UTTRI associated faculty Professor Tamer El-Diraby‘s research is featured in “U of T survey of constructors seeks best practices for next pandemic,” Daily Commercial News, February 1, 2021.
El-Diraby’s research project “Best Practices for Industry-wide Collective Action to Manage Pandemics in the Ontario Construction Sector” is conducted by the University of Toronto in collaboration with leading industry associations. The aim is to develop best practices for the construction sector on how to better manage and deal with future pandemics.
In the article, El-Diraby says that the construction sector has done well with advocacy and with developing new supply chains during COVID-19. But it could have adapted much better overall if there had been a strategic preparedness and response plan in place.
“It is obvious that the sector is going through a big challenge,” said El-Diraby. “The industry has suffered a lot and many people, especially small contractors, are going through a very hard time.
“This challenge is not just PPE or social distancing or wearing the mask. The challenge goes to the core survival of the sector, and the major consequences on the performance of companies, realization of projects and, more important, the livelihood of the labour force.”
Professor El-Diraby has developed a preliminary set of best practices based on literature review and inputs from domain experts. He is now collecting survey responses from industry and will later conduct interviews and workshops to evaluate these best practices.
This industry-wide input will inform the highest possible standard of recommended best practices for the construction sector.