Microsoft Word - 18-2388_s Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research Vol. 8, No. 6, 2018, 3580-3584 3580 www.etasr.com Kaliannan et al.: Preliminary Survey on the Crucial Root Causes of Material Waste Generation … Preliminary Survey on the Crucial Root Causes of Material Waste Generation in Malaysian Construction Industry Sasitharan Nagapan Department of Civil Engineering Technology, University Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia Suaathi Kaliannan Department of Civil Engineering Technology, University Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia Abd Halid Abdullah Department of Civil Engineering Technology, University Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia Samiullah Sohu Department of Civil Engineering, Quaid-e-Awam University of Engineering, Science & Technology, Nawabshah, Pakistan Rafikullah Deraman Department of Civil Engineering Technology, University Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia Muhammad Fikri Hasmori Department of Civil Engineering Technology, University Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia Nor Haslinda Abas Department of Civil Engineering Technology, University Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia Abstract—Construction waste generation has been perceived as a crucial issue that has critical consequences on the project effectiveness and ecological effect of the construction industry. The key objective of the current research is to identify the root causes of material construction waste generation in Malaysia. A well-structured questionnaire was designed based on the 52 identified root causes of material waste generation. The developed questionnaire was distributed to 35 highly experienced in Malaysian construction industry experts. The collected data was analyzed by the use of mean score analysis. The top identified root causes are poor supervision during the construction stage, lack of efficient site management, last minute changes, cutting uneconomical sizes of materials, and constant design changes during the construction period. The initial findings will aid construction practitioners to focus on these root causes in order to reduce the material construction waste generation at construction sites. Keywords-preliminary survey; material waste; root causes; environment; Malaysia I. INTRODUCTION Construction industry is considered a key part in any nation’s socio-economy growth. Nowadays, construction industry is developing rapidly [1-2] but is generally considered environmental unfriendly [3]. This industry enhances considerably environmental problems such as exploration of the natural resources, irretrievable conversion of the environment, and increase of contaminants in the atmosphere [4]. Construction waste is produced throughout site clearance, material utilization, overabundance acquirement of materials and human errors at construction site. 10-30% of the waste starts from construction works [5, 6]. Therefore, initial identification of the root causes is essential in order to reduce material waste generation rate. II. CONSTRUCTION WASTE Material waste can be generated throughout construction works. It may occur in preliminary design stage, during construction and with poor human behavior [7-9]. Construction waste is considered as any material that is damaged, unnecessary and extra purchased, or noncompliant to specifications [2, 10]. According to [11, 12], annual construction waste generation has been increasing in Malaysia. Construction waste is being created through the entire construction time frame, from the earliest starting point of the outline arranged until the last stage. There are numerous root causes that prompt construction waste generation. It is essential to distinguish those causes in order to control waste generation. According to [1], there are several root causes of construction waste generation such as design, workers, management, procurement, site condition, handling and external factors. It is stated that poor site management is one of the major root causes in producing waste. Absence of awareness or knowledge in construction waste, procurement of materials differing to specification, unsuitable storage causing damage and rework are among the key causes identified in contributing to waste generation rate [13]. It has been discovered that waste produced in Malaysian construction projects are mainly initiated by employee and management problems [14]. These root causes should be controlled to reduce the quantity of generated waste. There are other aspects that are considered as sources of construction waste such as incomplete information, Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research Vol. 8, No. 6, 2018, 3580-3584 3581 www.etasr.com Kaliannan et al.: Preliminary Survey on the Crucial Root Causes of Material Waste Generation … weak material management, unskilled labor, and damage during transportation [15]. The root causes were categorized under common characteristics like material management on site, material handling, transportation and storage and site management and practices in [16]. III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This study adopts quantitative technique in order to comprehend the viewpoint of construction experts towards the root causes of construction waste generation in Malaysian construction industry. The exploration of this research is divided into 2 phases. The first phase includes extensive literature review after which 52 root causes contributing to material construction waste generation were identified. In the second phase, a questionnaire was developed. The questionnaire comprises of two parts, demography of the respondents and root causes of waste generation rate in Malaysian construction industry. Each respondent was asked to verify the crucial root causes for the environment of Malaysian construction industry. IV. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS The questionnaire was designed based on a five-point Likert [17] scale ranging from 1 for Disagree to 5 for Strongly Agree. The developed questionnaire was distributed to 35 experts in Malaysian construction industry. The received questionnaires were analysed and reliability test was conducted. The Cronbach’s alpha value was 0.970 which indicates a high level of consistency. According to [18, 19], if Cronbach’s alpha value is higher than 0.7, the inner consistency of data is highly acceptable. Figure 1 indicates the number of respondents and their corresponding working experience. The majority (12 out of 35, 34.3%) of the respondents have 16-20 years of experience in the construction industry. The total percentage of respondents with more than 10 years of experience in the industry is about 88.5%. This shows that the majority of the respondents are eminently experienced and vastly knowledgeable regarding Malaysian construction industry. Fig. 1. Respondents’ working experience Figure 2 exhibits the respondents’ organization/enterprise. Most of the respondents are contractors with 62.9% (22 out of 35). The opinions of contractors are considered important as they are the ones who are stated at the site and have better understanding about the root causes of construction waste generation. Clients’ and consultants’ inputs are crucial as well because they are also having good involvement in construction industry field. Fig. 2. Respondents’ enterprise type V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The mean value of each root cause of material waste generation is presented in Table I. Result analysis showed that the root causes with the higher mean value for generation of waste in Malaysian construction industry are “supervision during construction stage is poor”, “efficient site management is lacking”, “last minute changes due to client requirements”, “cutting uneconomical sizes of materials”, “constant design changes during construction period”, “unsuitable tools used during construction”, and “unsatisfactory attitude of workers”, The ranking of the root causes of construction waste generation is shown in Table II. There are 46 root causes which scored more than 4.00, however for this paper only the top root causes are elaborated. A. Supervision During Construction Stage is Poor Supervision and coordination is clearly expected to guarantee great task conveyance. Satisfactory supervision prompts quality employment yet accompanies extra cost for the successful supervision [19-21]. Good project supervision is imperative as it might give important pointers to different elements that may cause problems [22, 23, 27]. Therefore, poor supervision at site leads to more material waste generation. B. Lack of Efficient Site Management Site management should have a work task flow according to the project’s needs [24-26]. Teamwork should be incorporated for an efficient site management plan [27, 28]. This includes managing scope, issues, risks, communication and the work plan. If the site management is not systematic the work will be faulty and will cause reworks. If basic management is lacking, the construction waste generated will not be coordinated efficiently, thus a huge sum of waste such as concrete, metal, sand, timber will be generated. This root cause is one of the main contributors to construction waste generation. C. Last Minute Changes due to Client Requirements Changes in design occuring while construction has begun is one of the root causes of generating waste [23, 29, 30]. Clients should be clear with their vision of the project from the beginning. D. Cutting Uneconomical Sizes of Materials Cutting materials into different sizes and uneconomical shapes generates waste [23]. When timber or metal are being cut without considering the next usage, the excess becomes 11,4% 17,1% 34,3% 17,1% 20,0% 6 -10 years 11 - 15 years 16 - 20 years 21 - 25 years > 26 years 11,4% 25,7% 62,9% client consultant contractor Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research Vol. 8, No. 6, 2018, 3580-3584 3582 www.etasr.com Kaliannan et al.: Preliminary Survey on the Crucial Root Causes of Material Waste Generation … waste. This factor is one of the highest regarding the volume of waste in waste production [31, 32]. TABLE I. ROOT CAUSES OF CONSTRUCTION WASTE GENERATION AND THEIR MEAN VALUES Code Root Causes of Material Waste Generation Mean Code Root Causes of Material Waste Generation Mean RC22 Supervision during construction stage is poor 4.611 RC27 Abandonments of materials on site without proper waste control 4.278 RC21 Lack of efficient site management 4.528 RC44 Supplier errors due to carelessness 4.278 RC1 Last minute changes due to client requirements 4.472 RC31 Ordering errors by the workers 4.250 RC35 Cutting uneconomical sizes of materials 4.472 RC36 Inadequate storage place at project site 4.250 RC4 Constant design changes during construction period 4.444 RC43 Miscalculation in quantity surveys 4.250 RC12 Unsuitable tools used during construction stage 4.444 RC25 Language problems among foreign and native workers 4.222 RC15 Unsatisfactory attitude of workers 4.444 RC26 Lack of environmental awareness by the site team 4.222 RC2 Slow information flow among all parties involved in the project causing redundant work 4.417 RC42 Error in shipping of materials 4.222 RC11 Improper material handling by the workers 4.417 RC8 Incomplete information provided in the drawing 4.194 RC24 Rework due to miscommunication among engineers and workers 4.417 RC18 Inappropriate use of materials 4.194 RC46 Lack of possibility of ordering small quantities of materials 4.417 RC48 Effect of weather conditions 4.194 RC3 Lack of coordination among parties involved in the project 4.389 RC16 Insufficient worker training by the employer 4.167 RC23 Improper construction methods applied by the workers 4.389 RC28 Inventory of materials not according to site conditions 4.139 RC34 Usage of wrong materials 4.389 RC49 Occurrence of accidents at site 4.139 RC38 Poor quality of supplied materials 4.389 RC6 Improper design quality produced by consultant 4.111 RC47 Inefficient methods of unloading supplied materials 4.389 RC17 Management and technical team are less experienced 4.083 RC10 Inappropriate material storage at site 4.361 RC32 Frequent variation orders due to carelessness 4.056 RC20 Planning of technical team at site is weak 4.361 RC33 Inadequate security and pilferage at site 4.056 RC7 Design produced by consultant is complex 4.333 RC39 Materials supplied in loose form 4.055 RC13 Faults of workers during construction process 4.333 RC5 Design errors due to inexperienced designer 4.002 RC14 Workers at construction site are less skilful 4.333 RC50 Vandalisms 3.833 RC45 Inaccurate material delivery procedures 4.333 RC51 Damages caused by third parties 3.806 RC19 Poor workmanship 4.306 RC29 Inadequate lights provided at night 3.750 RC30 Unforeseen geological conditions 4.306 RC9 Designing without considering wastage 3.667 RC37 Damage of materials during transportation 4.306 RC40 Packaging waste generated 3.556 RC41 Items ordered are not in compliance with specifications 4.306 RC52 Unpredictable local conditions 3.278 TABLE II. CONSTRUCTION WASTE ROOT CAUSES RANKING Root Causes Mean Rank Supervision during construction stage is poor 4.611 1 Lack of efficient site management 4.528 2 Last minute changes due to client requirements 4.472 3 Cutting uneconomical sizes of materials 4.472 3 Constant design changes during construction period 4.444 4 Unsuitable tools used during construction stage 4.444 4 Unsatisfactory attitude of workers 4.444 4 Slow information flow among all parties involved in the project causing redundant work 4.417 5 Improper material handling by the workers 4.417 5 Rework due to miscommunication among engineers and workers 4.417 5 Lack of possibility of ordering small quantities of materials 4.417 5 E. Constant Design Changes During Construction Period Sudden drawing changes can lead to higher waste generation [25, 26, 33]. This is an issue among contractors, designers and clients during design work stage [23, 30, 31, 34]. When the design is not confirmed during the initial stage, frequent changes may occur in construction period generating material wastages. This could be avoided if all the parties involved could have frequent productive meetings during the design stage to confirm the design prior to the construction. F. Unsuitable Tools Used During Construction Stage Tools used during construction may not be appropriate or suitable [25, 27, 35] leading to augmented generation of construction waste. G. Unsatisfactory Attitude of Workers In a construction site, poor behavior can distress everyone and cause conflicts among workers [36, 37]. Laziness of workers can cause reworks in the project [26, 27]. Hence bad attitude may have crucial effects on work, causing workers to become dispirited and unhappy which would cause mistakes to occur more often and output would likely be poor [38]. H. Slow Information Flow Among All Parties Involved in the Project Causing Redundant Work Communication and effective information flow are a pivotal part in construction procedures [36, 39]. Having an efficient information flow among all parties can give a focused favorable advantage to a construction project [19, 29]. Bad information flow will cause redundant work. I. Improper Material Handling by the Workers All materials received at site should be unpacked and arranged properly to avoid any damage [23, 31-33]. If the materials are not handled with care, damage can occur generating construction waste [36, 38]. J. Rework due to Miscommunication Among Engineers and Workers Failure to communicate can ultimately lead to serious accidents at site, project rework, and employee problems [31]. When there is miscommunication among the team, rework will Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research Vol. 8, No. 6, 2018, 3580-3584 3583 www.etasr.com Kaliannan et al.: Preliminary Survey on the Crucial Root Causes of Material Waste Generation … occur often and more material waste will be produced. Effective communication is critical for collaborative work [23, 32]. Clear communication not only reduces rework, it can also significantly increase the efficiency of the construction process [1, 34]. K. Lack of Possibility of Ordering Small Quantities of Materials Lack of possibility of ordering small quantities of materials is one of the common causes of construction waste generation [30]. Usually, only bulk orders can be ordered from a supplier [7, 10, 33]. There would be a minimum ordering amount to be fulfilled even though the amount required is less than the minimum order. Therefore, material waste such as cement, timber, etc. will occur if there is excess of unused material. VI. PRELIMINARY SURVEY OUTCOME While conducting the preliminary survey, the construction practitioners suggested six major root causes which contribute to waste generation of Malaysia construction industry. They are “human mindset of ignorance”, “political involvement”, “errors during installation”, “less usage of prefabricated materials”, “breakdown of equipment during concreting work” and “lack of BIM usage for design”. Regarding the first, human nature is to be of no concern on the waste and environment and the actions that must be taken. For “political involvement”, we should note that there has been a change in recent government, thus, many construction projects have faced design changes, kept on hold or stopped [40], “Errors during installation” occur during improper installation of scaffolding which may cause damage to the materials used [4], “Less usage of prefabricated materials” shows that material wastage compared to conventional construction can be reduced, “Breakdown of equipment during concreting work” may occur during malfunction of concrete pump where the leftover concrete in the pump will turn into waste. Lastly, “lack of BIM (Building Information Modeling) usage” for design purpose shows that BIM can help minimize double handling of work from the design stages. VII. CONCLUSIONS This research found that construction waste generation is a major issue in the Malaysian construction industry, thus it is crucial to identify the root causes which contribute to construction waste generation in order to minimize the generated waste. After analysis, 46 root causes with mean value more than 4.00 were considered as crucial root causes. The acquired root causes will aid the construction practitioners to curb the construction waste generation from the initial stages of construction. The outcome of this research will not only be valuable in minimizing material waste generation but it will also support cultivating environmental awareness in construction industry of Malaysia. ACKNOWLEDGMENT We would like to thank the Ministry of Education, Malaysia for funding this study under the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) Vot 1624 which is headed by Ts. Dr. Sasitharan Nagapan. REFERENCES [1] S. Nagapan, I. A. Rahman, A. 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