Improving construction safety using BIM-based sensor technologies

Construction sites are dynamic and complex environments which makes them difficult to control. Indeed, safety and performance efficiency are often inadequate. Construction industries are relying on new equipment and machinery to keep up with the dense and complex design projects. To cope with the development, new techniques and technologies are being adopted to deal with the rising safety risks. Automated recognition of construction risks using Building Information Modeling (BIM), is being developed and looks promising to manage and minimize accidents. The objective of this research is to show the relation between BIM and construction health and safety. As well highlight some of the sensing techniques and technologies, used with the integration of BIM, that helps with identifying, monitoring, and training workers which may lead to lower on-site accidents. The methodology adopted in this work consisted in the selection of several research papers using a reproducible approach and then a narrative and thematic analysis is performed to evaluate their contents. Several tools have been listed as well as the risks they are targeting. Based on the result of the review it is believed that BIM is rapidly growing around safety. In the future, BIM should be integrated within the start of every project and develop to anticipate threats, to maximize the proficiency and ensure the safety and good performance of workers.