Examining the views of construction industry professionals in selecting equipment based on sustainable development criteria

Nowadays, sustainable development is emphasized in the construction industry due to the negative environmental and social consequences of focusing only on economic factors. Construction equipment are widely used in projects. In this research, it has been tried to identify the selection criteria of construction equipment based on sustainable development. Then, the views of those involved in construction projects are examined to determine what criteria are used to select machines and equipment and to what extent sustainable development criteria are taken into account. The relative importance index in a field study using a questionnaire shows that among the 32 examined criteria, initial investment cost, the efficiency and effectiveness of equipment, and the safety of the equipment are three important criteria and creating jobs and entrepreneurship, using suitable fuels and using non-destructive lubricants were the least important criteria from the respondents' point of view. Also, the results of the factor analysis show that the criteria considered by the construction industry professionals can be summarized in 6 factors, which are: acquisition and investment, operating costs, reliability, convenience and accessibility, social criteria and finally environmental criteria. In general, the ranking of the main groups of criteria shows that while social and environmental concerns are important criteria in sustainable development, according to the respondents, they are not very important compared to engineering and economic criteria. This result requires the attention of managers and officials to change the views of construction industry professionals with some countermeasures such as raising environmental standards and amending laws.