Labour productivity in plastering works in Sri Lankan construction industry

Abstract

The prospect of labour productivity in Sri Lankan construction industry has been attaining increasing attention as the industry suffers multiple problems related to its workforce. Thus, the need of productivity improvement is essential for successful project completion. At the same time, plastering works encounter in high number of labour productivity issues in the industry, where, the wastage is comparatively high. Therefore, this study explored the correlation between factors affecting the labour productivity and the productivity in plastering work. The literature specified certain factors, which influence the productivity of the labourers within the site. Even though many factors exist in the industry, mainly twelve factors had been categorised under five main headings, such as; management factors, site and resource management factors, project characteristics factors, workforce characteristics factors and external characteristic factors. Research approach for this study was as exploratory mixed method design where a quantitative analysis was enhanced with qualitative review of survey data. The data for the research study were collected through work studies from sites and interviews with professionals in the industry. Subsequently, the analysis was done with the aid of statistical technique and content analysis technique, while, MS Excel and SPSS were the tools used for the analysis. Quantification of labour productivity was expressed in research findings with the help of work studies. The findings revealed the correlation of each factor towards the productivity of labourers in plastering works. However, some factors had positive relationship and some other factors had negative relationship. Thus, the professionals must consider the correlation in order to improve the productivity within the site. Based on the analysis, solutions were recommended in latter part of the research.