An object library approach for managing construction safety components based on BIM

Abstract

Purpose One of the potential solutions for designers' lack of safety expertise in design decision is utilizing IPD to allow for constructor input. But how this is to be done is often unclear because few cases from either practice or research can be found. In this study we tried to develop an IPD-method to facilitate 'safety in design' with the contractor's knowledge using an object-oriented programming (OOP) approach for design decision based on BIM. Method Our principal research method is simulation of the decision process in OOP2 in a case study. The integration of contractor's knowledge in construction safety is achieved by setting parameters for construction safety investment with contractor's input into a construction safety component library (CSCL) e.g. scaffolds, boards, barriers, etc. under the proposed IPD-framework. Results & Discussion A prototype of CSCL using one OOP-language, C#, is developed in Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 to Autodesk Revit 2012 with a completed construction project for demonstration. The results show that CSCL is a semiautomated tool with contractor's knowledge of construction safety for design decision. It is consistent with the theory that BIM is not only a type of software but a knowledge repository for in-depth collaboration, information sharing and knowledge re-use among all parties involved in a project. New issues and rethinks including level of detail (LoD) on company's library, IPDevaluation metrics, and BIM-development method addressing construction safety management, are also recommended in the final part.

Information Technology Applications in Construction Safety Assurance

“…Information technology has been applied in a wide array of applications to provide solutions to construction safety problems. Efforts made by researchers to assess the occupational safety (Dėjus, Antuchevičienė 2013), monitor performance of workers, equipment and construction environment, to replace human operations with robots and to collaborate among themselves are vital in creating a safe-working environment and in reducing casualties (Shin et al 2014;Moon et al 2014a;Ma et al 2014;Kim et al 2014;Han et al 2014;Guo et al 2014;Fung et al 2014;Choe et al 2014;Zhu et al 2013;Zhang et al 2013a;Ye et al 2013;Wu et al 2013a;Wang 2013;Sparer, Dennerlein 2013;Sepasgozar, Bernold 2013;Schikora et al 2013;Rubio-Romero et al 2013;Qin 2013;Melzner et al 2013;Marzouk, Ali 2013;Luo et al 2013;Li et al 2013;Kivrak et al 2013;Kim, Park 2013;Kasirossafar, Shahbodaghlou 2013a;Hinze et al 2013;Hammad et al 2013;Ding et al 2013aDing et al , 2013cZhou et al 2012;Zhao, Ye 2012;Yang et al 2012;Ren et al 2012;Li, Hua 2012;Li et al 2012a;Huang 2012;Hamidi et al 2012;…”

A Review of Ontology-Based Safety Management in Construction

“…Melzner et al [15] integrated the identification of automated accident inspection platforms related to falls. Li and Hua [16] adopted an object library approach for the management of safety components, such as safety equipment collected and presented in the safety design. Aziz et al [17] introduced an ontology-based method to model and measure possible hazard scenarios for different system properties as well as operational and environmental conditions to perform rapid risk estimation using automated procedures for hazard identification.…”