TY  - CONF
TI  - Impacts of Prefabrication on Construction Workers’ Wellbeing: a Case Study
C1  - Osaka and Kyoto, Japan
C3  - Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC 33)
SP  - 729
EP  - 738
PY  - 2025
DO  - 10.24928/2025/0100
AU  - Sharma, Vishal
AU  - Mah, Don
AU  - Sharma, Neetu
AU  - Al-Hussein, Mohamed
AU  - Bouferguene, Ahmed
AU  - Yu, Haitao
AD  - Instructor, J.R. Shaw School of Business, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, Edmonton, Canada, vishals@nait.ca, orcid.org/0009-0004-9617-7640
AD  - Instructor, Construction Engineering Technology, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, Edmonton, Canada, dmah@nait.ca, https://orcid.org/0009-0004-5954-9273
AD  - Assistant Professor, Department of Accounting and Finance, MacEwan University, Canada, sharman52@macewan.ca, orcid.org/0009-0001-4723-4862
AD  - Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, malhussein@ualberta.ca, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1774-9718
AD  - Professor, Campus Saint-Jean, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, ahmedb@ualberta.ca, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4629-6620
AD  - Research and Development director, Landmark Group of Companies, Canada, haitaoy@landmarkgroup.ca, orcid.org/0000-0002-7798-4867
ED  - Seppänen, Olli 
ED  - Koskela, Lauri 
ED  - Murata , Koichi 
AB  - The Industrial Revolution had lasting impacts on our social structures as well as on the built environment. The paradigm shift from a mostly agrarian society dominated by agricultural activities outdoors within a rural setting to working in an indoor environment within an urban setting has radically changed the way of life for individuals, families, and communities around the world. However, until recently, industrialization had not transformed the construction sector to the extent that is had other industrial sectors. Due to advances in modular construction, though, the construction sector is beginning to see transformation, bringing with favourable impacts on the construction workforce. Prefabrication has improved safety in construction; improved the lifestyle of workers by reducing fatigue and short-term and long-term disability claims; lowered the barriers to increased participation of women in the workforce; and enabled those less highly skilled to enter the construction job market. This paper systematically analyzes these trends in reference to a case study of the transformation of a large residential builder from traditional on-site construction to factory-based panelized construction.
KW  - Industrial Revolution
KW  - prefabrication
KW  - construction industry
KW  - worker well-being
KW  - culture and change.
PB  - 
T2  - Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC 33)
DA  - 2025/06/02
CY  - Osaka and Kyoto, Japan
L1  - http://iglc.net/Papers/Details/2304/pdf
L2  - http://iglc.net/Papers/Details/2304
N1  - Export Date: 02 June 2025
DB  - IGLC.net
DP  - IGLC
LA  - English
ER  -