No abstract

So much attention is paid to starting construction activities, and starting new work at regular time intervals to a beat (aka. takt) that-not surprisingly-work to finish those very activities may fall behind. This paper focuses, not on the start-, the "leading edge, "but on the end of activities, the "receding edge." The receding edge articulates when work is "done-done" and the successor contractor may start their work, unimpeded by their predecessors' unfinished work or "leftovers" (e.g., areas left dirty and cluttered with remnants). This paper describes receding-edge activities related to forming, placing, and finishing post-tensioned, cast-in-place concrete slabs, observed on a project in San Francisco, California. The researchers went to the gemba, described the current situation, and exchanged ideas with the contractor on means to keep the receding edge progressing at the pace of the leading edge, that is: to improve the cycle time from start, to not just finished or "done," but to "done-done" completion of each slab. Findings include the need to define standard processes (e.g., for clean-up work) as those observed appeared defective (one of Ohno's 7 wastes) or none existed, and to designate resources to accomplish them. This paper contributes to knowledge by articulating the receding edge concept, describing challenges in managing it, and documenting lean methods as countermeasures to those challenges. When managed considering the production impact of receding-edge work on the contractor responsible for it and on follow-on contractors, the case for cycle time reduction is easy to make and worth the money.

No abstract

The construction industry is hazardous, which requires careful consideration of occupational health and safety measures. Among various strategies that are proposed to enhance construction safety, Lean construction practices were widely implied and proved to be effective. However, the link between Lean implementation and construction safety has not been completely studied yet in previous research in terms of psychological safety context. This study implies that psychological safety is of utmost importance in terms of explaining the association between Lean and safety. Lean implementation elements such as respect for people, trust, leadership, and continuous improvement positively affect employees’ psychological safety. In this context, semi-structured interviews and a survey were conducted with employees working in U.S. construction companies. The interviews provided that the majority of the construction employees do not feel psychologically safe at their workplaces either in traditional or Lean construction projects due to a number of reasons such as heavy workload, and deadline pressures. However, it was found that construction workers feel safer psychologically in Lean construction projects compared to traditional projects. According to the interview results and literature review, a conceptual model was proposed. Therefore, this study can contribute to the research area of psychological safety in the construction industry.