Browsing by Author "Somachandra, V"

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An analysis of employee welfare practices in oil and gas construction projects at Qatar
Dissanayake, LC; Somachandra, V; Mudalige, DM
Oil and Gas construction industry has been identified as a very dangerous and risky construction industry sub-sector in the world compared to building and other infrastructure sectors. This field requires highly experienced employees. Those employees are fully open to dangerous situations and risky environment and it may course to lose their life/body parts, permanent disabilities or mental issues. Nowadays, many of Oil & Gas construction companies are using advanced technology to accelerate the works and protect their employee’s from risk. But still, there is risk and incidents are reported all over the world. In this research paper, welfare facilities in Oil & Gas construction industry in Qatar are considered and is aimed to find out awareness of the welfare facilities within that field. First of all, the researcher carried out a thorough literature review using past published books, magazines, journals and the internet. Then the online survey was designed using 30 numbers of questions to collect the required data. Around, 50 numbers of responders are responded to the questionnaire and most of them are supervisory level. 59% are fully aware about facilities and other 41% are partially awareness about the welfare facilities. According to this study, some of the welfare facilities have to be improved and developed around some key areas, like orientation programs, well experience staff for safety department and health and insurance benefits.
item: Conference-Full-text
Corporate social responsibility practices for sustainability: case of Sri Lankan cement manufacturing and supplying organisations
Madhuwanthi, BGK; Somachandra, V
Construction industry is a booming industry worldwide and achieving sustainability in the construction industry has become a vital ambition. Nowadays, the concept of sustainability with its triple bottom line meaning is being adopted more and more by corporations and concerning construction trade, sustainability is about achieving a winwin output. Cement organisations’ business is a crucial sub-segment of the construction industry. Apart from the frequent monetary benefits from the cement organisations, it is increasingly linked to various unethical business practices form numerous challenges that threaten sustainability in cement industry. Thus, in the direction to achieve corporate sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was recognized as an effective tool. Sri Lankan cement manufacturing and supplying organizations usually publish details about CSR practices of the philanthropic, business environment and business process in their annual business reports. Therefore, this qualitative study based on five in-depth interviews focused on identifying the Sri Lankan cement companies’ gap between their current practice and required practice of CSR within their business process. The results found could be categorised under three main sectors as CSR through philanthropic activities, CSR related to business environment and CSR related to business process. It was found that; Sri Lankan cement organizations’ CSR practices related to philanthropic and business environment were at highest level. Even though there is a significant lacking point in the current practices of CSR linked to the business process and application of sustainable innovations for cement organisations’ business process to achieve corporate sustainability.
item: Conference-Full-text
“Ethical management practice” as a csr tool to ensure the corporate sustainability of construction industry: a conceptual review
Somachandra, V; Sylva, K
Construction industry is one of the main contributors to the national economy in most countries with the industry metabolism of businesses including constructors, clients, material producers, professional service suppliers and construction enterprises, amongst others. In a largely diversified industry like construction, inter-organizational relationships grounded through ethical practice and behavior is of utmost importance to establish sustainable relationships. Nevertheless, globally, the construction industry has been reported as an industry with poor ethical performance due to corrupt practices, health and safety catastrophes and triggering damage to the environment. Thus, if the construction industry is not guided by a proper ethical framework, the damage it could do to the economy, society and ecosystem is unrecoverable. This study attempts to identify the nature of ethical management practices in construction industry and its stakeholders, through extant literature. Also it reveals the prevailing ethical issues of the industry related to its stakeholders. Further, this study identifies the costs of these unethical management practices along with the emerging need and paybacks of properly developed ethical framework to ensure the sustainability of the industry. Further research will aim to develop an ethical management framework for Sri Lankan construction industry in the light of this review. Mix methodology will be utilized, to achieve this objective. Critical unethical management practices of Sri Lankan construction industry stakeholders will be identified thorough a questionnaire based on Relative Importance Index. Recommendations to mitigate the identified critical unethical management practices will be formed through an interview survey with industry experts using content analysis method. Based on those inputs, an ethical management framework for Sri Lankan construction industry will be developed.
item: Conference-Full-text
Preventing accidents in building construction through safety management
Perera, HN; Somachandra, V; Samarasiri, NC
Building Construction sector is one of the major sectors in the construction industry in Sri Lanka. As in other sectors, building construction workers also have to face various types of hazards and accidents. Due to these accidents, there is a significant lost to the industry in terms of valuable lives, wasted time and cost overruns and these adversely affect the reputation of the construction industry. The construction includes the different specific areas such as building, road, tunnel, bridges, harbors, reservoirs etc. But, the most researchers have carried out research in the general area of construction without any separation. Further the Health and Safety of Building construction have not been covered properly by the researchers in the past. However, one of the different areas of the industry, building construction has become the most hazardous industry compared to others. This study identifies the global practices to reduce the accident probability in Building construction projects. It also identifies the accidents that frequently happen, causes for those accidents, and the impact of those accidents on the on Building Construction projects in Sri Lanka. And also from the research it is possible to investigate the applicability of globally identified best practices in Sri Lankan Building Construction Projects. The main objective of this research was to develop a guideline for Sri Lankan Building Construction projects, which would be useful in reducing accidents probability in order to minimize various losses in Sri Lanka building construction projects. Currently there is no proper research carried out regarding this issue to reduce accidents probability and minimize losses in Sri Lankan Building construction projects. Thus, this research is useful to fill that research gap in the Sri Lankan Building Construction Sector.