Improving environmental performance by means of empowerment of contractors

Purpose - To present ways for empowering contractors in improving environmental performance particularly to meet the requirements defined in ISO 14000.

Design/methodology/approach - Reviews the traditional methodologies for protecting the environment in undertaking construction activities, investigates the limitations of these methods and the associated reasons, and applies the principles of ISO 14000 environmental management system (EMS) to develop an effective framework for helping contractors to become competent in implementing environmental management.

Findings - The major methodologies developed for protecting the environment in construction include governmental regulations, economic measures, and EMSs. However, the applications of these measures are limited. The typical causes contributing to the limitation include the clash between cost and environment, environmentally passive culture within construction industry, lack of co-operation among project parties, and clash between contract time and implementing environmental management methods. Furthermore, the practice of environment management is mainly driven by external impetus such as legal enforcement incentive programmes from government. However, the effectiveness cannot be gained if internal motivation does not exist. This paper introduces a framework to help a contractor to cultivate an environmentally friendly culture within its organization.

Originality/value - Proposes a framework for empowering contractors in improving environmental performance by identifying the weaknesses of the existing practice and applying a systematic approach of implementing environmental management approaches.