Highlights
An agent-based model is proposed to model the spread of COVID-19 among construction workers.
The workforce in a project can be decreased by 30% to 90% due to the spread of COVID-19.
Construction and project managers should maximize construction activities classified as low-risk regarding the spread of COVID-19.
Understanding the impact of COVID-19 on construction workers will help to plan the workforce of construction projects in the context of pandemic.
The construction sector has been heavily impacted by COVID-19 due to the restricted conditions required by construction projects to perform physical activities. Given this context, it is of interest for the industry to identify the impacts that COVID-19 has had on the development of construction projects. However, little is known regarding how the impacts of COVID-19 have affected multiple stakeholders in construction projects and whether there is some interaction among such impacts. This study aims to explore the impacts of COVID-19 and their influence among different construction stakeholders (i.e., engineers and managers, workers, suppliers). This study was enabled by 40 semi-structured interviews that were performed with stakeholders in construction projects in Chile. Content analysis from the interviews led to the identification of categories of impacts and stakeholders, to the development of a cognitive map of the impacts, and to the application of correspondence analysis. Fifteen categories of impacts were identified, and six construction stakeholders were identified as having been impacted by COVID-19. Identifying the causes and effects of the impacts felt by multiple stakeholders revealed that these impacts interacted among each other. Understanding the impacts of COVID-19 on construction stakeholders may facilitate the development of effective mitigation strategies to reduce COVID-19 impacts on the construction sector.
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