Title: Impact of weather conditions on construction labour productivity in Qatar

Authors: Ahmed Senouci; Mohammed Al-Abbasi; Neil N. Eldin

Addresses: Department of Construction Management, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204-4020, USA ' Supreme Education Council, Qatar Building, Corniche Street, Al Dafna Area, Doha, 35111, Qatar ' College of Technology, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204-4020, USA

Abstract: Qatari construction projects frequently encounter significant delays. One of the major causes of these delays is ignoring Qatar's extreme weather conditions on labour productivity. This paper studies the impact of temperature, humidity, and wind on labour productivity in Qatar for four construction trades, namely, formwork, masonry, plaster, and ceramic tiles. These trades were chosen because they are time-consuming and commonly found in most construction projects. Weather and trade labour productivity data were recorded between July 2013 and February 2014. The results showed that weather conditions have a high impact on trade labour productivity. They also showed that the labour productivity in the summer can be as low as half of that in the winter. Linear regression models were developed to predict trade productivity on a given day of the year.

Keywords: extreme weather; weather impact; labour productivity; linear regression; construction delays.

DOI: 10.1504/MEJM.2018.088734

Middle East Journal of Management, 2018 Vol.5 No.1, pp.34 - 49

Received: 21 Jul 2017
Accepted: 21 Jul 2017
Published online: 15 Dec 2017 *

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