Assessing Dust Emissions, Health Impacts, and Accident Risks in Prefabricated and Conventional Construction: A Comprehensive Comparative Study

Abstract

All over the world, construction accidents and respiratory diseases are among the most important problems. The prefabricated system is an introduction to reduce emissions and accidents during the construction phase. However, there is a lack of research that proves the superiority of the prefabricated system in terms of both dust health impacts and accident risks simultaneously. Therefore, this study conducts an assessment in terms of dust health impacts and accident risks to compare the prefabricated system and the conventional system. This research is carried out in the following steps. (i) collection of data, (ii) calculation of dust emission, (iii) health impact assessment, and (iv) calculation of accident risk. The conventional system produced 5,454,527.43 kg of dust, had a willingness to pay $12,631.40, and caused 4.87 × 102 injuries and 8.05 × 102 fatalities, while the prefabricated system produced 2,711,423.72 kg of dust, had a willingness to pay $6282.02, and caused 3.45 × 102 injuries and 5.69 × 102 fatalities. The results show that when the prefabricated system is applied instead of the conventional system, the dust emission, health impact, and risk level can be reduced by 38.59%, 43.04%, and 29.03%, respectively. This study contributes to previous knowledge when decision-makers select prefabricated systems over conventional systems. Furthermore, it provides insights into the health and safety impacts of both construction methods and the necessary measures to mitigate these impacts.