Browsing by Author "Thayaparan, M"

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Analysis of barriers towards implementing circular economy in Sri Lankan built environment
(Ceylon Institute of Builders - Sri Lanka, 2023-07-21) Weerakoon, P; Thayaparan, M
All over the world, environmental pollution has become a major environmental issue at present. As the construction industry extracts a high amount of natural resources compared to any other industry, it can be known as one of the significant causes of environmental pollution. In order to protect the environment from harmful human activities, there is a massive demand towards sustainable construction practices. Circular Economy (CE) concept has been identified as a way forward to sustainable construction practices. It has been identified that implementing CE in the construction industry has many barriers, enablers and drivers. Hence, this study aims to qualitatively analyse the relevance of the barriers identified through a literature survey in the global context towards circular economy implementation of the Sri Lankan context. Semi-structured interviews were carried out among industry experts and academics who have experience and knowledge of the CE concept. The findings of this study indicate that the practical implementation of CE in Sri Lankan built environment has many barriers as it is still in an early stage. This study concludes that the construction industry stakeholders should be aware of these concepts, and primarily the authorities should focus more on this concept to move forward with a sustainable construction industry and protect the environment.
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Analysis of safety issues in road construction in Sri Lanka
(2024) Tharaka, JC; Thayaparan, M
The construction industry plays a pivotal role in the economic development of any country, with road construction being a key component in enhancing infrastructure. However, the safety concerns associated with road construction projects pose significant challenges that warrant comprehensive investigation. This research report delves into the safety issues prevalent in road construction activities within the context of Sri Lanka. The study employs a multi-faceted approach, combining literature review, on-site observations, and questionnaire survey with industry executives to identify and analyze the key safety issues in road construction projects across Sri Lanka. 45 construction executives who were involved in road construction projects in Sri Lanka were responded for the questionnaire survey. The study identified several key factors contributing safety of Sri Lankan road construction. These factors are attitudes towards safety, insufficient training, ineffective site management, lack of knowledge among site engineers and technical staff, inadequate provision of personal protective equipment, insufficient attention from top management, and a failure to enforce safety regulations. Based on the findings, allocating funds for safety measures and equipment emerges as the most crucial potential remedy for addressing safety concerns in the Sri Lankan road construction sector. Enforcing penalties for non-compliance with safety measures, offering rewards to companies that prioritize safety in road construction projects, and conducting more safety inspections at road construction sites by authorities all contribute to improving road construction safety in Sri Lanka. The findings of this research provide valuable insights for policymakers, construction companies, and relevant stakeholders to develop targeted interventions aimed at fostering a safer working environment in the road construction sector in Sri Lanka. Ultimately, the objective is to contribute to the reduction of accidents and fatalities, ensuring the sustainable growth of the construction industry while prioritizing the well-being of its workforce. Keywords - Road construction, Safety issues, Sri Lanka
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Applicability of digital twin technology for quality management in the Sri Lankan construction industry
(Faculty of Architecture Research Unit, 2024) Madushika, HMI; Thayaparan, M
The construction industry in Sri Lanka is grappling with challenges such as cost, time, and quality issues, which impact project delivery, productivity, and overall performance. The current Quality Management (QM) systems are primarily paper-based, labourintensive, and inefficient, hindering the ability to identify and manage defects. To improve Quality Management performance, fully automated and intelligent systems are required. The application of Digital Twin (DT) can offer real-time insights to enhance Quality Management procedures. However, the Sri Lankan construction industry is lagging in adopting Digital Twin technology due to implementation barriers. This study aimed to explore the applicability of Digital Twin for quality management in the Sri Lankan construction industry. A critical literature review was conducted, involving 15 experts interviewed using semi-structured interviews. The study found that Digital Twin improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the Quality Management process by integrating with quality standards and regulations, improving communication, material quality control, automatic quality checks, transparency, improved quality documentation, stakeholder participation in quality decisions, and prompt resolution of problems. This study identifies barriers to implementing Digital Twin in construction and suggests overcoming them. The results of this study indicate that Digital Twin has a higher potential than the traditional method currently used for Quality Management in the Sri Lankan construction industry.
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Assessment of community disaster resilience in Sri Lanka: methodological approach in developing an index
(Department of Building Economics, 2024) Dharmadasa, KHK; Kulatunga, U; Thayaparan, M; Keraminiyage, KP; Sandanayake, YG; Waidyasekara, KGAS; Ranadewa, KATO; Chandanie, H
Disasters threaten communities, causing immense damage to life, property, and overall well-being. In recent years, the frequency and impact of disasters have increased, highlighting the urgent need for enhancing Community Disaster Resilience (CDR). CDR refers to a community's ability to effectively anticipate, respond to, and recover from disasters. This research presents the proposed methodology to develop an index to measure community resilience to disasters in Sri Lanka. Based on the previous studies on resilience, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) was conducted to identify all possible proxy indicators of CDR across economic, social, institutional, physical, environmental, and human health dimensions. The primary data collection and analysis will be conducted using a systematic approach called Q-methodology. As the SLR results generated too many items in the first instance, a pilot study will be undertaken to reduce the number and to identify the most relevant indicators (Q-set) for measuring CDR in Sri Lanka. This Q-set data will be ranked based on how much each expert in the field of disaster management, who will be selected through the snowball technique, would agree with each identified indicator (Q-sort). Then, Q-sort data is subjected to factor analysis to determine the inter-correlation between the results of Q-sorting. The qualitative data gathered during Q-sorting is expected to be analysed using thematic analysis. Finally, the index will be constructed by deriving the weightage of each indicator based on the Q-sorting results. This paper provides an extensive illustration of the above methodology.
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An assessment of structural measures for risk reduction of hydrometeorological disasters in Sri Lanka
(Elsevier, 2022) Ginige, K; Mendis, K; Thayaparan, M
Sri Lanka has a high incidence of natural hazards with hydrometeorological hazards being the most prevalent. Despite the fact that structural measures such as flood walls and embankments play a vital role in disaster mitigation, it is observed that there is a gap in the development of effective, sustainable, and state of the art structural measures in Sri Lanka. This paper, in this context, aims to assess the nature of existing structural measures in the country in order to highlight what improvements are needed, and the costs and benefits of the necessary improvements. This is achieved through a comprehensive literature review followed by the analysis of twelve semi-structured interviews conducted with experts in the subject of structural measures for disaster mitigation. The findings reveal that Sri Lanka has sufficient types of structural measures in relation to floods, landslides, and coastline erosion compared to other developing countries. However, age and outdated technology are critical issues that hinder the expected performance of the measures. Moreover, it is observed that sufficient structural measures for mitigating the risk of drought related disasters are not in place in Sri Lanka compared to measures for other hydrometeorological hazards. The key benefits of improving structural measures in the country are identified as land development, economic growth, and increased stability of cities, and the main costs and challenges are high initial capital cost, high maintenance and repair cost, and the negligible residual value of structural measures. The findings of this study will lead to gaining a comprehensive understanding of gaps and weaknesses in structural measures in Sri Lanka and will influence policymakers and other respective practitioners in disaster mitigation to effectively enhance the existing portfolio of such measures.
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Barriers for collaboration among built environment higher education: undergraduate perspectives
(Department of Building Economics, 2024) Opanayake, RL; Thayaparan, M; Dasuni, KAL; Sandanayake, YG; Waidyasekara, KGAS; Ranadewa, KATO; Chandanie, H
The built environment represents a multifaceted sector characterised by its intricate nature, which demands effective stakeholder coordination and cooperation. Construction projects within this domain require the seamless collaboration of diverse disciplines, skills, and services. This collaboration is essential to navigate the fragmented and complex landscape inherent to the built environment. Recognising the evolving skill demands in the construction job market and the dynamic nature of built environment professions, higher education must update its approaches to serve as continuous education centres. Even though there are various studies explored numerous aspects of collaborations, intra-university, and inter-departmental collaborations have not been explored. Therefore, this study examines the undergraduate perspectives on the collaboration among built environment higher education by using one of the state universities in Sri Lanka as the single case study which offers all the built environment degree programmes under one roof. Primary data was collected through a questionnaire survey with 126 undergraduates of seven built environment degree programmes offered by the selected case study. The results of the study revealed that all personal, extracurricular and social collaborations are prominently existing in the context, while the existence of the academic collaboration was comparatively low. Further, the study discusses 20 barriers for collaboration in built environment higher education where rigid timetables and adherence to curriculum guidelines leaves little or no space for flexibility became the key barriers there. This paper elaborates each barrier to see how to overcome the negative consequences while enhancing the enablers to strengthen the built environment higher education collaborations.
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Challenges in circular urban water management in construction industry of Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Architecture Research Unit, 2023-12) Weerakoon, P; Thayaparan, M; Weerakoan, TP
Construction industry can be known as one of the prominent natural resource consumers compared to all other industries. Among these natural resources, water can be identified as one of the major concerns worldwide at present. Especially in urban area water distribution for essential activities of human beings is also becoming a challenge in most of the countries. As the consumption of natural resource is considerably high in construction industry, moving towards sustainable construction has been recommended. The linear approach, which the construction industry has been practising for years related to all kinds of resources, has become a threat towards the sustainable construction. Construction sector accounts for about 30% of the world's freshwater consumption. In Sri Lankan construction industry, the focus on management of water is limited. Among the natural resources urban water holds a significant place. While highlighting the importance of urban water management, this paper aims to explore the key challenges in circular water management in Sri Lankan construction industry. 12 semi-structured interviews with industry practitioners and academic experts on circular economy were conducted and the data were analysed using manual content analysis. The findings revel that most of the challenges in implementing circular water management in the construction industry in Sri Lanka are due to lack of awareness, realisation, involvement, and commitment by both citizens and the government. Hence the paper has recommended 6R concept towards implementing circular urban water management within the Sri Lankan construction industry as the authors believe that managing urban water is one of the significant actions to be considered now before it becomes too late in achieving long term sustainability.
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The concept of value engineering and its assimilation in Sri Lankan construction industry: a literature review
Hyderaly, H; Thayaparan, M; Aarifkhan, F
Value is an ideational thought by which a worth of a good or service is expressed. Value Engineering is one of the tools used to evaluate such value and provide solutions for best fit value in real time. The core principle of practicing value engineering is to achieve value for money in construction projects, but it also bestows practitioners with added advantages such as innovative alternatives and enhanced quality. Even though value engineering is practiced globally, application of value engineering in Sri Lanka is highly limited due to lack of knowledge and awareness of the concept of value engineering, lack of realisation of the benefits it can bring to the construction projects and lack of government support. Hence, Sri Lankan construction industry lacks initiatives to pursue integration of value engineering in construction projects. The objective of this paper is to explore the idea behind the term “value” through value engineering and manifest previously identified causes and mitigation strategies to enhance value engineering practices within Sri Lanka. A comprehensive literature review has been carried out to disclose facts and cues of value engineering identified globally and to contextualise the concepts of value engineering within Sri Lankan construction industry. This paper emphasises that value engineering enhances the total value of the project while irradiating unnecessary costs associated with the projects. However, Sri Lankan construction industry is not practising value engineering in its full potential due to barriers identified above. Recommendations were, therefore, proposed to reveal the importance of standardising value engineering practice in Sri Lankan construction industry. .
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A Conceptual framework to adopt circular economy principles in managing municipal solid waste in Sri Lanka
(2023-08) Thayaparan, M
Circular Economy (CE) is a fast-emerging concept globally, taking a visible transformation from the mainstream linear economic model across key sectors, due to decrease in natural resources and the increase in waste generation. CE defines the efficient utilisation and value enhancement of resources beyond their useful life. Waste management is one of the key sectors that has increasing potential for circular economy growth.
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Developing a framework for minimizing construction and demolition waste in urban development projects in Sri Lanka
(2023) Udawatte, TS; Thayaparan, M
The construction industry is indeed one of the largest producers of Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW). CDW consists of materials such as concrete, bricks, wood, metals, glass, plastics, and other debris generated from construction, renovation, and demolition activities. This study examines the production of construction and demolition waste (CDW) specifically from unused or demolished materials, which can be categorized as virgin or non-virgin materials. The findings highlight the various problems associated with this practice, including environmental pollution, negative health impacts, economic challenges, social issues, and the creation of undesirable landfills. The scarcity of dumping sites in urban areas in Colombo is another issue behind the problem. Although, the government has streamlined the regulations and introduced new policies, inefficient administration significantly affects the waste management plans. Strategies for minimization, such as institutional arrangements, human perceptions, and attitudes, procedures for minimizing hierarchy, establishing new legislation and benchmarks, new technologies, are analysed for CDW minimization. This study aims to make a valuable contribution towards addressing these problems and advocating for sustainable approaches in the management of CDW through careful analysis and the suggestion of practical remedies. Further, this study employed a qualitative research approach, which involved collecting and reviewing literature related to theories and concepts. The researcher gathered data from various sources, such as academic papers, books, and other relevant literature to establish a theoretical foundation for the study. The objectives of this research were to enhance comprehension of the subject matter and expand upon established theories and concepts by thoroughly reviewing and analysing the available knowledge base. The qualitative research approach allowed for a comprehensive exploration of the subject matter, enabling the researcher to draw meaningful insights and make informed conclusions. Findings were validated by the experts of the construction industry through interviews. The researcher needed to be further examined the findings in a real-life context by using three different case studies and collected data through semi structured interviews. The availability of limited literature iii specific to CDW management in the Sri Lankan urban development projects highlights the need for this research to explore and draw from global research and practices. This approach allows for the adaptation and implementation of successful CDW minimization practices from around the world to address the specific needs and challenges faced in the Sri Lankan context. The framework serves as a practical tool that brings together the research findings, strategies, and recommendations to facilitate effective CDW management. Its application aims to guide decision-making processes, promote sustainable practices, and contribute to minimizing CDW in the Sri Lankan context. Finally, the researcher explained the limitations of interviews of the case studies and strategies to overcome those in the analysis and data presentation. This framework will be a blueprint for individual participants who involved in multi-story projects in urban areas to prioritize and awareness of CDW management more systematically. Keywords: CDW, CDW generation, Urban development projects, and CDW management
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Enhancing the practices of spare part management in manufacturing industry
(2019) Abeyratna, SMDN; Thayaparan, M; Fayasa, AFC; Samarawickrama, S
Spare parts (SPs) are set of extra items that are used for emergency replacements of worn out and defective parts. Maintenance and provision of SPs are the two activities which need to be performed together. Maintenance policy is based on inspection where identified defective items need to be either repaired or replaced. Maintenance activities generate the demand for spare parts. Spare part management (SPM) is an essential concept to be applied in any type of industry, especially in manufacturing industry due to the heavy usage of various types of machineries. Hence, spare part management causes significant impact, positively and negatively on the operations of manufacturing industry. Nevertheless, the applicability of SPM for maintenance in Sri Lanka is comparatively limited and the awareness about SPM is considerably low. There is a dearth of research conducted to identify the impact and to draw the awareness of SPM in Sri Lankan context. Therefore, this study aims to enhance the practice of spare part management for maintenance purposes in manufacturing industry in Sri Lanka. A comprehensive literature analysis was conducted on currently available scientific knowledge through reliable sources in order to realize the current practices of spare part management in other countries and any frameworks used in such countries to enhance the practices. Five case studies covering 5 main types of manufacturing industries in Sri Lanka have been conducted to identify the current practice and impact of SPM. Specially SPM directly related with the maintenance activities and also have the ability to cause direct impact for the production. Priority given for managing SPM is in lover condition. The major reason to have a lacking consideration is the lack of awareness. It increases the cause of negative impact for the organisation. Main six steps to be followed under SPM and the factors to be considered under each step have explained within the study.
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Factors influencing project success in medium scale apartment construction projects in Sri Lanka
(2023) Bulathsinghala, YK; Thayaparan, M
The complexity of modern construction projects, involving multiple stakeholders and intricate design requirements, presents challenges for clients and contractors. While project management researchers have discussed strategies for achieving success, there is no consensus on the essential success factors for building projects despite numerous studies. This study aimed to improve the project success of medium scale apartment building constructions in Sri Lanka. First, this study reviews project success factors globally within the construction industry. Through an extensive literature review, the researchers identify 59 factors influencing project success, covering technological, economic, educational, social, and professional aspects. This study employs a questionnaire survey using purposive sampling to gather data from industry professionals. The collected data undergoes quantitative analysis using the Relative Importance Index (RII) method, ranking factors based on significance, applicability, and contribution. This analysis successfully identifies critical factors influencing project success in this context. The roles of different stakeholders in contributing to project success factors were evaluated next. Experienced professionals involved in semi-structured interviews to assess stakeholder contributions. Findings reveal that stakeholders of varying types play distinct roles in relation to different factors, directly influencing success in medium-scale apartment building projects. This study developed a framework to enhance project success in medium-scale apartment building constructions, incorporating critical success factors and important stakeholders contributing to project success. This framework facilitates the identification of factors causing delays and issues in construction projects, enabling stakeholders to take necessary corrective actions for ensuring success. The content concludes with recommendations for future research. Further studies are suggested to explore effective procedures for addressing critical factors and stakeholders impeding project success. Limitations such as a small sample size and the impact of COVID-19 on expert interviews are acknowledged. Emphasis is placed on the need for larger and more representative sample sizes in future studies. Additionally, investigating success factors for different project types and sizes and considering success factors from the perspective of developers with varying levels of capital investment is proposed.
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A Framework for sustainable materials selection for high-rise buildings in Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, 2024) Sachchithananthan, M; Thayaparan, M
The construction industry, as a resource-intensive sector, significantly impacts the environment by consuming vast quantities of raw materials, energy, and water, while emitting substantial greenhouse gases and generating landfill waste [1]. Particularly, high-rise buildings are often associated with the consumption of significant amounts of energy and raw materials that result in negative consequences on the environment, economy, and society [2]. Consequently, there is an urgent need for sustainable construction practices, and the efficient use of materials plays a crucial role [3]. Hence this research aims to develop a framework to select sustainable materials for high-rise buildings in Sri Lanka. Sustainable materials in construction minimise environmental damage, protect raw materials from excessive depletion, and enhance long-term durability and efficiency of buildings [3]. The goal of these materials is to achieve a balance between environment, society, and economy without compromising the structural integrity and performance of the building [4]. The construction industry of Sri Lanka faces several challenges in the adoption of sustainable materials. One of the primary challenges is the lack of tools and data to sufficiently assess alternative materials to achieve sustainability in building [5]. In addressing this challenge, this research developed a framework to select suitable sustainable materials for high-rise buildings.
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Functional characteristics of an early warning system to minimise the risks of dam breaks in Sri Lanka
(Ceylon Institute of Builders - Sri Lanka, 2022-06-24) Weerasinghe, LNK; Thayaparan, M; Fernando, T; Sandanayake, YG; Waidyasekara, KGAS; Gunatilake, S
Dams have become a very important infrastructure that provides enormous benefits to the economy of the country. Even though dams are very important and significant structures within a country, their breaks can cause severe damage to the country’s economy, society, and environment. Other than that, it can be impacted human life by causing deaths. As a come-up strategy, early warning systems can be used to reduce the severe impacts of dam breaks. Early warning systems (EWS) have been identified as a very important tool used to save lives and properties from disasters. Hence, this paper attempts to identify the functional characteristics of an EWS that can be used to reduce the impacts of dam breaks in Sri Lanka. An extensive literature survey was conducted to achieve the primary objective of this paper. Accordingly, the paper has identified the major purposes of dams, the causes for the dam breaks, and the impacts of dam breaks on the economy, society, and the environment. Then, the paper explores the functional characteristics of the EWS which is used for dam breaks. Finally, a conceptual framework has been developed with the key literature findings of the paper in order to minimise the social, economic, and environmental impacts created by dam breaks using early warning systems in Sri Lanka. As such, this paper will be a value addition to support the country’s economy, society, as well as environment.
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Gender and disability inclusion in post-disaster rebuilding ‘build back better’ programmes in Sri Lanka: a literature review
(2020-11-06) Mendis, APKD; Thayaparan, M; Kaluarachchi, Y
In the last decade, many South Asian developing countries have suffered natural disasters. Severe disaster destruction results in an overwhelming need to rebuild housing and infrastructure within a brief amount of time. United Nation Development Programme has sought to make this reconstruction program a "Build Back Better (BBB)" opportunity, hence gender inequality and marginalisation of people with disabilities remain a problem in many countries. Although the international community has sought to promote this resilience and inclusion, the Post-Disaster Rebuilding (PDR) process still overlooks these sectors of society and their needs. Therefore, this paper aims to bring in literature synthesis addressing gender and disability inclusion in PDR ‘BBB’ programmes in Sri Lanka. Besides, involvement in the mitigation of vulnerability and community resilience to disaster risks and relocation was found to play a significant role. Vulnerability and the risk of disasters can be dramatically reduced by ensuring a culture of disaster prevention and resilience for all segments of populations, particularly rural areas, girls and women, and the disabled. All aspects of socially inclusive, formal, and non-formal commitments are important to take their desires and requirement into consideration.
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The Impacts of computer vision technology in construction: investigating applications and challenges
(Department of Building Economics, 2024) Costa, MDD; Costa, MRR; Thayaparan, M; Sandanayake, YG; Waidyasekara, KGAS; Ranadewa, KATO; Chandanie, h
The application of Computer Vision (CV) is transforming many industrial sectors by improving the interactions of technology with the physical environment. According to the research, CV technology heavily impacts construction by offering enhanced solutions to issues such as safety, quality, and progress. This research employed a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) method to find the applications of CV and the related challenges within the construction sector, ensuing the PRISMA 2020 guidelines and PICO framework for the investigation. Out of the 38 studies that were retrieved through Scopus and Web of Science, the review aimed at comparing the application of CV in the following areas: automated progress monitoring, intelligent tracking, real-time quality assessment, improvement of safety, 3D modeling, and object detection. Nevertheless, certain challenges and threats limit the progress of CV such as the high processing times, technologies still in their infancy, and the complexity of integration with other models. Such challenges are grouped and associated with the application they belong to, and it is seen that automated construction progress monitoring faces the most difficulties. Last of all, this research provides construction stakeholders with a framework that links CV applications and challenges as follows with the view of indicating appropriate decisions to make. It is hoped that this framework will assist in avoiding problems and identifying the best practices in the application of CV technologies in construction.
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Inclusion of marginalised communities during post-disaster context in Sri Lanka: what methodology?
(Ceylon Institute of Builders - Sri Lanka, 2023-07-21) Mendis, APKD; Thayaparan, M; Kaluarachchi, Y
Research methodology is a general research strategy that defines how research should be carried out. It includes a system of beliefs and philosophical assumptions that shape the understanding of the research questions and underpins the choice of research methods. Additionally, research methodology is an integral part of any research and helps to ensure consistency between chosen tools, techniques, and underlying philosophy. Therefore, this article shows the perspectives to choose the most effective methodology to increase the inclusion of marginalised communities during the post-disaster phase in Sri Lanka. A systematic literature review comprising of 61 articles adopted as the best-suited methodology for this research. The philosophical position of this research is interpretivism, whereas the abductive approach is utilised for theory development. Hence, more than one qualitative data collection method is used, and this research adopts a multi-method qualitative approach. Furthermore, case study and survey strategies are chosen as the most suitable strategies for this research. Two Grama Niladhari divisions affected by natural disasters in Sri Lanka are selected as the cases. Data collection techniques adopted in this research are literature review, structured interviews, desk study, stakeholder interviews, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and expert validation interviews. Data analysis techniques are literature synthesis, relative importance index, stakeholder analysis, and code-based content analysis. Furthermore, the article discusses how researchers achieve the reliability and validity of research findings and ethical considerations.
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Incorporation of circular economy concept to the apparel industry: literature review
(2020-11-06) Gowsiga, M; Thayaparan, M
The apparel industry is one the most foreign exchange earning industries for developing countries. However, it is one of the notable polluting industries in the world too. Additionally, there are numerous factors affecting the economy of the industry, for example COVID 19, and the industry needs to reinvent from those issues by forcing itself to live. Thus, Circular Economy (CE) can act as a potential solution to address the issues related to both environmental and economic factors of the apparel industry. CE is a business strategy to gain economic benefit, minimise environmental impacts and increase the efficiency of resource consumption. CE concept has been practised in various countries such as China, Bangladesh, Europe, Australia and Germany. However, it is still a novel concept in Sri Lanka even though Sri Lankan apparel industry has a solid reputation globally for their high-quality, reliability, lead time, and social accountability. Introducing the CE concept into Sri Lankan apparel industry will help to overcome the financial issues in a sustainable way. With the intention of introducing CE concept to Sri Lankan apparel industry, this paper intends to review the application of CE in global context and in the context of apparel industry, their benefits and challenges in order to further investigate the suitability of CE concept to SL apparel industry. This paper is therefore based on a comprehensive literature review. Hence, it highlights the literature findings on the applicability of CE in apparel industry, its benefits and challenges when adopting CE into apparel industry. This basic finding will aid to assess the possibility of incorporating CE concept within the Sri Lankan apparel industry. The key findings of the research, environmental gain, economic benefit, resource optimisation and collaboration among stakeholders are the key benefits of CE. The main challenges are expensive, advanced technology, measuring the benefits especially financially, lack of support, knowledge, awareness, commitment and leadership, systematic regulation, social and cultural acceptance.
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Intergration of the concept of shared workspaces to office buildings in Sri Lanka
(2023) Pathirana, SPMS; Thayaparan, M
The concept of space is quite complicated and makes it difficult to define. To achieve the organization’s optimum goal the space that is available for work need to be well organized and designed. Shared workspace concept defined as membership based workspaces where diverse groups work together in shared, communal setting. There are certain scenarios where existing office buildings with un-utilized floor spaces. Therefore this study is targeting to solve this issue by checking the adaptability of the shared workspace concept for the selected space in an office building. The aim of this study is to develop a framework to identify the adaptability of shared workspace for office buildings in Sri Lanka. The objectives of this research identify shared workspace concept, need of the concept for an office building, the characteristics that a building must consist to adopt the concept, enablers’, barriers and recommendations to overcome the barriers. Along with a literature review qualitative research approach was adopted by using expert interviews and two case studies. Content analysis used to analysis the findings of the study. This study provides evidence, by only having an unutilized space won’t make an office building eligible to adopt shared workspace concept. To adopt this concept to an office building it must have certain characteristics, those are respect to office type, organization culture, core business, operating hours, support structure, accessibility. The barriers have been identified in relation to financial and consistency of the business as lack of privacy, noise level, monitoring and controlling of space, availability of a support structure, matching all the co-workers expectations as whole, legal and regulatory barriers. The solutions were supported from experts’ ideas/opinions and findings from case studies. Ultimately a framework was developed to check the adaptability of shared workspace for office buildings in Sri Lanka. Keywords: Barriers, Drivers, Office building, Shared workspace, Sustainable facilities, Sri lanka
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Investigation on occupational safety and health practices in university colleges of Sri Lanka
(2023) Dissanayake, WARK; Thayaparan, M
The International Labor Organization (ILO) predicted that 2.3 million (World Statistics, 2011) deaths per year would be reported due to workplace accidents or diseases globally while having an approximation of 340 million workplace-related accidents. Most workers have undergone proper education while concentrating on the global annual death and accident rate. A significant relationship between work-related incidents and the education sector's health & safety (H&S) culture should exist. Identifying the significance of the H&S culture of the University Colleges (UC) in Sri Lanka will assist the further development of H&S culture of the vocational education sector in Sri Lanka. This research aimed to improve Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) practices and recommend a framework for enhancing OHS practices in University Colleges in Sri Lanka. A quantitative research approach was adopted, and data were collected through a structured questionnaire from 249 participants studying in all six University Colleges in Sri Lanka. Reliability and validity tests were undertaken, and data were evaluated using correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis. The findings demonstrated that workplace dangers, policies, and awareness were substantially connected with occupational health and safety practices. Multiple regression analysis revealed that workplace hazards, policies, and awareness significantly predicted OHS practices in Sri Lanka's University Colleges. These results suggest that a higher level of OHS practices can be achieved in the vocational education sector by implementing effective policies and procedures and raising awareness among management, staff, and students. These findings imply that vocational education institutions must prioritize implementing comprehensive policies and procedures related to OHS. It is also necessary to promote awareness among all stakeholders to enhance the overall level of OHS procedures in the vocational education sector in Sri Lanka. More study is required to examine the variables that impact the implementation of sound policies and procedures and discover successful techniques to enhance awareness and promote OHS practices in the vocational education sector. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the relationship between workplace hazards, policies, awareness, and OHS practices in the vocational education sector in Sri Lanka. The results of this study may be utilized to influence policy choices and guide future research on the subject of OHS in the vocational education sector. ii Keywords - Occupational Health and Safety, Workplace Hazards, Policies and Procedures, Vocational Education, Sri Lanka