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Despite “decent work” being pertinent, as situated in the International Labour Organisation's “Decent Work Agenda”, one of its substantive elements on the need for safe work environments remains a concern for semi-skilled construction workers. Evidently, sustainability learning objectives within this element must be identified and implemented as a remedy. Therefore, the aim of the reported study was to reveal sustainability learning objectives that are significant towards attaining safe work environments, through also assessing statistically significant differences due to demographic variables.

The design of this research followed a quantitative questionnaire survey strategy to obtain insights from semi-skilled workers and site/project managers in Zimbabwe.

Knowledge of relevant prevention strategies to foster positive physical and mental well-being in the workplace was considered the most critical sustainability learning objective. Semi-skilled workers revealed the most interest in objectives that affected their socio-economic beings while site/project managers preferred those that had more economic value to the organisations they work for. Educational levels are also critical when instituting any training interventions.

The absence of a database for semi-skilled workers was a limitation towards achieving the practical significance of the findings. Due to semi-skilled workers significantly contributing to unsafe work environments, structured on-the-job training schemes that are sufficiently planned, monitored and controlled are recommended.

The determination of sustainability learning objectives for construction semi-skilled workers, through on-the-job training schemes, will contribute to the improvement of safe work environments.

While operational factors reduce construction workers' productivity in Zimbabwe, the impact of the people-centred management aspects has not been empirically interrogated as a remedy. This article reports on a study that sought to determine significant people-centred management aspects that lead to improved labour productivity and assesses the existence of statistically significant differences due to the demographic variables of respondents. Demographic-specific strategies that enhance construction “workers” productivity were revealed.

The survey research design using a self-administered questionnaire was deployed to collect the primary data. The design followed a positivist paradigm to evaluate objectively how people-centred management affects construction workers' productivity. The statistical data were descriptively and inferentially analysed.

People-centred management was determined to be significant in improving construction workers' productivity, with the most significant aspect being the building of employee confidence in related approaches. Designations and educational levels mostly indicated a statistically significant difference in several aspects that included the adoption of a functional reward culture for workers and training on people-centred principles. Training on-site management and construction workers in people-centred management and its application are crucial to improving construction workers' productivity.

Construction companies should drastically improve their concern for people while they sustain a high concern for production within their construction sites. Although several factors affect construction workers' productivity, this study determined that management-related factors and people-centred management were significant towards influencing low productivity in Zimbabwe.

The study determined people-centred management and demographic-specific interventions as being able to improve construction workers' productivity in Zimbabwe.

Increased construction risk due to the complexity and numerous construction performance challenges requires improved construction project managers’ competence. However, contextual interrogation of these competencies is limited. This paper aims to report on a study that sought to determine the expected competencies of construction project managers and assesses the existence of statistically significant differences due to gender, designation and educational levels of respondents.

A quantitative research design was instituted through the administration of a questionnaire survey on Project Managers, Architects, Engineers and Quantity surveyors working for consultants and contractors’ organizations. Descriptive and inferential statistics analysed significant differences due to demographic variables. Factor analysis was also used to reveal interrelated significant sets of competencies expected of construction project managers.

Factor analysis determined 11 significant components with the highest-ranked components comprising organizational savvy and experience in managing project constraints. The univariate analysis determining effective communication, leadership and good team-building skills as being the three most critical expected competencies. Significant differences due to educational levels were established, with shortcomings existing in those with Diplomas.

The higher education institutions need to establish curricula designs that align with the competency expectations. Mentorship programmes within construction organizations can also be significant in bridging the existing competence gap. However, due to the exploratory nature of the study, the insights of clients were not considered.

The study determined competencies for construction project managers and demographic-specific interventions.

Increased waste during projects execution has led to time and cost overruns within the Zimbabwean construction projects industry. However, contextual barriers to lean construction implementation are yet to be established for derivation of effective remedies. The purpose of this paper is to report on a study that sought to determine barriers to lean construction implementation and assess the existence of statistically significant differences because of gender, designation and educational levels of respondents.

A questionnaire survey was administered on construction professionals for the collection of quantitative data. Factor analysis was used to reveal interrelated significant sets of barriers to lean construction implementation. Non-parametric statistical methods were also used to determine significant differences because of demographic variables.

Integration- and performance-related, human capital management–related, quality management–related barriers were determined as the highest-ranked of the nine significant components. Significant differences because of gender, designation and educational levels were non-existent for aggregated barriers, generally indicating consensus on the barriers. However, individual barriers showed inadequacies in management requirements for lean construction implementation from architects and those with diplomas and degrees.

The determination of barriers establishes the knowledge for construction policy evaluation for enhanced performance of the construction industry. However, because of the exploratory nature of this study, the insights of clients were not considered.

Context-specific barriers to lean construction implementation were determined for consequent construction policy improvements in the construction industry.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of construction professionals relative to factors that affect the delivery of optimum health and safety (H&S) on construction projects during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study adopted a quantitative design which entailed the distribution of a web-based questionnaire among construction professionals, namely, architects, construction/project managers, engineers, H&S managers and quantity surveyors working for contractors and construction consultants in Zimbabwe. The data were analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics. Factor analysis was used to reveal interrelated significant sets of factors affecting the delivery of optimum H&S.

Factor analysis revealed nine components/factors: change and innovation-related, monitoring and enforcement-related, production-related, access to information and health service-related, on-site facilities and welfare-related, risk assessment and mitigation-related, job security and funding-related, cost-related and COVID-19 risk perception-related factors as the significant factors affecting the delivery of optimum H&S during the COVID-19 pandemic in Zimbabwe.

The results highlighted the need for social dialogue among construction stakeholders to support initiatives that will enhance the delivery of H&S on construction projects. Construction stakeholders may find the results useful in highlighting the areas that need improvement to protect workers’ H&S during the pandemic. However, the small sample limits the generalisability of the results to construction sectors in other regions.

The study investigated factors affecting the delivery of optimum H&S during the COVID-19 to inform interventions to enhance H&S.

Sustainable construction deficits are common in developing economies, and resolutions are constrained by the failure to prioritise the plethora of available indicators. This study aims to report on overlapping indicators for benchmarking sustainable construction for construction organisations.

Online survey data were collected from construction professionals, academics and senior managers in government bodies. Pearson chi-squared tests and overlapping analysis were used to determine significant indicators. Kruskal–Wallis tests were used to determine statistically significant differences among the dimensions.

Overlapping analysis determined indicators significant for economic, environmental and social performance. Environmental protection and reporting (pollution and emissions) were significant for all three performance dimensions. The most significant indicators are economic performance (adequate competence of key project staff), environmental performance (environmental protection and reporting – pollution and emissions) and social performance (adequate sustainability expenditure by construction organisations). Significant differences due to dimensions existed for adequate competence of key project staff, sustainable construction and eco-design, adequate governance and organisational excellence of construction projects and satisfactory workers’ morale.

Determining overlapping indicators enables prioritised implementation that ensures sustainable construction. Excluding construction workers was a significant limitation for a holistic interrogation.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to determine overlapping indicators for sustainable construction performance in Zimbabwe.

This study aims to develop workplace well-being indexes for construction sites of different project types (infrastructure, high-rise and low-rise). Accordingly, the study objectives are to identify the critical factors that affect workplace well-being at construction sites, compare the critical factors between different project types, categorize the critical factors into subgroups and compute indexes for the critical factors and subgroups.

Data from a systematic literature review and semi-structured interviews with construction industry professionals were used to extract 19 potential factors that affect workplace well-being. Then, a structured questionnaire survey was distributed, and 169 valid responses were collected. Finally, the data were analyzed using normalized mean analysis, agreement analysis, factor analysis and fuzzy synthetic evaluation.

The study findings revealed that there are 11, 11, 8 and 12 critical factors across overall infrastructure, high-rise and low-rise construction projects. Out of those, six critical factors are overlapping across project types, including “general safety and health monitoring,” “salary package,” “timeline of salary payment,” “working hours,” “communication between workers” and “planning of the project.” Accordingly, the critical factors can be categorized into two subgroups within each project type. Finally, the development of indexes shows that infrastructure construction projects have the greatest index compared to other project types.

This study contributes to filling the current knowledge gap by developing workplace well-being indexes at construction sites across different project types. The indexes would assist decision-makers in understanding the current state of workplace well-being. This increases the commitment and recognition of well-being across different construction project types.