Open AccessIndividual Priority Weights of Indoor Environmental Performance to Sanction a Safe and Healthy Work Environment
Author(s) -
N. Khalil,
S.N. Kamaruzzaman,
A.A.M. Bohari,
H.N. Husin,
I. Othman
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
xi'nan jiaotong daxue xuebao
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.308
H-Index - 21
ISSN - 0258-2724
DOI - 10.35741/issn.0258-2724.55.3.17
Subject(s) - analytic hierarchy process , delphi method , architectural engineering , work (physics) , occupancy , post occupancy evaluation , indoor air quality , computer science , delphi , natural ventilation , thermal comfort , process (computing) , ventilation (architecture) , risk analysis (engineering) , operations research , environmental science , engineering , business , artificial intelligence , environmental engineering , mechanical engineering , physics , thermodynamics , operating system
This article presents a new idea to improve crucial ecological issues that arise due to the poor performance of indoor environments during the occupancy phase to ensure safe and healthy working conditions for building residents. Using the Delphi technique via a focus group discussion, the authors identified seven attributes that are associated with occupants’ health and safety, namely, cooling (thermal comfort), artificial lighting (visual comfort), natural lighting (visual comfort), acoustic comfort, waste reduction, ventilation, and cleanliness. We illustrate the use of Delphi in ensuring a safe and healthy working environment via two-round stages involving 22 respondents, which include building energy experts from green and environmental organizations in Malaysia. The first round confirms the suitability of the attributes while the second determines the individual priority weights of the attributes. Our method allows improving building residents’ safety and health by focusing on improving their indoor environment, where the top attributes are ventilation (30.3%), cleanliness (17.1%), and cooling (7.4%). This new method of effectiveness evaluation is based on the calculation of the individual priority weight, which is derived from the analytical hierarchy process. In this method, respondents are made to rate the importance of each attribute in pair-wise comparison during the second round. The results of this study aid in improving the indoor environment during the occupancy phase; these results can also be used for prioritizing elements that should perform well in the performance evaluation.