STAKEHOLDERS ASSESSMENT FOR A RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION USING SOCIAL LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT APPROACH: A CASE STUDY OF MUZAFFARABAD, AJK

Abstract

Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) is a method for evaluating the social impacts of a product or process. It aims to identify and assess the positive and negative impacts of a project on various stakeholder groups, including workers, local communities, consumers, and value chain actors. The research aims to assess and evaluate results obtain from the survey of workers and residents who are directly involved in the whole construction process. Social Development Index (SDI) was developed which measures the social well-being of society by observing the social and environmental aspects. The research aimed to identify the influence of social life cycle assessment focusing on its critical stakeholder ‘Workers’ during construction activities followed in Pakistan. From the results obtained through the survey, it can be concluded that Social Development Index is low in certain aspects and high in some. Workers claimed that safety equipment is not used by them in organizations and construction activities because they are not provided with those basic lifesaving health and safety equipment’s. Due to this reason, the risk of health and safety problems is high. Additionally, the workers claimed that they do not use safety gloves, helmets, and other safety equipment while carrying out their construction activities. Due to this reason, organizations face issues in carrying out their responsibilities proactively. When it comes to fair working conditions and extreme weather conditions situation is relatively better, mainly due to the culture of the country labors are usually hard workers, willing to work in any extreme conditions. This method can help construction professionals to make informed decisions about the social impact of their projects and to prioritize initiatives that will contribute to a more sustainable future. Also from residents perspective it was seen that workers were the key and most critical stakeholders as their safety during construction activity come first. It was seen that construction material supplier relation with consumers was much better although when it comes to the local community the constructed house residents don’t bother much about formal ethics. SLCA was done on the results of these results. Although SLCA is in its emerging phase and much research and analysis needs to be done to make a criterion that is universally accepted.2 Keywords: Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA