Site Supervisors Research Articles

Key training practice indicators for optimal site supervisors’ utilisation in construction firms

PurposeThe skills and knowledge of site supervisors play an important role in the outcome of construction projects. Evidence gleaned from the literature indicates that poor performance of construction projects remains a central concern for stakeholders in the construction sector. This suggests that the site supervisor’s training is important in the construction project outcomes. Various training programmes are available for site supervisors, yet construction firms are not satisfied with them. The purpose of this study is to determine the key training practice indicators for optimal site supervisor’s usage in construction firms.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts a cross-sectional survey research design. In the approach, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used to determine the key training practice indicators for site supervisors. Data were collected from 218 construction site supervisors using a questionnaire.FindingsFindings show that training practices are a multidimensional concept consisting of training needs assessment, training delivery, training evaluation and transfer. From the 50 training practice variables, this study establishes 12 key training practice indicators for training site supervisors in construction firms.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research should adopt a longitudinal survey for examining training practices in construction firms.Practical implicationsThe identified key training indicators can inform the policies and practices used in the training of site supervisors.Originality/valueThis study contributes to knowledge by establishing 12 significant training practice indicators for optimal site supervisors’ usage in construction firms.

Trauma Systems Therapy for Refugees (TST-R) in a multi-ethnic refugee population in Maine, USA: early findings from a programme evaluation project with children and adolescents

BackgroundTrauma Systems Therapy for Refugees (TST-R) is a multi-tiered, behavioural health intervention that directly targets barriers to care for refugee children and families. Informed by a population-based approach, TST-R encompasses three levels of practice (individual/family, community, and systems), aiming to address not only individual behaviour, but also social or structural factors, or both, that contribute to distress. Services are delivered by a clinician and a cultural broker (a community member who shares the client's ethnic background) who work in partnership to provide psychoeducation on mental health, reduce acculturative stress, enhance the safety and stability of the child's social environment, and improve the child's regulatory capacities. Here, we describe components of TST-R and report early findings from an ongoing, multi-site programme evaluation. MethodsTST-R services began in Lewiston, ME, USA, in September, 2016; since then, two additional TST-R programmes have started in neighbouring communities (Biddeford in September, 2017, and Portland in September, 2018). These three communities have high proportions of refugees from various countries of origin. Each TST-R programme is comprised of clinicians, cultural brokers, and site supervisors; these teams received an initial TST-R training followed by subsequent consultation to ensure model fidelity. We used the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ) to measure the effect of clinical services on clients' emotional and behavioural symptoms and functioning over time (the parent-report version of the SDQ was used if the child was aged 10 years or younger). This measure was administered at intake and repeated at 6-month intervals until discharge. The impact of cultural brokering on treatment outcomes was also assessed, as cultural brokers were not available on the TST-R team for every ethnic group served by TST-R programming. FindingsBetween April 1, 2017, and April 1, 2020, 103 clients, or parents of clients, completed the SDQ at intake; 44 clients, 20 clients, 10 clients, and 5 clients completed the measure at the 6-month, 12-month, 18-month, and 24-month timepoints, respectively. Clients were aged 3–19 years (median 11 years), mostly male (n=63, 64%), and from 17 different countries, with most refugee clients born in the Democratic Republic of Congo (n=20, 20%) or Somalia (n=10, 10%). When cultural brokers were included in treatment, there was a marked decrease in clients' self-reported emotional and behavioural problems 6 months into service delivery (intake M=0·56; 6 months M=0·46); this decrease was not evident for refugee clients whose mental health services were supported instead through the use of the language line, an interpreter, or clinician intervention alone. Mixed design ANOVA showed a significant interaction effect between timepoint (intake and 6-months) and the inclusion of cultural brokering services in treatment: F(1,42)=7·42, p=0·009, r=0·39. InterpretationOur findings underscore TST-R's potential as a promising intervention for refugee children and adolescents experiencing both acculturative hassles and traumatic stress. In addition, results support the inclusion of cultural brokers into outpatient treatment teams as a strategy for providing linguistically appropriate, culturally responsive mental health services to multi-ethnic, refugee populations. FundingSubstance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, US Department of Health & Human Services

Preventing Collaborative Black Hole Attack in IoT Construction Using a CBHA–AODV Routing Protocol

Workers or labors who are working in construction sites are prone to severe risks such as death, injuries happened due to accidents, falls and stuck in between objects. Internet of things (IoT) based sensors can be utilized to monitor the behavior of workers when they are in danger zones/areas. To safeguard site workers, supervisors or site managers should monitor and alert them when they are in danger. Data will be routed from site worker to supervisor, during this routing process data is subjected to routing attacks such as black hole attack and so on, due to wireless transmission. This article addresses the problem of black hole attack that happens during the wireless transmission between nodes and the base station (BS) of IoT-based civil construction. The proposed solution Collaborative Black Hole Attack – Ad Hoc On-Demand Distance Vector routing protocol (CBHA-AODV) prevents the collaborative black hole attack by 87.72%.

Field-Based Counseling Supervisors' Perceptions of Needs and Barriers in Providing Clinical Supervision

PurposeSupervision plays a critical role in the development of rehabilitation counselors. Research and accreditation standards have long called for the appropriate training of rehabilitation counseling supervisors but have offered little in the way of topical suggestions for such trainings.MethodsThe present study used the Delphi method. A panel of 33 subject matter experts participated in three rounds of data collection to establish supervision topics that would be both beneficial and of a high priority to site supervisors working with counselor education programs.FindingsResults were grouped according to high, moderate, and low priority with participants. Items identified by participants were grouped into one of six themes: supervision resources, supervision activities, supports provided by the institution, and aspects of supervision broken down according to the Tripartite Model of Supervision proposed by Schultz (2008).ConclusionsFindings can help educators consider the type of supervision training and delivery method most appropriate for their site supervisors.

An Expert System to Rate Construction Site Based on Safety

The number of accidents that occur in construction sites are increasing day by day. Due to that, the damages and fatality rate due to construction site failures are alarming. During construction, many accidents may occur in the site. It’s the responsibility of site supervisors and Engineers to control the accidents during construction. An attempt has been made to analyse the different causes for accidents in a construction site based upon the surveys conducted at different construction sites located in Rajiv Gandhi salai, Chennai. Based upon the survey analysis, a smart system has been developed to categorize the construction of safety site based upon safety conditions adopted. This research also brings into light many effects due to improper safety management in the construction site. The research paper concludes by providing certain recommendations and strategies to all construction sites for improving their safety performance, which thereby reduces the number of accidents.

The Benefits of Criminal Justice Internships at a Historically Black University: An Analysis of Site Supervisors’ Evaluations of Interns’ Professional Development

There are numerous studies on the benefits of internships in the extant literature, although many of these studies focused on the views of students and professors/instructors. These studies were also conducted mainly in predominantly White institutions. The present study makes an important contribution to the literature by being the first to examine site supervisors’ evaluations of criminal justice interns at a historically Black university (HBCU). It is also one of the first studies to examine the role of internships in professional development at an HBCU. We used ordinary least-squares (OLS) regression to examine data collected between 2015 and 2018 (with an overall sample size of 352), and found that good communication with clients, a professional appearance, and punctuality predicted interns’ professional development. Contrary to expectations, gender and internship length did not predict professional development. The implications of our findings for student professional development and benefits of internships, especially at HBCUs, are discussed.

The Soft Skill Elements in an On-Job Training (OJT) (Organisation) Assessment Rubric for Construction Technology Students in Malaysian Vocational Colleges

During on-Job Training (OJT), students are assessed by using the OJT (Organisation) assessment rubric. However, soft skill elements in the current assessment rubric are quite general in assessing students according to the job scope for Diploma in Construction Technology. The items in the current assessment rubric are not specific to assess soft skills of site supervisors which are important in the construction industry. Therefore, this study aims to identify the soft skill elements for OJT (Organisation) assessment rubric for Construction Technology students. The research design for this study is a survey that was carried out quantitatively through questionnaires involving contractors of G4 to G7 as the population of this study and administered to 180 contractors by using simple random sampling. After document analysis and expert validation process, five items were selected to be the constructs of soft skills and 21 items were chosen to be the elements for soft skills. From the Rasch Model analysis which referred to the Infit and Outfit values, one item was discarded which was Item C05 because it showed out-of-range values for both the Mean Square Infit and Outfit as well as the Z Standard value for Infit and Outfit. This finding was validated by experts. As a result, only 20 elements were accepted to be elements of the OJT (Organisation) assessment rubric. However, according to the item polarity analysis, all 21 elements were accepted to be elements in the OJT (Organisation) assessment rubric. The data analysis also indicated that both item and person reliability were good. The five constructs identified from this study were communication skill, critical thinking and problem-solving skill, teamwork, ethics and professional moral and leadership skill. In conclusion, this study was able to identify specific soft skills for site supervisors which could help to solve the problem of the general assessment elements in the current OJT rubric. Students may use these elements as a reference for job scope during OJT. Therefore, it is suggested to conduct a study for determining the descriptors for the soft skill elements.

A brief experiential school counseling site supervisor training approach

ABSTRACTSchool counseling site supervisors report several challenges in obtaining the amount of supervision training they desire. In this article, we propose a brief supervision training approach, grounded in Experiential Learning Theory, designed to overcome time and resource constraints identified in the school counseling supervision literature. This training approach capitalizes on existing knowledge and skills while building ethical, multicultural, and relational competence in supervision. A rationale for the use of this training method, a review of the research-informed content, a description of three school-based supervision case studies, and pilot study data are provided along with recommendations for implementing the training in professional development contexts.

Application of remote video monitoring system in transmission line construction

XX power supply company creatively uses the remote video monitoring system in the transmission line for real-time online monitoring. Through the remote wireless video monitoring system, construction site supervisors carry portable handheld terminals to realize real-time monitoring of the whole process of the construction line and play an auxiliary role in project management.

Making room for leadership and advocacy in site supervision

ABSTRACT Using grounded theory analysis, we examined the leadership and advocacy practices of seven site supervisors in clinical mental health settings. We explored how participants make room for leadership and advocacy for themselves and counselor trainees, despite their complex and busy schedules. Five overarching themes emerged that supported a theory grounded in the data. The five themes were: (a) modeling, (b) involving, (c) engaging, (d) empowering, and (e) pushing. Implications and specific suggestions for site supervisors and counselor education programs are provided.

The negotiation of head start teachers’ beliefs in a transborder community

Using a cultural communities approach as our guide, the purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the beliefs of early childhood educators in a transborder community located along the U.S./Mexico border and known for its large Latino population. Participants were 77 Head Start associate teachers, teachers, site supervisors, and other education staff. The majority were Latina (83%) and bilingual in both Spanish and English (70%). The Teacher Beliefs Q-Sort was used to examine participants’ beliefs regarding discipline and behavior management, teaching practices, and children. Factor analyses suggested patterns of teacher beliefs that reflected both collectivist and individualistic orientations to teaching and learning. Latina educators scored significantly higher on factors that appeared consistent with a collectivist orientation and seemed to reflect the cultural value of raising children to be bien educado. Participants’ beliefs were also compared with those of faculty exemplars, and participants who prioritized items in way similar to the experts tended to be more educated and were more likely to be non-Latina. Findings point to the need to examine the intersection of education level, ethnicity, and recommended practice and how teachers negotiate these beliefs in transborder settings.

Effectiveness of Practicum Supervision as Perceived by Hispanic Undergraduate Rehabilitation Services Students

Practica are integral to the culmination of systematic learning in higher education, particularly in fields such as health sciences and human services. For undergraduate rehabilitation services students, these placements typically mark the first-time students apply textbook knowledge to real life situations. Therefore, effective site supervision is an important part of the undergraduate field experience. The purpose of the present study was to examine the perceived effectiveness of undergraduate rehabilitation services practicum site supervision. The sample consisted of 154 Hispanic undergraduate rehabilitation services students. The findings show that students were satisfied with the supervision they received. Students also rated the competency of their site supervisors to provide effective supervision as high. Suggestions for future research, and implications for rehabilitation services educators and site supervisors are discussed.

An investigation on supervisor’s ability and competency to conduct construction site health and safety induction training in Nigeria

Improving Health and Safety (H&S) performance in the construction industry is dependent on the prevailing culture of an organization. Culture development is also dependent in part on communication between all the parties within an organization. In the construction organization, critical communication occurs between top management and the workers mediated by the supervisors. Consequently, initiatives to develop the right H&S culture may fail if the construction supervisor competencies are overlooked. One of the construction supervisor competencies is the ability to conduct H&S induction training to workers. Induction training communicates the organization’s expectations on H&S. This paper reports on a study of supervisor’s H&S competency and ability to effectively conduct site H&S induction training to workers. Data was collected through interviews and questionnaires with site supervisors in building and civil engineering construction companies from the South-South Geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Findings revealed inadequate training, lack of management commitment and a limited level of awareness or use of audio/visual communication aids by contracting firms in Nigeria. The use of modern technologies and multilingual skills among supervisors aid effective site H&S induction training and would lead to a positive H&S culture. It is the view of the researchers that supervisor competency is critical to site H&S record and culture improvement.

Capturing and Understanding Workers’ Activities in Far‐Field Surveillance Videos with Deep Action Recognition and Bayesian Nonparametric Learning

AbstractRecording workers’ activities is an important, but burdensome, management task for site supervisors. The last decade has seen a growing trend toward vision‐based activity recognition. However, recognizing workers’ activities in far‐field surveillance videos is understudied. This study proposes a hierarchical statistical method for recognizing workers’ activities in far‐field surveillance videos. The method consists of two steps. First, a deep action recognition method was used to recognize workers’ actions, and a new fusion strategy was proposed to consider the characteristics of far‐field surveillance videos. The deep action recognition method with the new fusion strategy has achieved the comparable performance (0.84 average accuracy) on the far‐field surveillance data set in contrast to the original method on the public data sets. Second, a Bayesian nonparametric hidden semi‐Markov model was innovatively used to model and infer workers’ activities based on action sequences. The latent states of the fitted Bayesian model captured workers’ activities in terms of state duration distributions and state transition distributions, which are indispensable for understanding workers’ time allocation. It has been preliminarily illustrated that the activity information learned by the Bayesian model possesses the potential to implement objective work sampling, personal physical fatigue monitoring, trade‐level health risk assessment, and process‐based quality control. Also, the limitations of this study are discussed.

Improving Labor Productivity in Iskandar Malaysia: Insights from Site Supervisors

Improving Labor Productivity in Iskandar Malaysia: Insights from Site Supervisors

Human resource factors associated with workplace safety and health education of small manufacturing businesses in Korea

Objectives: Human resources (HR) are essential indicators of safety and health (SH) status, and HR can be key sources of workplace safety management such as safety and health education at work (SHEW). This study analyzed significant HR factors associated with SHEW of small manufacturing businesses in Korea. Methods: The secondary data of the 2012 Korea Occupational Safety and Health Trend Survey were used to achieve this research purpose. A total of 2,089 supervisors or managers employed in the small manufacturing businesses completed the interview survey. Survey businesses were selected by multiple stratified sampling method based on industry code, business size, and region in Korea. The survey included workplace characteristics of HR and SHEW. Results: SHEW was significantly related to business size, occupational injury incidence in the previous year, foreign and elderly worker employment, presence of site supervisors, and presence of SH committees (p <.05). SHEW for office workers, non-office workers, and newcomers was associated with business size, presence of site supervisors, and presence of SH committees in logistic regression analysis (p <.001). Businesses with 30-49 workers conducted SHEW 3.64 times more than did businesses with 5 to fewer than 10 workers. The companies that had occupational injuries in the previous year conducted SHEW 1.68 times more than the others. The businesses that had site supervisors and committees conducted SHEW 2.30 and 2.18 times more, respectively, than others. Conclusions: Site supervisors and SH committees were significant HR factors that improved SHEW in small manufacturing businesses.

Rethinking Service-Learning: Bridging the Gap Between Academic and Student Affairs

Although the service-learning literature has clearly demonstrated the importance of reflection in connecting service to learning, this is often a difficult task for faculty. As colleges and universities continue to promote civic engagement through a wide array of service activities, in the classroom, and increasingly through co-curricular projects, greater emphasis needs to be placed on reflecting well. This study evaluated changes in perceptions of poverty by undergraduate students engaged in a co-curricular service project. Poverty was selected as one indicator for understanding concepts of justice. Pre- and post-project surveys were conducted by the student participants, who were members of an on-campus student organization. In addition, guided discussion-based reflection was facilitated by a faculty adviser as well as through interactions with patrons and site supervisors during the project. The findings revealed changes in student attitudes regarding structural issues that promote poverty. As a result, the study concluded that an expanded definition of service-learning which includes co-curricular service cannot be overlooked as an important outlet for student learning and the development of civically engaged citizens.

Empirical study of effectiveness of construction waste minimization in Bauchi state

This paper critically investigates and analysed the to determine the level of waste minimization practices in Bauchi State, Nigeria. In practice, there has been a tremendous increase in building construction which led to the generation of waste at different stages of construction. The structure of Nigerian construction industry is complex having different types of clients and contractors. This consist of public and private clients, main contractors and sub-contractors, indigenous and foreign companies, low technology firms and sophisticated specialists, builders and civil engineers and a whole range of construction professionals connected within the industry. The growing popularity of Public Private Partnership (PPPs) also means more international construction firms are likely to come into the Nigerian construction industry. The materials and methods was that questionnaire design was undertaken to determine the opinion of contractors on waste minimization practices in the study area. The sample group identified comprises project managers, project engineers, quantity surveyors, site supervisors and the method of distribution and collection of the questionnaire survey is through google by Survey Monkey. The questionnaire was constructed using Likert scale. The respondents were asked to rank on a scale of 1-5 waste minimization strategies on construction sites. The population of this research were construction firms in Bauchi participating on different types of construction projects. In this research, use of census is administered. A total number of 77 construction firms with valid registration in Nigeria. The result of the survey on the level of waste minimization practices in Bauchi construction industry. Reuse on site with the highest mean of 3.86 is in the high category and ranked first. The reuse on site is the most frequent practice on construction site. The second ranked mean is 3.57 also in the High category which represent the proportion of respondents that minimize waste at the source of origin. The finding of the research study shows that the study emphasized the Reuse is the most acceptable way of waste minimization in construction site in the study area. From the findings of this research study, its recommended that the contraction firms should have waste management plan regardless of its size as this will reduce both physical and non-physical waste and increase the profit

An Evaluation of a Diploma in English Programme: Students' Performance in Industrial Training

&lt;p&gt;Programme evaluation is an essential part of any specific teaching and learning programme. The results of the evaluation, among others, would inform the relevance of the courses offered to the students in relation to their future in the working world This research study was an evaluation conducted to determine the extent to which the structure of a Diploma in English programme prepares students for the working world as well as the extent to which the graduates produced meet the requirements of the industry. The evaluation was carried out by investigating the performance of 69 students undergoing their industrial training. The data were collected through surveys and interviews. In addition to the students, 35 site supervisors were also surveyed and interviewed. The results revealed that the Diploma in English students were prepared for the working world and they had the qualities required by the industry. The results of the study also highlighted some issues on the additional courses needed for the betterment of the programme. Based on the findings of this research study, some changes were introduced in the programme which enforces the significance of the evaluation conducted. &lt;/p&gt;

Isn’t that for Sorority Girls?: Narratives of College Men in Service-Learning

The purpose of this study was to examine how gender structured and informed the ways in which 10 undergraduate men experienced service-learning courses. Participant narratives underscore a perceived tension between dominant expectations of masculinity among men on campus and service-learning. In particular, service was largely understood as a feminine endeavor with little utility to men beyond high school. These expectations were often reinforced by other men and service site supervisors.