Driving criteria for environmental performance assessment in construction

Abstract

An environmental management system is suggested for promoting effective environmental protection. The environmental performance assessment is a critical tool in an environmental management system for checking, reviewing, monitoring and evaluating the environmental performance of construction organisations. This paper identifies the most significant/dominant environmental performance assessment criterion/criteria developed by the authors using novel spectral and bispectral methods for improving the environmental performance of construction organisations. It is shown that frequency of auditing activities is the most significant/dominant environmental performance assessment criterion. In addition, there are strong correlations among the frequency of auditing activities and pre-auditing planning, monitoring of energy usage, quality of maintenance and the use of water sprays for minimising airborne dust particles. Using this information, effective ways to improve environmental performance and prevent further damage to the environment can be devised for organisations in the construction industry.