Technology in Construction Safety, Challenges and Future Trends
Twenty one years ago, on an oil and gas job site in the MENA region, a worker was trapped for 30 minutes between the giant blades of a cooling fan rotating at high speed and the protective cage surrounding the fan. He had been inspecting cables in the cage when a supervisor, who was unaware of his presence, started the fan on a pre-commissioning run. Analysis of the incident demonstrated many vulnerabilities in the project inspection and safety arrangements, which were subsequently strengthened. Although the worker escaped physically unharmed, he had to leave the job due to the trauma and it proved difficult to replace him. The project was put on hold for two weeks during the investigation, causing significant cost and time overruns.
Nirman Ventures partners have observed similar stories too often, and it is a major concern of ours. As technology investors we see the importance of emerging technology in the health and safety segments, and as such it remains a key strategic investment focus of our firm.
In this article we will elucidate the technologies and innovations available to solve a variety of health and safety problems, to reduce fatalities and improve the wellbeing of the industry stakeholders.
The statistics are tragic to the wellbeing of workers and their families. It is estimated that one in every 10 US construction workers is injured each year according to the Organization of Safety and Health (OSHA). The economic impact of injuries and fatalities on the industry is also staggering, with an estimated $2.5 billion of Workers’ Compensation payments due to construction injuries annually in the US.
Therein lies a huge opportunity to save lives, improve worker welfare and reduce costs of Construction.
Technology for a Safe Construction Site
As commonly known, the “the fatal four” causes of construction accidents are: falls, electrocution,being struck by an object, and being caught in between two objects. The acceleration of ‘safety tech’ to address these causes, via innovative construction founding teams, has proven to be impactful whenever construction contractors have taken the decision to invest.
Until recently, most investment went into Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Digital Twins, whilst safety tech was being monopolized by a few large digital companies geared towards large scale implementations. But that is changing, with a host of new and cost effective approaches being developed that are more likely to be ubiquitous in their application.
We see the following technologies playing a significant role in enhancing health and safety in the construction sector;
Health monitoring and intervention innovations
Construction Robotics
IOT Wearables
Predictive Safety
Digital Platforms
Digital mobile phone applications
Safety monitoring and intervention innovations, often utilizing wearable devices, can provide real time monitoring of worker vital signs with live feedback to a monitored control center. These applications can also help with mental health monitoring and unsafe behavior prevention.
Construction Robotics has benefited from huge advances driven by the space program and manufacturing industry. Robotics technology has become more affordable and accessible. Construction Robotics startups are working to automate dangerous processes on job sites, to augment worker capabilities, and to facilitate remote monitoring and inspections.
Startups developing IoT Wearables are working to increase the effective strength of human workers and to eliminate occupational injuries as a result of lifting heavy objects or when doing installation work in confined spaces. IoT devices can be used to monitor and report on a range of environmental factors that impact health and safety, such as: chemical contamination, inhalable dust, radiation, carbon dioxide, humidity, temperature, light, and noise.
Machine learning based Predictive Safety startups are using Machine learning and AI based predictive analytics to uncover potentially hazardous situations on job sites and make informed predictions about potential accidents that may occur. High-risk tasks and problematic safety behaviors can be managed in real time via monitoring tools that suggest the actions to be taken backed up by analytics. For example, work in confined spaces or specific lifting activities.
Smart Sensors are also being integrated with helmets or vests to minimize emergency response times and improve safety for end users. They detect sudden movements or falls and share real time locations with emergency responders.
Digital platforms for skills and competency. Safety begins with the qualifications and experience of the workforce. For large accelerated projects, contractors resort to hiring the workforce in large numbers in a short period of time to perform specific activities such as: concreting, paving, welding, structural steel installation, scaffolding, and cable laying. Technological innovation is emerging that will help builders ensure that they hire qualified workers on their projects. For instance, workers can be trained and tested remotely prior to hiring them thereby reducing travel costs, testing and qualification.
Digital mobile phone applications record and resolve minor safety issues on site without interrupting the work except where absolutely necessary. In emergencies, they can issue stop work notices in real time and direct safety evacuations without resorting to manual head counts. Regular safety activities are now part of a simple digital solution for the job site, such as: automatic sign-on, inductions, evaluations, and worker permits.
Opinion:
Based on industry statistics, construction safety has not improved despite the availability of new technologies that could make a big difference. As compared to other sectors in the economy, the construction industry has been a slow adopter, but is now in the initial stages of a safety tech revolution. Technology is out there and is becoming increasingly accessible given the advances in technologies as described earlier. The economics for adoption are justifiable and most importantly these technologies are saving lives every day. Young industry founders are putting in massive amounts of time and effort to democratize safety in the construction industry. It is no longer necessary for construction contractors to incur heavy licensing/technology costs, particularly medium size and small companies, in order to protect workers’ lives. They only need to be open to adopting these new technologies on their job sites. The construction accidents/fatality pandemic could become a thing of the past within this decade.
References
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Fatal and nonfatal falls, slips, and trips in the construction industry.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration ( OSHA).
The Human condition institute www.thehumancondition.com
https://housegrail.com/construction-injury-statistics/
