Innovation and Craft Revival

Protecting and preserving the knowledge and skills of traditional crafts is a growing challenge. Further, ensuring a sustainable livelihood to artisans working in these traditional crafts is a tall order. Section one of the chapter explores the traditional tribal art form widely practised among a semi-nomadic tribe in the north-west region of India. Section two of the chapter examines the role of a not-for-profit organization involved in the revival of the ancient Lambani craft. Sabala- an organization located in one of the districts in Southern India has been working on the revival and preservation of Lambani embroidery. At Sabala, crafts are designed to enhance the creative appeal of products for the local and global market, as well. The integration of both, the creative design and the execution of craft in the hands of the artisans can ensure ingenuity in the craft form and not reduce the craft worker to a mere labourer.

Quantitative analysis of the impact of craft worker availability on construction project safety performance

Purpose This paper aims to quantify the impact of craft worker shortage on construction project safety performance. Design/methodology/approach A database of 50 North American construction projects completed between 2001 and 2014 was compiled by taking information from a research project survey and the Construction Industry Institute Benchmarking and Metrics Database. The t-test and Mann-Whitney test were used to determine whether there was a significant difference in construction project safety performance on projects with craft worker recruiting difficulty. Poisson regression analysis was then used to examine the relationship between craft worker recruiting difficulty and Occupational Safety and Health Administration Total Number of Recordable Incident Cases per 200,000 Actual Direct Work Hours (TRIR) on construction projects. Findings The result showed that the TRIR distribution of a group of projects that reported craft worker recruiting difficulty tended to be higher than the TRIR distribution of a group of projects with no craft worker recruiting difficulty (p-value = 0.004). Moreover, the average TRIR of the projects that reported craft worker recruiting difficulty was more than two times the average TRIR of projects that experienced no craft recruiting difficulty (p-value = 0.035). Furthermore, the Poisson regression analysis demonstrated that there was a positive exponential relationship between craft worker recruiting difficulty and TRIR in construction projects (p-value = 0.004). Research limitations/implications The projects used to construct the database are heavily weighted towards industrial construction. Practical implications There have been significant long-term gains in construction safety within the USA. However, if recent craft shortages continue, the quantitative analyses presented herein indicate a strong possibility that more safety incidents will occur unless the shortages are reversed. Innovative construction means and methods should be developed and adopted to work in a safe manner with a less qualified workforce. Originality/value The Poisson regression model is the first model that quantifiably links project craft worker availability to construction project safety performance.