In 2023 the recipient of the CIB Keith Hampson ECR-Industry award was Dr Huey Wen Lim, who used the award to support her research on ‘Building Wellbeing in Construction 4.0: Unveiling the Influence of Prefabrication Construction Practices on Mental Health‘. Dr Lim is a McKenzie Research Fellow within the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne, and with the support of the award, she has now completed her research.
Her research has uncovered promising insights into how prefabrication construction practices could help address the construction industry’s persistent mental health challenges. The construction sector has long grappled with concerning mental health issues and suicide. These mental health challenges stem from risk factors in construction work, including excessive work overload, long hours, limited job control, work-life conflicts, insufficient support systems, hazardous environments, transient working conditions, and strong masculine norms that discourage help-seeking for mental health (Bowen et al., 2014; Chan et al., 2020; Lim & Francis, 2023).
As we enter the Construction 4.0 era, the adoption of technologies and innovative construction methods, particularly prefabrication, presents a promising opportunity to enhance mental well-being in the industry. This research specifically investigates how prefabrication can influence the mental health of the construction workforce, offering new perspectives on addressing longstanding challenges through modern construction practices.
Through a comprehensive two-month ethnographic study at a modular offsite construction factory, it involved shadowing, non-participant observations and interviews with both office-based prefabrication professionals and factory workers. This research is an extension of the McKenzie research project*, in which Wen conducted similar ethnographic research at a conventional construction project site for another two months, enabling meaningful comparisons between both construction approaches.
Research findings
The research findings revealed that prefabrication successfully mitigates several traditional construction stressors. The controlled factory setting significantly reduces physical strains on workers, while enabling more predictable schedules that support better work-life balance. Furthermore, the centralized and process-focused operations foster stronger social support networks among workers. Most significantly, such collaborative work practices in prefabrication challenge the masculine norms of traditional construction, which typically emphasise self-reliance and stigmatise help-seeking behaviours, promoting instead more positive stress-coping mechanisms.
However, while some traditional stressors are eliminated, new ones emerge in their place. For instance, while prefabrication eliminates weather-related uncertainties and onsite workload, workers in prefabrication face increased time and workload pressure from detailed advance planning requirements and higher accuracy demands for mass production and successful onsite installation. Though quality control improves in the factory setting, workers lack control over last-minute changes and defects create greater stress as they can impact multiple units in mass production.
Despite these challenges, this study revealed encouraging findings that workers in prefabrication experienced more stable employment opportunities due to the centralized workplace that enables greater work continuity across projects. The standardized nature of prefabrication work also supports enhanced career progression through structured training programs and clear advancement pathways.
As the industry moves toward Construction 4.0, prefabrication offers more than just technological innovation—it provides a framework for mental health transformation. Our research findings established a link between construction work practices and mental health, and suggests project leaders can now make informed decisions that prioritize their workforce’s psychological health, rather than viewing mental health challenges as an inevitable consequence of construction work. This research project, made possible through the CIB Keith Hampson ECR-Industry Award, provides valuable comparative insights and practical guidance for industry stakeholders committed to creating mentally healthy workspaces.
Looking ahead
Looking ahead, these insights become increasingly crucial as prefabrication adoption continues to grow. Understanding the nuanced relationship between construction work practices, either prefabrication or other innovative methods, and worker wellbeing will be essential for developing targeted management strategies that support construction workforce in the evolving construction landscape. This research marks an important step toward creating a more sustainable and healthy future for construction workforce as the industry is advancing towards Construction 4.0 and beyond.
*Dr Huey Wen Lim is the McKenzie Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne, leading the McKenzie research project focusing on project work practices and their influence on the mental health of the construction workforce.
Want More Insights?
We’re excited to share these findings with scholars and industry partners. Stay tuned for upcoming publications.
Acknowledgement:
We thank our industry partner, SYNC (https://sync.industries), for their invaluable support in conducting this study and advancing knowledge and industry practices. This project is also supported by the McKenzie Research McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellowships Program of the University of Melbourne.
Author: Huey Wen Lim
