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There are many safety hazards in construction workplaces, and inattention to the hazards is the main reason why construction workers failed to identify the hazards. Reasonably allocating attention during hazard identification is critical for construction workers’ safety. However, adverse working environments in job sites may undermine workers’ attention. Previous studies failed to investigate the impacts of environmental factors on attention allocation, which hinders taking appropriate measures to eliminate safety incidents when encountering adverse working environments. This study aims to examine the effects of workplace noise and heat exposure on workers’ attention allocation during construction hazard identification to fill the research gap.

This study applied an experimental study where a within-subject experiment was designed. Fifteen construction workers were invited to perform hazard identification tasks in panoramic virtual reality. They were exposed to three noise levels (60, 85 and 100 dBA) in four thermal conditions (26°C, 50% RH; 33°C, 50% RH; 30°C, 70% RH; 33°C, 70% RH). Their eye movements were recorded to indicate their attention allocation under each condition.

The results show that noise exposure reduced workers’ attention to hazardous areas and the impacts increased with the noise level. Heat exposure also reduced the attention, but it did not increase with the heat stress but with subjects’ thermal discomfort. The attention was impacted more by noise than heat exposure. Noise exposure in the hot climate should be more noteworthy because lower levels of noise would lead to significant changes. These visual characteristics led to poorer identification accuracy.

This study could extend the understanding of the relationship between adverse environmental factors and construction safety. Understanding the intrinsic reasons for workers' failed identification may also provide insights for the industry to enhance construction safety under adverse environments.

This paper aims to explore the impact of fourth-party logistics (4PL) adoption on the agility, adaptability and alignment (AAA) capabilities within humanitarian supply chains (HSCs).

Semi-structured interviews with individuals from a large non-government organisation were combined with secondary data to assess the influence of 4PL adoption on AAA capabilities in HSCs.

The results indicate that HSCs exhibit some of the AAA antecedents but not all are fully realised. While 4PL positively affects the AAA capabilities of HSCs, its adoption faces challenges such as the funding environment, data security/confidentiality and alignment with humanitarian principles. The study suggests an AAA antecedent realignment, positioning alignment as a precursor to agility and adaptability. It also identifies three core antecedents in HSCs: flexibility, speed and environmental uncertainty.

The study shows the positive impact 4PL adoption can have on the AAA capabilities of HSCs. The findings have practical relevance for those wishing to optimise HSC performance through 4PL adoption, by identifying the inhibiting factors to its adoption as well as strategies to address them.

This research empirically explores 4PL’s impact on AAA capabilities in HSCs, highlighting the facilitating and hindering factors of 4PL adoption in this environment as well as endorsing a realignment of AAA antecedents. It also contributes to the growing research on SC operations in volatile settings.

This study aims to provide a comprehensive review of the existing literature on uncertainty in underground mining operations, using a bibliometric and systematic analysis covering the period from 1975 to 2024.

To achieve this, the following questions were addressed using a mixed-method approach involving bibliometrics, text mining and content analysis: How has the field of uncertainty research in underground mining operations evolved? What are the most prominent research topics and trends in uncertainty in underground mining operations? and What are the possible directions for future research on uncertainty in underground mining operations?

As a result, bibliometric networks of 327 journal articles from the Scopus database were created and examined, the main research topics were underground mining management; rock mechanics; operational optimization; and stochastic systems. Finally, the inclusive investigation of uncertainty in underground mining operations and its prominent patterns can serve as a basis for real-time direction for new research and as a tool to improve underground mining activities by implementing advanced technology for innovative practices and optimizing operational efficiency. This is fundamental to identify unknown variables that impair the planning, operation, safety and economic viability of underground mines.

This research is 100% original because there is no review research on the uncertainty present in underground mining operations.