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The practice of the defects liability period (DLP) is a risk management strategy meant to secure durable and high-quality works. However, construction products continue to malfunction even after the expiration of DLPs. This study seeks to determine the adequacy of DLPs existing in the construction industry and propose appropriate DLPs for construction projects in the Ghanaian construction industry.

Applying quantitative research strategy, 124 questionnaires were retrieved from construction professionals surveyed. The data obtained were analysed using descriptive statistics, Cramer’s V and the significance test with the aid of Stata software.

It was found that defects start showing in both buildings and roads within 12 months after being handed over for the client’s use. The significance test and Cramer’s V analysis indicate low concordance amongst respondents that the 6–12 month DLPs existing in Ghana are adequate. It is found that the existing DLP practice does not provide sufficient security to clients.

Construction project clients will need to include the tenderer’s proposed DLP as part of the tender evaluation criteria with the objective of picking up a signal of the quality of work to be delivered.

This paper is one of the pioneering studies addressing the issue of the adequacy of DLPs in the construction industry in the Sub-Saharan Africa region. The findings trigger policy and regulatory changes in conditions guiding construction contracts procured in most developing countries that have adopted and adapted to the World Bank Public Procurement Guidelines.

The lack of carbon emission reduction strategies specifically devised for buildings in urban areas in developing countries has affected the global course of tackling carbon emissions. The purpose of this study is to identify the causes of carbon emissions from buildings in urban settings in Ghana and generate specific reduction strategies.

The study was conducted with reference to Kumasi Metropolis, an urban area in Ghana. Adopting a survey research design, data obtained from 106 built environment professionals (BEP) were analyzed using Garrett’s mean ranking and factor analysis (FA) techniques.

Urban buildings’ carbon emissions in the study area are attributable to construction, demolition energy consumption, technological and economic factors. The strategies emerging from the study emphasize organizational and governmental policy and regulatory factors, as well as the adoption of indigenous sustainable materials and technology.

BEPs and construction industry regulatory bodies will have to consider socioeconomic characteristics of a specific location in the development of organizational and localized carbon emission reduction policies.

Local authorities who plan economic activities such as trading and associated taxation in urban areas in developing countries should consider the climate change implications of such socioeconomic activities.

This is one of the first studies that has conceived carbon emission causes and reduction strategies within the context of a typical developing country’s urban setting to overcome the pragmatic challenges associated with past carbon emission reduction frameworks.

Social value (SV) is gaining traction worldwide. However, there are no clear strategies to drive SV where there is limited or no formal SV legislation. The purpose of this study is to determine the key drivers of SV through construction procurement practices in regions without formal SV laws.

Quantitative data on the SV drivers of construction projects were obtained from local government construction procurement operatives using a survey questionnaire. The analytic hierarchy process was applied to prioritise SV drivers. A one-sample t-test was used to determine the significance of the SV drivers. Subsequently, the Pareto technique was deployed to determine the key drivers of SV.

The key drivers of SV to consider during construction procurement are investment by project clients, the education and training of contractors and consultants and organisational planning and policy reformation.

The findings of this study will engender investment in sustainable projects and the integration of SV into construction practices to elevate industry standards, enhance corporate reputation and meet social expectations. The strategies identified in this study for promoting SV will foster community development through improved infrastructure, job creation and economic growth while supporting long-term sustainability and resilience.

The originality of this research lies in its context-specific insights into a country without formal SV legislation. The proactive measures identified, such as education and policy alignment, demonstrate a bottom-up approach for integrating SV into construction procurement. This contrasts with top-down legislative approaches seen in other contexts, providing a unique perspective on how SV can be driven in the absence of formal laws.

Over dependence on river/sea sand as building material has impacted the environment negatively. However, laterite, which is an environment-friendly indigenous building material in sub-Saharan Africa, has been less exploited as a suitable alternative. This paper aims to ascertain the optimum cement–laterite mix proportion at which laterite can be stabilized for production of walling units.

Using an experimental method, laterite was collected from three borrow pit sites. Sieve analysis was performed to determine the particle size distribution. Also, the degree of workability of the cement–laterite mix was ascertained using slump test. Compressive strengths were determined at cement stabilization percentages of 3%, 7% and 10% on 12 cubes of100 mm cast and cured for 14 and 28 days, respectively.

The results showed that the lateritic soil investigated, achieves its optimum strength in 28 days of curing, at a stabilization level of 10%. An average compressive strength of 2.41 N/mm2, which is 20.5% greater than the target strength, was achieved.

To meet the desired compressive strength of alternative walling units while achieving environmental sustainability and efficiency in production, cement stabilization of lateritic soils should become a recommended practice by built environment professionals in sub-Saharan Africa.

This paper is one of the first research works that attempts to determine the optimum level at which the abundant sub-Saharan laterite can be chemically stabilized for the production of non-load bearing walling units. This research promotes an environment-friendly alternative building material to sea sand, river sand and off-shore sand.

There is low adoption rate of existing environmentally sustainable construction frameworks. Contractors have dwindled capability to adapt to environmentally sustainable construction (ESC) towards achievement of SDGs. The aim of this paper is to develop a framework that leverages both theoretical and practical aspects of sustainable construction to enable contractors' adaptation to ESC at the micro level.

Due to the social constructivism orientation of the objectives of this research, abductive approach and qualitative research strategy were adopted. Data were obtained through interviews and validation focus group discussion. Content analysis and thematic template analyses techniques were employed to conduct qualitative data analyses.

There are peculiar ESC barriers that need to be overcome by contractors in the study area. Legislative and financing efforts of stakeholders are key contractors' ESC adaptation drivers. Contractors in less affluent societies, such as Ghana, require high resilience, dense and centralized social network structures and isomorphic and coercive drivers to be able to adapt to ESC.

The scope of this research is limited to the data gathered from large construction firms in Ghana, a developing country in the sub-Saharan region.

This is one of the first papers that provide guidelines on developing capability of contractors in a developing country to adapt to ESC. The paper addresses the challenge in the ecological modernization theory by adducing empirical evidence to prescribe guidelines on how contractors can increase rate of efficiency through collaborative strategies that engender ESC.

The purpose of this study was to determine the transaction cost (TC) contractors incur when tendering for a project as well as establish a correlation between the TC of tender and tender amount of projects procured through the national competitive bidding procurement method.

The research draws extensively documentary analysis, observation and interviews to collect cost data on 14 different tenders submitted by a D1/K1 contractor. Using TC theory, the data are analyzed and the actual cost is determined. Further, Spearman rank correlation is employed to establish a relationship between tender price (TP) and the cost of tender by the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences.

The research developed a tender preparation conceptual framework highlighting the components of TC in competitive tendering in Ghana and also revealed that, apart from the emotional and psychological costs, contractors in Ghana incur approximately Gh₵ 4,625 (US$ 925)–Gh₵ 2,520 (US$ 504) to prepare and submit a competitive tender. In relation to the tender figure, the TC of tender in Ghana ranges from 0.05% to 0.65% and an average of 0.33%. Also, there is an inverse correlation between TP and the percentage cost of tender.

The research relied on 14 competitive tenders and also limited to public sector works. Findings from the study should therefore be applied with caution.

This study is the only known research that has focused on assessing the TC of public sector competitive tendering from a contractor's perspective and within a developing sub-Saharan African context.

The Bhutanese refugee camps of eastern Nepal are home to a mass resettlement operation; over half the population has been relocated within the past five years. While recent research suggests Bhutanese refugees are experiencing degradation of social networks and rising suicide rates, little is known about ethnocultural pathways to coping and resilience in this population.

A common coping measure (Brief COPE) was adapted to the linguistic and cultural context of the refugee camps and administered to a representative sample of 193 Bhutanese refugees as part of a broader ten‐month ethnographic study of resilience.

Active coping, planning, and positive reframing were the most frequently utilized strategies, followed by acceptance, religion, and seeking emotional support. Exploratory factor analysis resulted in five factors: humor, denial, behavioral disengagement; positive reframing, planning, active coping; emotional support, instrumental support; interpersonal (a new sub‐scale), acceptance, self‐blame; and venting, religion.

Data support the relevance of some dimensions of coping while revealing particularities of this population.

Findings can inform future research and intervention efforts aimed at reducing suicide and promoting mental health across the Bhutanese refugee diaspora.

This is the first mixed‐methods study of coping in the Bhutanese refugee camp population since the start of a mass resettlement exercise. Qualitative data and ethnography were used to illuminate measured trends in local coping behavior.

This study aims to examine the socio-economic and environmental impacts of mining activities as perceived by communities in Ghana, with data being drawn from primary and secondary sources.

A total of 90 community residents were interviewed, with 15 from each of the six selected different communities.

The findings revealed a positive perception that corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices of mining companies contribute to the development of mining communities in Ghana by creating jobs and generating income. However, it became clear that mining activities, particularly small-scale mining, create many social and environmental challenges as well. This includes land degradation, which reduces the fertility of community-owned land suitable for agricultural use. In addition, pollution of waterways and streams intensifies the plight of community residents living in mining areas.

Since 2011, the mining industry has invested between US$12m (in 2013) and US$44m (in 2011) in Ghana’s communities. The amount spent in 2019 was US$24m. The funds were spent by the industry in areas such as roads, education, health and electricity, among others. Still, it seems more effort is needed by the mining companies to harmonise the CSR practice and gain better impression by local people. In spite of the mining industry’s investment levels, more than half of the community respondents said it was insufficient. One-third of the respondents went as far as suggesting the mining companies had a negative impact on infrastructure improvement and community development.

Safety science research has largely focused on areas such as oil and gas, mining and construction, with a paucity of research in the agricultural sector which constitutes over 60% of the workforce in Ghana. This paper investigated the extent to which religiosity of rice farm workers predicts their safety performance through safety behaviour.

The authors collected data from 469 respondents, comprising 347 males and 122 females from three large rice irrigation schemes in southern Ghana in a cross-sectional survey, and analysed the data with partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).

Religiosity had a moderate positive direct relationship with safety behaviour, while safety behaviour had a very weak relationship with safety performance. Also, safety behaviour played a competitive partial mediating role in the relationship between religiosity and safety performance.

The findings led to the conclusion that religiosity is an essential direct antecedent of safety behaviour at work and an indirect antecedent of safety performance. Accordingly, the authors recommend that safety practitioners, managers and supervisors put mechanisms in place to cautiously encourage optional religious programmes that would enable organisational members to get a deeper understanding and knowledge of their religion and promote religious freedom and diversity at the workplace.

This paper has contributed to the debate on the relevance of religiosity at work and occupational safety and health promotion in the African context. This seems to be the only study in Ghana that has investigated how religiosity relates to safety behaviour in production agriculture, specifically, rice farming. Another contribution of this study is the evidence supporting the mediating role of safety behaviour in the relationship between religiosity and safety performance.