1. 1
Table of Content
1 INTRODUCTION Page No.
1.1 Background of Study 2 - 3
1.2 Problem Statement 4 - 6
1.3 Previous Similar Study 7
1.4 Research Aim 8
1.5 Research Questions & Objectives 8
1.6 Scope & Limitation 9
1.7 Importance of Study 9
1.8 Research Design 10
1.9 Research Programme 11 - 12
1.10 Structure of Report 13
2. 2
CHAPTER 1
INDTRODUCTION
1.1 Background ofStudy
The construction industry is an important industry for economy growth in any countries,
especially Malaysia. CIDB (2017) stated that the Malaysia construction industry is expected to
grow by 8% in volume this year, underpinned by ongoing mega infrastructure projects. The
environment created by the construction industry is designed to improve our quality of life.
(Lowton, 1997). Therefore, most of the construction projects are executed in populated areas.
However, the construction activities are known as a sources of nuisance produced in the urban
areas. It could also bring significant negative impact to the community. (Tolga Celik and Cenk
Budayan, 2016).
Construction industry is known as one of the major source of pollutions. Rinkesh (n.d.)
described that pollution occurs when pollutants contaminate the natural surroundings and affect
human’s normal lifestyle. Construction produce different kind of pollutions, however the main
concern of pollution from construction activities are noise, air and water pollution. Every
construction site generate certain amount of debris, dirt, and dust which could pollute the
environment and affect not only human health but also their quality of life. (Jennifer, 2012).
According to the environment protection department of Hong Kong, during 2016 the pollution
complaints received related to construction activities were 5195 cases which is the second
highest source of pollution.
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Other than pollutions, construction activities such as caisson drilling, pile driving, soil
compaction and rock blasting could generate vibration and noise. Such vibration produced from
the site has the potential to damage the nearby buildings and structures. The noise produced
from the site also create nuisance and annoyance to nearby residents. (Matthew and Lightstone,
2012).
Moreover, construction activities like road construction could affect the local
community in a negative way. Road construction brings traffic problem such as traffic diversion,
traffic disruption, traffic delays and jams. Failure of traffic management at road construction
site could cause hazardous effects to pedestrian or drivers passing through. All these problems
create significant inconvenience to the public. (Hubler, 2013)
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1.2 Problem Statement
As construction industry grows rapidly over the years in a lot of countries, the effects
of construction activities to people has become an important issue. According to an air quality
study in UK, construction industry are responsible for approximately 7.5% of damaging
nitrogen oxide emissions (NOx), 8% of large particle emissions (PM10) and 14.5% of
emissions of fine particle (PM2.5). (Joey Gardiner, 2017). There was an article relevant to
pollution written by Anuradha Mascarenhas. This article reported that pollution is now the
biggest environmental cause of disease and death in the world today. According to lancet report,
air pollution caused 6.5 million deaths in 2015. Figure 1.0 below shows the top 10 countries
with number deaths due to pollution. (The Indian Express, n.d.)
Figure 1.0 Number Of Deaths Due To Pollution (Adapted from Anuradha Mascarenhas, 2017)
Another article related to vibration caused by construction works has been written by
Wong on 12 August 2017 with the title of “Resident blame construction works for cracks in
home”. This article written that residents at Taman Cheras Perdana complaint about cracks
appearing in their houses and claiming that it was caused by the nearby construction works.
Cracks appearing in different part of the house and even the covers of fluorescent lights
dropping due to the vibration from the construction activity nearby. The residents also
complaint for the noise from the construction work. (The Star Online, 2017)
5. 5
Junz Wong, the Likas State Assemblyman as well as a resident living near a construction
site opposite All Saint’s School in Likas at Kota Kinabalu complaint about the developer who
carrying out works over the normal working hour. Many residents nearby also complained the
nuisance from the construction site. It affect their sleeping during night due to the noise coming
from the construction site. The residents have approached to the Kota Kinabalu City Hall
several time on this matter but the problem persist. The Likas State Assemblyman Junz Wong
said that “This inconsiderate and irresponsible action has created much hassle and troubles to
the Likas residents living nearby, causing them to lose sleep”. (Borneo Today, 2017)
According to a “work zone facts” that published by the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA), about 12 billion vehicle miles of travel a year will be through an active
construction work zone. Furthermore, there are more than 40,000 people injured each year due
to crashes nearby a construction work zone. Therefore, OSHA requires a traffic control plan in
all construction work zone for the movement of vehicles nearby the construction sites so that
drivers and pedestrians can react quickly and understand the routes that need to be followed.
("Construction Site Car Accidents: Maine Road Construction Accident Lawyer Briggs &
Wholey, LLC", 2017)
In addition, the diversion of road during the construction period has always become a
troubled issue to the road users as they have to be alert all the time. A fatal accident took away
the life of a road user which happened at the flyover construction site near to the Inanam-Likas
junction in Kota Kinabalu. This happened because there is not enough distance for road users
to see and react to the situation at the construction site, they can only notice the obstacle when
they are near to it but it will be too late for them to react. Temporary road sign are also too small
for drivers to notice and react from far. (Daily Express, 2016). Besides that, diversion and
disruption of road for flyover construction also caused increased traffic in the area.
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Therefore, it is obvious that the effects arise from the construction activities not only
affected people in physically but also mentally. Especially for those who live nearby to a
construction site, it could create significant inconvenience and nuisance to them. Thus, there is
a need to identify how the construction activities affects the local community and the possible
solution to reduce the effects of construction activities.
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1.3 Previous Similar Studies
There is a similar research study performed by Tolga Celik and Cenk Budayah during
2016 with the title of how the resident are affected from construction operations conducted in
residential areas. This research aim to identify and rank the negative impact emerged throughout
a construction project. They conducted a survey with 18 factors based on the residents live in 3
cities of Cyprus. According to their findings and survey collected, average disturbing level of
most negative impact from construction project are higher than 5. The study found out noise is
the most disturbing negative impact to the local community followed by dust, damage to nature
environment and traffic issues. Therefore, construction companies need to be aware of these
problem and take effective action to reduce the negative impacts.
Another similar study found was conducted by Simon Ofori Ametepey and Samuel
Kwame Ansah in the year of 2015 with topic of impacts of construction activities on the
environment. The objectives are to identify the major impacts of construction activities on the
environment in Ghana and suggest possible way of minimizing the impacts. Questionnaire and
interviews were conducted among contractors and consultants in Ghana for this study. This
study showed that the top three environment impact factors in Ghana are raw materials
consumption, noise and vibration generation and vegetation removal. This study recommend
the government and stakeholders in construction industry to come up with special legislation,
codes or standard relating to sustainable construction practices to ensure the environment is
protected during construction project.
The final similar study was on the effects of construction pollutions in Cameron
Highlands. This study was conducted by Hong Yu Jing in the year of 2015. The main objective
of this study is to determine the effects of construction pollutions towards the environment and
establish the potential solutions to reduce the construction pollutions. Interviews were
conducted among contractor and project manager for the data collection of this study. The result
of this study showed that global warming and dust generation are the greatest effect of the
construction pollution in Cameron Highlands. The potential solutions to reduce the construction
pollutions such as generate greater level of environment awareness and construction waste
sorting also stated by the researcher.
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1.4 ResearchAim
The aim of this study is to investigate how the local community are affected by the
construction activities.
1.5 ResearchQuestions & Objectives
ResearchQuestions
1. How does the construction activities affect the local community?
2. What is the possible solution to reduce the effects of construction activities?
Objectives
1. To identify the effects of construction activities to the local community.
2. To find out the possible solution to reduce the effects of construction activities.
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1.6 Scope and Limitation
In recent years the construction industry growth rapidly in Sabah. Different kind of
projects such as mega infrastructure project, condominium, shopping mall, residential,
commercial and mix development project increased widely in Sabah. However, the increased
of construction projects could bring significant negative impact to the local community.
Therefore, this particular research will be carried out in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah and will
be focus on the negative effects of construction activities brings to the local community. This
research will be carried out based on the opinion and comment obtained from the local
community. Questionnaire will be distributed out for surveys to collect all the necessary data
for this research.
1.7 Importance of Study
The findings of this study will show the major effects of construction activities that affecting
the local community in Kota Kinabalu. It also shows the nuisance and inconvenience that the
local community actually facing from the construction activities. Thus, it can raise the
awareness of construction companies and local authorities on those matters while executing
the construction activities. In addition, this study also provide the industry the possible
solution on mitigation of negative effects of construction activities.
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1.8 ResearchDesign
The research design shown in Table 1.8.1 provide reader a summary of the
dissertation’s objectives, types of data and sources of data collected to achieve the objectives.
Table 1.8.1: Research Design
Objectives Types of Data Resource of
Data
Methods of
Collection
1. To identify the
effects of
construction
activities to the
local community.
The negative
effects of
construction
activities.
Nuisance and
inconvenience
faced by local
community.
Articles
Journals
Website
Books
Questionnaire
Reading
Document
Analysis
2. To find out the
possible solution to
reduce the effects
of construction
activities.
Possible solution
to reduce the
effects of
construction
activities.
Construction
environmental
management
plan.
Articles
Journals
Website
Books
Questionnaire
Reading
Document
Analysis
Interview
13. 13
1.10 Structure of Report
This dissertation consists of 5 Chapters. The 5 Chapters are shown as below:
Chapter 1 shows the introduction which include background of study, problem
statement, previous similar studies, research questions and objectives, scopes and limitation,
research design, research programme and structure of report.
Chapter 2 is the literature review which contains studies done by other researchers.
The purpose of this chapter is to provide answers to the research objectives and identify the
sources of studies that support this dissertation title. This chapter shows more understanding
on the negative effect of construction activities and the possible solution to reduce the
negative effect of construction activities.
Chapter 3 is the research methodology that was used for this dissertation. This chapter
shows the research process to carry out this research. It also highlights the research method
used in the collection of data and data analysis for this study.
Chapter 4 shows the analysis of data that obtained from the questionnaires distributed.
Nominal scale and mode has been used to analyse the questionnaires collected from the
targeted respondents. The data collected will be used to fulfil the research objectives.
Chapter 5 is the conclusion which summarizes the research findings. It shows the
introduction, findings, limitation of study and recommendation. Besides that, this chapter also
discuss the outcome of the data collected in relation to the objectives of this study.
14. 14
Reference List
1. Anuradha, M. (n.d.). At 2.5 million, India tops list of pollution-linked deaths: Study, The
Indian Express. Retrieved on October 20, 2017, from http://indianexpress.com/article/india/at-
2-5-million-india-tops-list-of-pollution-linked-deaths-study-4898337/.
2. And also at Inanam flyover construction site. (2016), Daily Express. Retrieved on October
20, 2017, from http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=110198.
3. Construction Site Car Accidents: Maine Road Construction Accident Lawyer Briggs &
Wholey, LLC. (2017). Maine-personal-injury-lawyers.com. Retrieved on 26 October 2017,
from https://www.maine-personal-injury-lawyers.com/construction-site-car-accidents.html.
4. DBKK Must Get Tough With Likas Developer for Noise Pollution. (2017), Borneo Today.
Retrieved on October 20, 2017, from
https://www.propertyhunter.com.my/news/2017/10/4154/sabah/dbkk-must-get-tough-with-
likas-developer-for-noise-pollution.
5. Hubler, A. (2013). How Road Construction Can Affect Your Community. Retrieved on
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community/.
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7. Jennifer, G. (2012). Pollution From Construction. Retrieved on October 17, 2017, from
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8. Lowton, R.M. (1997). Construction and the natural environment. Linacre House:
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10. Rinkesh. (n.d.). What is Pollution? Retrieved on October 17, 2017, from
https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/pollutiontypes.php.
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11. Wong, P.M. (2017). Residents blame construction works for crack in home, The Star
Online. Retrieved on October 20, 2017, from https://www.thestar.com.my/metro/community
/2017/08/12/residents-blame-construction-works-for-cracks-in-the-home/.
