Emerging Tech revolutionize Health and Safety in the Construction space

Technology is constantly improving the way the construction industry operates. Smartphones and mobile apps have made communication and collaboration on projects easier. Building Information Modeling improves project visualization, makes scheduling more efficient and reduces waste and rework. One aspect that often goes overlooked is how technology can be leveraged to improve construction site safety. Construction remains one of the deadliest occupations.

This has been changing in the past few years as companies realize that technology can be used to better protect their workers. Here are a few ways that technology is being used to make construction sites safer:

Drones

The commercial use of unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly referred to as drones, has really taken off ever since the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) established rules for their use last year.

In construction, drones are being used on jobsites for everything from site surveying to inspecting structures to creating promotional videos. They are also being used to make construction sites safer.

Drones can be used to quickly conduct jobsite inspections and identify potential hazards each day. They can also be used to monitor workers throughout the day to ensure everyone is working safely. Drones are being used to take photos of as work progresses create as-built models of jobsites to keep everyone informed of the changing work conditions each day.

Exoskeletons

Exoskeletons and power-assist suits are being developed for industrial use so workers can lift and carry objects or use heavy tools for longer periods of time without putting undue stress and strain on the body.

Unpowered devices like those developed by companies like Ekso Bionics and StrongArm Technologies are designed to reduce fatigue and injury and maintain proper posture. These devices use counterweights or redistribute loads to stronger muscles to make lifting and carrying easier.

Powered suits, like those developed by companies like Daewoo and Panasonic, uses sensors and motors to assist workers by reducing back strain and allowing them to lift heavy objects.

Virtual Reality

Virtual reality simulators have been used for years to train soldiers, pilots and surgeons and could be used the same way to train workers on everything from operating cranes and excavators to doing welding and masonry work.

Safety training and equipment operator training are two areas where virtual reality could impact construction in the future. Workers could get exposure to environments such as confined spaces or working at height in a controlled environment.

Wearables

Human Condition, a New York-based think tank, is developing construction wearables with a focus on eliminating injuries and fatalities caused by OSHA’s Fatal Four Hazards: falls, struck-by, electrocution and caught-in/between.

They’ve designed a safety vest and hard hat that integrates low-cost wearable computers, sensors, GPS and real-time locating systems (RTLS). The hard hat would be equipped with solar chargers and the safety vest would have kinetic chargers to power them. The safety vest includes an airbag collar that would inflate should a worker fall and would monitor vital signs and repetitive motions.

The hard hat has built-in LEDs that does double duty as both a work light and a safety beacon. The data gathered from these devices can be accessed through the cloud with a mobile interface in real-time so site supervisors can keep an eye on all the workers at a jobsite.

Smart clothing, or e-textiles, that can monitor vital signs like respiration rate, skin temperature, and heart rate will also make their way to the construction site. These wearables will be able to monitor a worker’s posture, track movements, determine if they are suffering from fatigue and whether they are intoxicated or under the influence of narcotics. Keeping a watchful eye on workers can help predict an accident before it occurs.

Self-Driving Trucks & Heavy Equipment

Crash trucks equipped with attenuators have been used for years in highway work zones to protect workers and motorists. Royal Truck & Equipment has developed an autonomous Truck Mounted Attenuator (TMA) truck to protect the one person still at risk when crash trucks are used, the driver.

The driverless crash trucks follow a lead vehicle that would transmit GPS information back to the crash truck instructing it when to turn, brake and what speed to travel.

Heavy equipment manufacturers, like Komatsu and Caterpillar, have machines capable of operating autonomously or being controlled remotely. This type of technology allows operators to be completely removed from the machine to eliminate injuries from potential rollovers and other hazards. In addition to the safety aspect, these intelligent machines are also highly efficient so productivity can remain high.

Site Sensors

Companies like SmartSite and Pillar Technologies have developed site sensors that can be deployed across a construction site to monitor things like temperature, noise levels, dust particulates and volatile organic compounds to help limit exposure to workers.

The sensors are mounted throughout the construction site and can alert workers immediately when they are at risk from permissible exposure levels being reached. Data from the sensors are collected and can be analyzed to mitigate exposure levels and keep workers safe and stay compliant with OSHA regulations.

Solid State Circuit Breakers more than just a breaker; power is smartly controlled and exponentially safer

Circuit breakers manage the flow of electricity and protect us from the immense hazards of surging electrical currents. The modern world has outgrown the risks and constraints of traditional circuit breakers. Unlock a future where power is smartly controlled and exponentially safer.  In response to enhanced electric installation, a Solid State Circuit Breaker provides high reliability and full range of protections.

Soli State Circuit Breaker

The solid-state circuit breaker (SSCB) is a device used in the power system in order to provide protection when a short circuit or fault current occurs. SSCB is controlled through the current/time characteristics of that used in the conventional mechanical circuit breakers, in addition, to limit the high fault current levels (fault current limiter) especially with the proliferation of the distributed generation and the associated fault current level increase.

In order to achieve the safety, high availability, and high power quality of the system when a short circuit or an overload occurs, SSCBs have been proposed to keep the system limitations in a lower distribution level. The SSCB  is a circuit breaker with solid state devices connected in the circuit, in order to protect the power system components abnormal operating condition.The SSCB is a new technology that can be used to implement various functions and to offer several advantages as:
– Limiting the fault current
– For different voltage and current levels, stacking the appropriate module numbersto perform the appropriate
adoption
– If any problem happened to one of the modules in the SSCB, the broken one can be replaced by a spare module, rather than replacing the whole circuit breaker in the complete switch.Therefore, the maintenance and testing of the circuit will be simplified with less time wasting
– SSCB is a device with no arcing and switch bounce
– SSCB offers a higher reliability
– SSCB can switch in a range of microseconds, as opposed to millisecond for the mechanical circuit breaker
– For a lower voltage level, the individual modules used are small that will makethe design of SSCBsimple.

ICT Developments In The Construction Industry

Imagine what the job site would be like today without technology. Without power tools, we’d be cutting boards and drilling holes by hand. Without heavy equipment, labourers would be excavating sites and digging trenches with shovels and pickaxes. Without the elevator, buildings would only be a few stories tall. The point is, technological advancements have always driven construction forward, so it’s odd that so many companies are slow to adopt new tech. Technology has made construction sites safer and workers more efficient. It has allowed us to increase productivity, improve collaboration, and tackle more complex projects.

Major areas where technology is impacting and improving the construction industry:

Productivity
According to research from McKinsey & Company, construction productivity has remained flat for decades. The traditional method of design-bid-build makes construction disjointed and siloed. Every construction site is different, presenting its own unique set of challenges and risks. This makes it difficult to streamline processes and increase productivity the way industries like manufacturing and retail have been able to do.

Software & Mobile Apps

Today there are software and mobile solutions to help manage every aspect of a construction project. From preconstruction to scheduling, from project management and field reporting to managing your back office, there’s a software solution out there to help streamline your processes and improve productivity. Most software solutions are cloud-based, allowing changes and updates to documents, schedules, and other management tools to be made in real time, facilitating better communication and collaboration.

Mobile technology allows for real-time data collection and transmission between the jobsite and project managers in the back office. Cloud-based solutions enable on-site employees to submit timecards, expense reports, requests for information (RFIs), work records, and other verified documentation. This can save hundreds of hours per year in data entry and automatically organizes critical files—no more shuffling through files looking for old reports.

Offsite Construction

Offsite construction is typically used on projects with repetitive floorplans or layouts in their design such as apartment buildings, hotels, hospitals, dormitories, prisons, and schools. Offsite is performed in a controlled environment and it works similar to an auto manufacturing plant. At each station, workers have all the tools and materials to consistently perform their task, whether that be constructing a wall frame or installing electrical wiring. This assembly plant method of construction reduces waste and allows workers to be more productive.

Offsite construction typically comes in two forms: modular and prefabricated. With modular construction, entire rooms can be built complete with MEP, finishes, and fixtures already installed. They can be rooms as small as bathrooms or modules can be fitted together onsite to create larger spaces like apartment units. The modular units are transported to the construction site and then inserted and attached to the structural frame.

With prefabricated construction, building components are built offsite and then assembled or installed once they have been transported to the construction site. Prefabricated building components cover everything from framing, internal and external wall panels, door and window assemblies, floor systems, and multi-trade racks, which are panels with all the ductwork, wiring and plumbing packaged together.

AI & Machine Learning

Construction firms are now using data to make better decisions, increase productivity, improve jobsite safety and reduce risks. With artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning systems, firms can turn the mountains of data they have collected over the years on projects to predict future outcomes on projects and gain a competitive advantage when estimating and bidding on construction projects.

AI can improve worker productivity by reducing the amount of time wasted moving about the construction site to retrieve tools, materials, and equipment to perform certain tasks. Workers are tracked throughout the day using smartphones or wearables.

Sensors installed on materials and equipment track how everything else is moving about the construction site. Once enough data sets are collected, AI can analyze how workers move about and interact with the site to come up with solutions to reorganize the placement of tools and materials to make them more accessible to workers and reduce downtime.

Deep-learning algorithms are then used to identify and report errors in work performed. This can be anything from the excavation and site work to the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems. The AI can recognize a building component based on its shape, size and location even if only a portion of the component is visible.

Safety & Training
As technology adoption continues to ramp up in the construction industry, one area getting a lot of attention is improving safety. Of the 4,963 worker deaths in 2016, 991 were in construction. Worker safety should be the number one priority of every construction company and technology solutions are making it easier to properly train and monitor workers to prevent accidents and reduce the rate of serious injuries and worker deaths.

Augmented & Virtual Reality

Safety training and equipment operator training are two areas where virtual reality (VR) could have a strong impact on the construction industry. With VR, workers could get exposure to environments such as confined spaces or working at height in a safe, controlled environment.

VR simulators have been used for years to train soldiers, pilots, and surgeons and could be used in the same way to train workers on everything from operating cranes and excavators to doing welding and masonry work.

Augmented reality (AR) is another technology that can greatly improve safety on the construction site. Whether it’s allowing for a more detailed safety plan to be developed or providing training on heavy equipment using actual equipment on real sites with augmented hazards, there are a number of ways that AR can be deployed on the jobsite.

Workers could walk to a specific area of a jobsite and have a safety checklist, specific to the task at hand, pop up on a display integrated into a smart hard hat or safety goggles to make sure they have the proper personal protective equipment on and are performing their tasks safely. Safety managers and trainers could monitor exactly what the workers are seeing and walk them through tasks as they work.

Wearables

Wearables are being used to monitor workers and their environment to make jobsite safer. Wearable tech in construction is being embedded into apparel and personal protective equipment (PPE) already common on construction sites like hard hats, gloves, safety vests and work boots.

Construction wearables are being outfitted with biometrics and environmental sensors, GPS and location trackers, Wi-Fi, voltage detectors, and other sensors to monitor workers’ movements, repetitive motions, posture, and slips and falls. Geofencing allows site or safety supervisors to establish restricted or hazardous areas that will alert workers with a combination of alarms and lights that they have entered an area that is off limits.

Smart clothing, or e-textiles, that can monitor vital signs like respiration rate, skin temperature, and heart rate will also make their way to the construction site. These wearables will be able to monitor a worker’s posture, track movements, determine if they are suffering from fatigue and whether they are intoxicated or under the influence of narcotics. Keeping a watchful eye on workers can help predict an accident before it occurs.

Site Sensors

Site sensors that can be deployed across a construction site to monitor things like temperature, noise levels, dust particulates, and volatile organic compounds to help limit exposure to workers.

The sensors are mounted throughout the construction site and can alert workers immediately when they are at risk from permissible exposure levels being reached. Data from the sensors are collected and can be analyzed to mitigate exposure levels and keep workers safe and stay compliant with OSHA regulations.

Labor Shortages
As a result of the housing crash and the Great Recession, over 2.3 million workers left the construction industry through layoffs, early retirement, or to pursue careers in other industries. While job growth in the industry has been strong the past few years, there are still areas of the country feeling the pinch of a skilled labor shortage.

Demand for workers in construction is expected to grow significantly through the next decade. The Bureau of Labor Statistics project construction employment growth to be 11% from 2016 through 2026. Younger workers, who lack the skills and experience of their veteran peers, can benefit from the technology being deployed on jobsites today.

Drones

Drones are being used on jobsites in a number of ways. Drones can be used to quickly conduct jobsite inspections and identify potential hazards each day. They can also be used to monitor workers throughout the day to ensure everyone is working safely. Drones are being used to take photos of as work progresses to create as-built models of jobsites to keep everyone informed of the changing work conditions each day.

Drones are also being used to tackle more dangerous jobs, like bridge and building inspections. This won’t eliminate the need for workers, but it will mean that workers will need to be trained on how to use the technology to perform these tasks.

Robots

Once set up, these robots can work continuously to complete tasks faster than human workers without needing to take breaks or go home for a good night’s sleep. Robots don’t get tired from lifting bricks, applying mortar and setting them in place or constantly bending over to tie rebar.

In both these examples, humans are still needed to perform some of the work. Both still require workers to set up the robots and get them started. For the bricklaying robot, a mason is needed to oversee the work, ensure bricks are correctly placed and clean up the mortar after they’ve been set. The rebar tying robot still needs humans to correctly place and space the rebar before it gets set in motion.

Instead of replacing workers, most construction robots are there to aid and augment a worker’s performance, enabling them to be more productive.

Autonomous Heavy Equipment

Autonomous heavy equipment, using similar technology for self-driving cars, is currently being used on jobsites to perform excavation, grading, and sitework. This type of technology allows operators to be completely removed from the machine, allowing companies to do the same amount of work with fewer workers.

These machines use sensors, drones, and GPS to navigate the construction site and conduct sitework based on 3D models of the terrain to accurately excavate and grade the site. Augmented GPS, a combination of onsite base stations and satellites, can be used to geofence the site and allow autonomous equipment to move around the site with precision accuracy.

The benefit of adopting technology like drones, robots, and autonomous or self-controlled equipment are twofold. First, within the next decade, workers entering the workforce that has grown up using tablets and smartphones their entire life, so operating these machines will be second nature to them. Second, younger workers, regardless of what field they go into, are going to expect to be using technology to perform their jobs.

Smart sensors for smart energy consumption

Determining occupancy is a major task in building management (intelligent buildings) such as optimizing
user comfort, security, and energy control. Lower energy consumption is not only from minimizing
the energy wasted in the lighting of the unoccupied area and switching of electric loads but also from minimizing
the energy wasted cooling or heating of these sections. Smart occupancy sensors can adapt to changing
activity levels and “human movement”. A smart occupancy sensor can learn the variation in the activity level
of the occupants with respect to time of the day. With this information, it can change the TD (time
delay) with the time of the day. Experiments conducted have shown that more energy can be saved by
using smart occupancy sensor as compared to non-adapting fixed TD sensors.

For smart technologies to proliferate in the commercial buildings market, building owners and operators must understand their value proposition. Incentivizing smart technologies through energy efficiency programs could help expedite their uptake. Further, packaging them with common energy efficiency measures might allow them to piggyback on known energy savings and the quicker paybacks of standard measures. Packages also present an
opportunity to integrate interdependent measures in a single installation.

Building Technology
Building Technologies HVAC
State-of-the-art heat exchangers allow you to reduce your energy consumption and save money while at the same time optimizing the indoor climate and your comfort level in your home or office. Differential pressure sensors create a continuous air flow in the ventilation system, which means that the energy contained in the exhaust air can be transferred to the supply air. If the supply air is warmer than the air temperature in the room, it is cooled using this energy transfer; if it is too cool, it is heated. This eliminates the need for external energy sources in order to optimally temper the incoming air.

This is just one example of a sustainable building technology energy system. Temperature and humidity measurement in buildings also opens up a wide range of possibilities to conserve energy. The term “smart home” stands for the digital networking and automation of a house. This technology markedly improves inhabitants’ quality of life and increases security in the home while also boosting energy efficiency. Take, for example, automatic ventilation or heating that is automated based on room usage.

Door or window mini-sensor

wireless, contact mini-sensors detect when a door or window is open or closed. They’re self-powered using ambient room light (with optional battery backup) and use wireless technology so they simply stick or screw in place with no need for cables.

Smart gateway

Smart gateways receive data from  sensors and make the data securely available using industry-standard formats such as MQTT and JSON, meaning it can be integrated into any software or platform

Smart repeater

Smart repeater is a cost-effective way to increase sensors’ range, allowing them to transmit data over a larger distance or where obstructions occur. They let you chose which sensors to repeat.

Temperature mini-sensor

Wireless temperature mini-sensors detect ambient room temperature. They’re self-powered using ambient room light (with optional battery backup) and use wireless technology so they simply stick in place with no need for cables.

Current sensors

Small, wireless current (CT) sensors simply clip around a cable to measure and report the alternating current (AC) flowing in a single channel every 30 seconds. They’re wireless so they can easily be inside a machinery panel, distribution panel or other suitable location. Tere are two types of sensor: single-phase, for home and small machinery; and 3-phase, for industrial and heavier electrical circuits. They measure current starting at 1A, up to 60A, 200A or 600A per phase.

How it works

1. Collect energy and environmental data

Small, wireless current sensors measure energy usage to get an instant view of the energy at a machine, room or zone level. Combined with environmental data such as temperature, occupancy, door and window you can detect waste and calculate energy savings.

2. Make your existing system smart

Data is sent wirelessly and securely from the sensors to any number of receivers. Because the technology is platform agnostic, the data from the sensors can be used in any way you need.