Real-time accident detection using UWB tracking

Construction industry has one of the highest numbers of fatalities among Canadian industries. Despite ongoing efforts to improve safety through trainings and promoting personal protective equipment (PPE), the number of construction fatalities in Canada is actually on the rise. Studies show that systematically monitoring construction sites and providing immediate feedback to workers are instrumental in improving safety. In particular, close monitoring of the real-time status of moving objects has been shown to improve the safety, productivity and performance on construction sites. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and automation techniques have shown strong potentials for identifying hazards. As a result, automated data collection to monitor the status of the construction sites has received researchers’ attention in recent decades. The objective of this study is to develop a model that prevents the accidents on construction sites using automated real-time location estimations. A model is developed to detect situations that can lead to fall or colliding with moving objects based on proximity of workers to these situations. The system will use the readings from UWB tracking and generates a visualization of the moving objects on the job site in real time. When the possibility of an accident is detected, the system will send an alarm to warn the involved personnel. The functionality and efficiency of the model in detecting accidents is examined. The results of these experiments shed light on the importance of addressing the time delays caused by UWB tracking in actual real-time applications.