Assessing the impact of infection rate on the productivity of re-sources in the construction industry: lessons from covid-19 pandemic

Following the declaration of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak as a pandemic, numerous countries decided to implement complete lockdowns in response to the global surge in cases. This decision significantly restricted people's movement and compelled businesses to shut down entirely. Most countries faced economic crises, and many firms laid off some of their employees. One of the economy’s significant growth drivers is the construction industry, which was also forced to a complete shutdown. Not only were they forced to shut down, but they also had to terminate some of the contracts for their upcoming projects. Many construction companies had to postpone their project until further notice, and then they decided to reduce the number of workers to diminish the probability of being infected by the virus. Consequently, it became essential to assess the pandemic's impact and develop an optimal strategy to maintain project continuity in the face of similar future pandemics. The aim of this study was to investigate and optimize the productivity of the construction crews to deal with any pandemic or similar unexpected circumstances. The study investigated the productivity related to different scenarios and determined what is the best scenario that will lead to the continuity of the project. These various scenarios were examined and compared through the use of the “AnyLogic” software program. The results reached demonstrated the impact of pandemics on the production rate of construction projects. The study demonstrated that employing only 60% of the required crew led to an additional 64 days of delay in the case study analyzed, whereas utilizing the full crew capacity allowed the project to be completed within just 100 days.