Safety and Health Factors Influencing Performance of Malaysian Low-cost Housing: Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) Approach

Abstract

Current sustainable building, design and construction practices in Malaysia are primarily aimed at minimizing environmental and resource impacts and improving the safety, health, and productivity of a building's final occupants. The primary objective of this study is to construct a valid and reliable instrument to quantitative measure the level of conformance by construction practitioners towards building safety and health performance of low-cost housing in Malaysia. The proposed research model was tested empirically using through a survey of 268 construction practitioners using partial least squares (PLS) and structural equation modeling (SEM) tool. Statistical results confirm that architecture, building services, external environment, management approaches and maintenance management positively influences safety and health performance of low-cost housing in Malaysia. The results, besides indicating the suitability of the PLS in statistical analysis, has also contributed to a better understanding of safety and health performance of low-cost housing in Malaysia. Findings are useful for organisations, market participants and practitioners to enhance Malaysian sustainable construction.