Unmanned Aerial Systems for safety monitoring in construction: Effect on safety performance

Abstract

Despite recent improvements in construction safety, the construction industry remains one of the major contributors to the number of work-related injuries and fatalities. Unsafe site conditions and unsafe behavior by workers are the main reasons behind construction accidents and accordingly these factors should be continuously monitored. The application of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for safety monitoring is currently gaining attention in the construction industry. However, the long-term effect of the use of such a system on the safety performance of a construction site is still unknown and scarcely discussed in the literature. The objective of this study is to devise an agent-based modeling tool to examine the change in the safety performance of a construction site when using a UAS for safety inspection. Safety performance is measured using three types of indicators: incident rate, safety behavior and hazards reported. Moreover, the safety performance is explored when varying an important feature of the project, which is the level of site risk. The results show a total decrease of 13.61% in the unsafe behavior of workers. Moreover, the calculated mean incident rate at the end of this year is 0.63 which is lower than the incident rate of nonfatal occupational injuries in the construction industry in 2021 which was 2.7. Finally, it is found that 79% of hazards are detected using the UAS. However, the conducted tests show better results in projects with high levels of risk. The study contribution lies in providing safety managers and practitioners with a preliminary idea about the practical benefits of drones when used for safety monitoring, as well as the chance to understand, based on the nature of the project, whether employing the UAS can add value to their system.