An Automated Methodology for Worker Path Generation and Safety Assessment in Construction Projects

Collisions between automated moving equipment and human workers in job sites are one of the main sources of fatalities and accidents during the execution of construction projects. In this paper, we present a methodology to identify and assess project plans in terms of hazards before their execution. Our methodology has the following steps: 1) several potential plans are extracted from an initial activity graph; 2) plans are translated from a high-level activity graph to a discrete-event simulation model; 3) trajectories and safety policies are generated that avoid static and moving obstacles using existing motion planning algorithms; 4) safety scores and risk-based heatmaps are calculated based on the trajectories of moving equipment; and 5) managerial implications are provided to select an acceptable plan with the aid of a sensitivity analysis of different factors (cost, resources, and deadlines) that affect the safety of a plan. Finally, we present illustrative case study examples to demonstrate the usefulness of our model.Note to Practitioners—Currently, construction project planning does not explicitly consider safety due to a lack of automated tools that can identify a plan’s safety level before its execution. This paper proposes an automated construction safety assessment tool which is able to evaluate the alternate construction plans and help to choose considering safety, cost, and deadlines. Our methodology uses discrete-event modeling along with motion planning to simulate the motions of workers and equipment, which account for most of the hazards in construction sites. Our method is capable of generating safe motion trajectories and coordination policies for both humans and machines to minimize the number of collisions. We also provide safety heatmaps as a spatiotemporal visual display of construction site to identify risky zones inside the environment throughout the entire timeline of the project. Additionally, a detailed sensitivity analysis helps to choose among plans in terms of safety, cost, and deadlines.

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