Harnessing BIM-Based Technology with Risk Assessment to Identify Hazards and Generate Automated Safety Schedule

Abstract

In India, 24.20% of the accidents are construction related, causing nearly 38 deaths every day. Since every construction activity has some level of associated hazards, it often leads to either loss of lives, compensation loss, work delays, or various levels of ergonomic and Musculo-Skeletal Disorders (MSDs). Poor safety management at sites often leads to accidents and reduced worker’s morale and productivity which ultimately increases indirect cost (4 times the direct cost). Safety planning also becomes necessary in Indian construction sector as it employs 51 million people but has only 4% formally skilled labours. Hence, safety planning is one of the aspects that should be paid much attention to in project management. The current study harnesses risk assessment using Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) method to identify and rank major hazards and associated risks. A safety database was prepared from applicable safety codes. Risk assessment data and safety database were integrated using Visual Scripting in Dynamo v.2.10 and exported to BIM environment of Autodesk Revit to generate a ‘Safety Schedule’ along with safety measures, which is a state-of-the-art approach in the domain of safety planning. A case study demonstrates the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed method. The proposed approach can be used by designers, site project managers, safety engineers, and other participants as a tool to foresee and predict hazards. As a result, accidents can be avoided by making timely decisions and proactive actions.