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. 2022 Apr 25;19(9):5203.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19095203.

Effectiveness Analysis for Smart Construction Safety Technology (SCST) by Test Bed Operation on Small- and Medium-Sized Construction Sites

Yong-Seon Kim  1 , Jae Yun Lee  1 , Young-Geun Yoon  1 , Tae-Keun Oh  1
Affiliations

Effectiveness Analysis for Smart Construction Safety Technology (SCST) by Test Bed Operation on Small- and Medium-Sized Construction Sites

Yong-Seon Kim et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

In the global construction industry, government policies have recently focused on smart construction technologies, such as those concerning the "smartization" of construction, improvements of productivity, and automation technologies. In addition, smart construction safety technologies (SCSTs) have been developed to ensure workers' safety, under the initiative of the private sector. In regards to overseas occupational safety, wearable technologies have been developed for various types of industries, and the integrated platform developments needed to link them have become mainstream. In South Korea, individual companies are focusing on developing basic SCSTs and platforms for integrated control, aiming to prevent accidents in the construction field. The goal of this study was to identify the pros and cons of SCSTs through test bed operation and to derive improvement directions. Therefore, a test bed embedded with SCSTs was built and operated to provide effective safety management for small- and medium-sized sites exposed to fatal accidents. From analyzing the data from the test bed, it was found that it is difficult to change the tendencies of workers' behaviors based solely on the introduction of SCSTs. This indicates that the effects of SCSTs are insignificant without the cooperation of workers. In addition, technical problems in field application were identified for each sensor and equipment, and the necessity, problems, and effectiveness of SCSTs were analyzed. As a result, both the installation and attachment types were found to be effective; however, workers avoided wearing certain attachment types. Based on the results derived through analysis of the pros and cons of SCSTs, the directions and guidelines were suggested for future use. This result can be used for future technology development directions, and policy establishment. Additionally, for the activation of SCSTs in the field, the cooperation of workers and the interest of managers remain essential factors, and improvements to the equipment are required.

Keywords: automation technology; construction; safety management; small- and medium-sized site; smart construction safety technology (SCST).

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Construction accident trends reported by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in 2021. (a) Construction fatalities and fatality rates *; * Fatality rates: Fatalities per 100,000 Full-Time-Equivalent works for the private-sector construction industry. (b) Four main causes of workplace deaths.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Definitions of SCT and SCSTs (including closed-circuit television (CCTV), building information management (BIM), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), artificial intelligence (AI), and Internet of Things (IoT)).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Major development directions of SCST. (a) Wearable safety technology for human condition safety. (b) Safety check using AR/VR technology of AUTODESK.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Smart construction safety equipment in major countries.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Site images of the selected test beds.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Site-specific sensor installation location and basic installation equipment.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Types of SCSTs used in the test beds.
Figure 8
Figure 8
CCTV raw data.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Analysis of fall risk area access (FRAA) sensor data for A site.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Analysis of FRAA sensor data for B site.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Analysis of heavy equipment access (HEA) sensor data for test beds.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Analysis of hazardous gas detector data for test beds.
Figure 13
Figure 13
Analysis of structure displacement sensor data for test beds.
Figure 14
Figure 14
Problems of small- and medium-sized sites identified through CCTV.
Figure 15
Figure 15
Changes in worker behavior through education and instruction.
Figure 16
Figure 16
Analysis result of image sample using YOLO v2.
Figure 17
Figure 17
SCST installation and operation plan in small- and medium-sized sites.
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