √ 301 √
102 √ 302 √
103 √ 303 √
104 √ 304 √
105 √ 305 √
106 √ 306 √
107 √ 307 √
108 √ 308 √
109 √ 309 √
110 √ 310 √
111 √ 311 √
112 √ 312 √
113 √ 313 √
114 √ 314 √
115 √ 315 √
116 √ 316 √
117 √ 317 √
118 √ 318 √
119 √ 319 √
120 √ 320 √
121 √ 321 √
122 √ 322 √
123 √ 323 √
124 √ 324 √
125 √ 325 √
126 √ 326 √
127 √ 327 √
128 √ 328 √
129 √ 329 √
130 √ 330 √
131 √ 331 √
132 √ 332 √
133 √ 333 √
134 √ 334 √
135 √ 335 √
136 √ 336 √
137 √ 337 √
138 √ 338 √
139 √ 339 √
140 √ 340 √
141 √ 341 √
142 √ 342 √
143 √ 343 √
144 √ 344 √
145 √ 345 √
146 √ 346 √
147 √ 347 √

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148 √ 348 √
149 √ 349 √
150 √ 350 √
151 √ 351 √
152 √ 352 √
153 √ 353 √
154 √ 354 √
155 √ 355 √
156 √ 356 √
157 √ 357 √
158 √ 358 √
159 √ 359 √
160 √ 360 √
161 √ 361 √
162 √ 362 √
163 √ 363 √
164 √ 364 √
165 √ 365 √
166 √ 366 √
167 √ 367 √
168 √ 368 √
169 √ 369 √
170 √ 370 √
171 √ 371 √
172 √ 372 √
173 √ 373 √
174 √ 374 √
175 √ 375 √
176 √ 376 √
177 √ 377 √
178 √ 378 √
179 √ 379 √
180 √ 380 √
181 √ 381 √
182 √ 382 √
183 √ 383 √
184 √ 384 √
185 √ 385 √
186 √ 386 √
187 √ 387 √
188 √ 388 √
189 √ 389 √
190 √ 390 √
191 √ 391 √
192 √ 392 √
193 √ 393 √
194 √ 394 √

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195 √ 395 √
196 √ 396 √
197 √ 397 √
198 √ 398 √
199 √ √ 399 √
200 √ 400 √

Table 6: Observation sampling

The result of the sampling was, that, 146 workers was engaged in an effective work,
73 were helping in a contributory effective and 181 were to be found ineffective.

The labor utilization factor = Effective work + .25 X essential contribution work X 100
Total Observations

= 146 X .25 (73)


X 100 = 41%
400
Effective work + essential contribution work
Field rating index = + 10 = .6475
Total Observations
Field rating index= 64.75 %

18%
37% Effective
Ineffective
Cont. Effective
45%

Figure 6. A pie chart showing status of workers found in the study

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5 Work Improvement and assessment


5.1 Data Analysis
The analysis of the data was done by watching the video tape for several times at
different speeds, also, integrating the charts of crew balance and flow process with it to
have a clear illustration of the work.

5.2 Improvement and assessment


5.2.1 Crew balance Chart
Looking in precise to the present crew balance chart and the provided video,

one can notice the followings:

No Observations Recommendation

1 The number of workers was high It is recommended to reduce the

and it was clear that most of them number of workers to 10 workers

were not working effectively; some including the foreman instead of 20

of them were doing nothing where workers.

others were sleeping.

2 Trucks spent long periods of time Trucks were ordered in straight line

for registration and performing and both registration and slump test

slump tests before switching for were conducted together at the same

concrete pouring. time while trucks were waiting. Then,

engagement to pour concrete.

Table 7 The improvement

The following chart was the result of implementation of our recommendations.

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Time
(Min.)
35:20

Discharge Pumping Working

26:47 Working

Positioning Waiting Not Working


Watching all
23:46
And
Pumping
Give Working The
Discharge
16:50 Instruction s

Time
Positioning Waiting
Not Working

13:04
Discharge

Pumping Working

2:34
Positioning Waiting Not Working

Truck Pump Foreman Group1 Group2


Fig.7 Improved of Crow Balance Chart

The following table will show the efficiency of each equipment and group.
Equipment & Group Percentage
Truck 81
Pump 81
Foreman 100
Group1 81
Group2 100

Table 8. Efficiency of the Equipment and the Group

5.3 Flow Process Chart


For the same operation we applied the flow process chart with the same
recommendations. The process become as the next table

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Flow Process Chart Man Equipment


Type
Chart no. 1 Sheet no. 1 Date :
Project: Construction of Three Activity Present Proposed Saving
Schools in Jubail Industrial City Operation 2
Transportation 1
Method: Improved Delay
Workers: 20 Inspection
Observers: Ghazwi, Abdulraouf Storage
Distance
Time
Description Qty. Dis. Time(min) Symbol Remarks

The Truck Discharge 1 8:39 For the


concrete to the pump truck concrete
Truck
The Truck move to be ready 1 3:01
of positioning
Check the slump test 1 8:39

Pump truck pumping the 1 8:39 For the


concrete pump
Pump truck is waiting 1 3:01

Pump truck is pumping the 1 8:39


concrete

Total 11:40 4 4 1 1
Table 9 Flow Process of improved operation

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Figure 8. Flow Process Chart ( improved)

5.3.1 Overall Work Assessment


The following points are the main findings of the team during this study:
1- It was clear to see over manning in both concrete work, and tile installation.
2- Foremen were not enough to monitor labors where there an average of 100
labors/ foreman.
3- There was no good plan for testing concrete which cause a delay of the truck.
4- There was no plan for concrete truck parking which may reduce the time of
truck positioning.
5- The labors efficiency is little low due to overtime ( 7:00 AM to 10:00PM with
two hours rest only)
6- The project main office was in Al-Farouk site which means high productivity on
this site where the other site was less productive due to lack of monitoring.

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Construction Productivity Study Of School in Jubail

6 Safety assessment

The assessment of the safety in the project were done by an interview made with the
on-site safety manager, answers were been taking and then been manipulated by the
study team based on OSHA standards applied by RC Safety Department.

6.1 Housekeeping
The housekeeping was generally accepted by the contractor’s safety manager,
where, the study team implemented that housekeeping was not done properly
and periodic cleaning wasn’t acceptable, although, passageways and walkways
were to be considered free of hazardous tripping debris at a reasonable
illumination level. Organization of site was considered before the construction of
the project starts, where, material storage area, area for disposals and separated
hazardous materials area was provided.

6.2 Structures
One of the major problems affecting construction safety is that it is dependent
on temporary structures which need proper design and installation to prevent
accidents within the project to occur. Willingly, project safety manager applied the
basic prevention techniques and provided necessary materials and tools to
prevent accidents from temporary structures to occur, scaffolds and railings, safe
ladders, platforms, hooks and belts, walkways and gates. Even though, a lack of
personal protective equipment was noticeable to all workers and a lack of proper
scaffold installation was sometimes observed.

6.3 Signs and tools


To alert users/workers to the danger of materials or positions it is a habit in any
project to provide tapes, tags and signs to show the level of danger the
user/worker is working around. The site was equipped with some of the essential
signs and tags; unfortunately, it was not as much as required contractor could put

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Construction Productivity Study Of School in Jubail

more time in evaluating them. Some areas were hazardous, such as, electrical
conduits and conductors.
Certainly, tools in any construction project have a continuous daily use,
condition and storage and they are as much critical as any construction
equipment, one of the essential determinants of the quality of work is the tool the
work is performed with. Onsite tools were merely convenient to study team and its
use, condition and storage to some degree forgotten.

6.4 Welding and cutting


Welding is a risky activity necessary when joining steel bars together and have
a negative effect among workers due to the sparks it creates during the welding
process. Generally, onsite welding and cutting operations were done properly
and in a safe manner.

6.5 Carnes
The difficulty of erecting cranes, its dangerous positions, the weight it carries
and the height of it makes as one of the most dangerous equipment in
construction processes. The management realized that as much as they needed
the crane onsite as much as they have to maintain it in a safe manner. Onsite
facts, such as, power lines location, position of crane and behavior of people
around were considerably good. Periodical maintenance and assurance of
crane performance were seldom done to keep it working as safe as possible.

6.6 Fire prevention


The enemy of building construction and the most difficult vulnerability to be
rectified is the case of fire. Risky actions, like location of fuel tanks, electric
pumps grounding and location heating devices were suitable and properly
located, but, danger alerts coming from flammables, smoking or dangerous
liquids were not prevented onsite. Though, fire extinguishers were not
identifiably located were even maintained.

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Construction Productivity Study Of School in Jubail

6.7 First Aids


In case of hazard a well First aid system is required, signs showing
emergency numbers and site male-nurse is necessarily required. And contractor
did provide an equipped male-nurse but didn’t provide signs showing
emergency numbers to workers.

6.8 Miscellaneous
Other small activities to prevent hazards or accidents is as much as
important as previous points are; personal protective equipment, proper
ventilation and lighting, drinking water and rest rooms were provided and
maintained daily onsite

7 Conclusion and recommendations


From previous headings it is obvious that the contractor lacked an external eye to
see his progress, where, a huge difference could have been engaged in their work if
they have realized the situation.
The study team experienced in this example an actual application of new trends in
construction productivity, none of the less, it was found out that it wouldn’t be so hard
to adopt these trends and apply it in any project. Hereby, the team suggested some
recommendations contractor may apply to enhance his work:
¾ Always think about how to be more engaged into productive work
¾ Concentrate on repetitive high cost activities
¾ Avoid over manning at congested areas
¾ Draw a diagram showing each phase and activity
¾ Measure productivity onsite and compare it with cost reports and progress
schedules
¾ Provide a good working environment for workers i.e. consider, lighting,
noise and heat
¾ Think how to be in a safe position avoid risky activities
¾ Always think how to motivate your people and not let them feel alienated

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