ALBERT

Description: Bridges are important infrastructures for urban growth and the economic development of a country, because bridges allow a large volume of logistics and transportation by connecting rivers, canyons, islands and lands. As such, massive resources including financial, material and human resources are invested for bridge construction and management. However, although the latest bridge construction is undergoing rapid development of new technologies and designs, the management and prevention of risks still tend to rely on qualitative practices, which, as a result, calls for more quantified and systematic measurement and, thus, more sustainable management of potential risks. As part of efforts in managing risks to achieve quantitative risk management, this study aimed to predict losses of financial resources by identifying statistically significant risk factors based on the past record of insurance claim payouts (compensation for a loss that occurred as a result of a material damage in bridge construction projects) from a major insurance company in Korea, and conducted a multiple regression analysis to identify the loss indicators and to develop a loss estimation model. The statistical analysis confirmed that superstructure types, superstructure construction methods, and construction duration are the three significant risk factors that affects financial losses of bridge construction projects among the seven variables adopted as independent variables, which included the superstructure type, maximum span length, superstructure construction method, foundation type, floods, typhoons, and construction duration. Such findings, and the consequentially developed risk prediction model of this study, will contribute to sustainable construction management through cost reduction by predicting and preventing the future financial loss factors of bridge construction.

Description: Typhoons cause severe monetary damage globally. Many global insurance companies and public agencies are currently developing and utilizing windstorm risk estimation models to calculate the level of risk and set up strategies for avoiding, mitigating, and relocating those economic risks. Hence, the usage and accuracy of the windstorm risk estimation model is becoming increasingly significant, and reflecting local vulnerabilities is essential for refined risk assessment. While key risk indicators have been recognized in practical studies of economic losses associated with windstorms, there remains a lack of comprehensive research addressing the relationship between economic losses of residential buildings for South Korea and vulnerability. This research investigates the real damage record of Typhoon Maemi from an insurance company in order to bridge this gap. The aim of this study is to define the damage indicators of typhoons and create a framework for typhoon damage function, using the damage caused by Typhoon Maemi as a representative paradigm. Basic building information and natural disaster indicators are adopted to develop the damage function. The results and metric of this research provide a pragmatic approach that helps create damage functions for insurance companies and contingency planners, reflecting the actual financial losses and local vulnerabilities of buildings. The framework and results of this study will provide a practical way to manage extreme cases of natural disasters, develop a damage function for insurers and public authorities, and reveal the real economic damage and local vulnerability of residential buildings in South Korea.

Description: Due to the recent introduction of innovative construction methods and technologies, construction projects increasingly require sustainability in their high degrees of specialization and complex work processes. This is due to a wide variety of new risk factors associated with construction projects that can lead to extensive and severe damage. When an accident occurs during a construction project, it can cause material, property, or bodily damage not only within the actual construction site but also outside, affecting third parties. This study analyzed the record of such third-party damage and the subsequent financial losses in bridge construction management, to identify the objective and quantified relationship of risk indicators related to the damage and losses. In order to assess the actual losses in construction projects, we adopted the loss claim payout data as recorded and provided by a major Korean insurance company, and conducted a multiple regression analysis to identify the loss indicators and to develop a loss estimation model. In this study, the analysis of the data indicated that the superstructure type, the foundation type, floods, and company ranking by the amount of the contract were the four statistically significant risk indicators that affected financial losses from third-party damage, among the nine variables used as independent variables, which included the superstructure type, foundation type, superstructure construction method, maximum span length, floods, typhoons, total construction cost, total construction period, and company ranking. As this study focused on identifying the risk factors and producing a loss assessment model quantified in numerical values, the results provide important references for assessing and minimizing the risks to third parties and the consequential financial losses in bridge construction, while promoting sustainability objectives.

Description: Typhoons cause severe monetary damage globally. Many global insurance companies and public agencies are currently developing and utilizing windstorm risk estimation models to calculate the level of risk and set up strategies for avoiding, mitigating, and relocating those economic risks. Hence, the usage and accuracy of the windstorm risk estimation model is becoming increasingly significant, and reflecting local vulnerabilities is essential for refined risk assessment. While key risk indicators have been recognized in practical studies of economic losses associated with windstorms, there remains a lack of comprehensive research addressing the relationship between economic losses of residential buildings for South Korea and vulnerability. This research investigates the real damage record of Typhoon Maemi from an insurance company in order to bridge this gap. The aim of this study is to define the damage indicators of typhoons and create a framework for typhoon damage function, using the damage caused by Typhoon Maemi as a representative paradigm. Basic building information and natural disaster indicators are adopted to develop the damage function. The results and metric of this research provide a pragmatic approach that helps create damage functions for insurance companies and contingency planners, reflecting the actual financial losses and local vulnerabilities of buildings. The framework and results of this study will provide a practical way to manage extreme cases of natural disasters, develop a damage function for insurers and public authorities, and reveal the real economic damage and local vulnerability of residential buildings in South Korea.

Description: Construction worker safety and safety training continue to be the main issues in the construction industry. As a means of improving construction worker safety, this study focuses on safety training at an actual construction worksite. In order to promote safety awareness among workers, it is imperative to develop more effective safety training. This study examined safety training as a method of improving construction worker safety, focusing on the effectiveness of the instructional delivery method. Effectiveness pertains to level of understanding of instruction and can be enhanced through improving instructional delivery method. This study aims to examine two different types of safety training methods: (1) the conventional lecture method and (2) innovative method using the 3D Building Information Modeling (BIM) simulation, reflecting the hazard condition of the actual site. An experiment is conducted, in which the two types of training are implemented and assessed through testing trainees’ understanding. The workers trained via BIM simulation showed a higher level of understanding than the group of workers who were trained conventionally. Also, a survey was conducted targeting safety managers, in which the workers evaluated lifelike quality of the training, active learning and enjoyment that each of the training methods can promote. This research will provide implications that an innovative method using the virtual reality is more effective than the conventional lecture method.