Theory of Faults (ToF) In Residential Construction

Abstract

The research is focused on risk analysis at the different stages of residential construction process and put forward the development of the Theory of Faults that hypothesizes that major failure events stem from failure in the information system of the project. The research focuses on safety, design, construction management, and construction faults, defects and failures. A literature review delineates strong linkage between building defects, construction failures, and construction safety through the information system of the project. the major factors affecting construction safety and quality are buildings and information deficiencies causing overflow of the project information system: The research method was composed of analytical framework of the model, definition of the research variables (safety, construction and design faults), development of a field survey (based on questionnaire), analysis of the data base and derivation of the research outcomes. The research findings show that 1.07 incidents of fall from scaffoldings and non-use of personal protective equipment occur even in ideal work conditions where all managerial parameters are in optimal condition and without management deficiencies. This finding shows insufficient safety environment in the survey sample. The mean of unprofessional managers is 1.54, that is to say, in each project there is more than one unprofessional manager in the phase of the super-structure. A significant correlation (R2=0.90) between unprofessional managers and management and safety failures was found. Modifications in safety processes are required in order to acquire improved safety. The research reveals that management failures lead to project information overload, followed by failure in the information system between management, quality and safety and cause ample of safety and quality events. A feedback control loops of safety in the design, planning and construction phases with validated intervals is proposed.