Effectiveness Analysis for Smart Construction Safety Technology (SCST) by Test Bed Operation on Small- and Medium-Sized Construction Sites

Abstract

In the global construction industry, government policies have recently focused on smart construction technologies, such as those concerning the “smartization” of construction, improvements of productivity, and automation technologies. In addition, smart construction safety technologies (SCSTs) have been developed to ensure workers’ safety, under the initiative of the private sector. In regards to overseas occupational safety, wearable technologies have been developed for various types of industries, and the integrated platform developments needed to link them have become mainstream. In South Korea, individual companies are focusing on developing basic SCSTs and platforms for integrated control, aiming to prevent accidents in the construction field. The goal of this study was to identify the pros and cons of SCSTs through test bed operation and to derive improvement directions. Therefore, a test bed embedded with SCSTs was built and operated to provide effective safety management for small- and medium-sized sites exposed to fatal accidents. From analyzing the data from the test bed, it was found that it is difficult to change the tendencies of workers’ behaviors based solely on the introduction of SCSTs. This indicates that the effects of SCSTs are insignificant without the cooperation of workers. In addition, technical problems in field application were identified for each sensor and equipment, and the necessity, problems, and effectiveness of SCSTs were analyzed. As a result, both the installation and attachment types were found to be effective; however, workers avoided wearing certain attachment types. Based on the results derived through analysis of the pros and cons of SCSTs, the directions and guidelines were suggested for future use. This result can be used for future technology development directions, and policy establishment. Additionally, for the activation of SCSTs in the field, the cooperation of workers and the interest of managers remain essential factors, and improvements to the equipment are required.

A Review of Data Mining Strategies by Data Type, with a Focus on Construction Processes and Health and Safety Management

“…It has been included as one of the articles dealing in an innovative way with risk management process, including health and safety training in the workplace. Other studies, not included in the review, report an analysis based on the effectiveness of combinations of Smart Construction Safety Technologies (SCST), potentially able to generate information useful for DM and the measurement of the effectiveness of the same technologies, single and combined [33].…”

Innovative Technologies for Occupational Health and Safety: A Scoping Review

“…Regarding the contributions of these technologies to occupational safety, they include solutions which involve monitoring the work environment and physical working conditions [14][15][16][17][18][19][28][29][30][31][49][50][51], communication support [20,21,[34][35][36][37][38][39][40]56,57,61], workplace inspection [25][26][27]42,43], task monitoring [23,33,[44][45][46]58], occupational training [15,[53][54][55][56][57]59,[62][63][64]66], and protective clothing [67][68]…”

“…With the technological advancement and growth of Industry 4.0, devices that monitor safety in the workplace have been adopted in various industries [14]. Multiple developments in wearable technologies have been employed to reduce worker mortality in today's industries [15]. Physical activity trackers monitor the real-time drowsiness of drivers and operators remotely using a smart device [16].…”

“…Training using AR applications provides virtual guidance for processes within the industry environment. The applications can also place information in the worker's vision so that they do not easily omit instructions that may cause situations of risk to their physical and emotional integrity [15]. The worker can simulate the performance of activities, which can be analyzed, and thereby learn and avoid future accidents [55].…”

Empowering human–environment well‐being through wearable sensing: Unveiling trends and addressing gaps in the energy transition

“…Multidomain investigations are still incipient and should be more explored, taking advantage of the different types and functionalities of wearable sensors. Only nine studies mentioned “multidomain” in the title, abstract, or keywords (Barone et al, 2022; Cureau, Pigliautile, Kousis, & Pisello, 2022; Cureau, Pigliautile, & Pisello, 2022; Grosso et al, 2017; Horne et al, 2020; Kim et al, 2022; Mansi, Pigliautile, et al, 2021; Nooruddin et al, 2022; Piau et al, 2021). Besides the study of multidomain comfort using wearable devices, some other points still need more investigation in the field, considering the analyzed publications.…”