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Habituation to auditory warnings is a phenomenon where an individual exposed to frequent auditory warnings responds slowly to them. Repetitive auditory warnings are triggered to prevent struck-by accidents in blind spots on construction equipment; however, these can cause habituation that may increase the likelihood of accidents. The current body of knowledge lacks any evidence quantitatively showing such phenomenon. This study aims at quantifying habituation to auditory warnings using behavioral and physiological data. In the construction equipment operation simulation developed for this study, participants pressed the brake pedal when they heard auditory warnings. Behavioral data included the reaction times (auditory warning trigger to the pedal pressing instant). In addition to the behavioral data, physiological features related to alertness from electroencephalography and electrodermal activity sensors were used to measure habituation to auditory warnings experienced by the participants. It was found that reaction time slowed down as the warnings repeated. Among the physiological features, the skin conductance level best measured habituation to auditory warnings. This study sheds light on the issue of habituation to auditory warnings in construction equipment and contributes to the reduction of the number of struck-by accidents in the construction industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A proximity auditory warning (AW) system has been developed to mitigate accidents involving construction equipment blind spots. However, frequent AW sounds can lead to habituation among construction equipment operators, potentially reducing the system's effectiveness. This paper assessed the effectiveness of AW sounds in mitigating habituation. Twenty-one participants underwent a driving simulation, with reaction time and skin conductance level used as indicators of habituation. Participants' responses to the conventional probe-tone sound were compared with three proposed AW sounds: an auditory icon resembling a threat or dangerous situation, a self-owned name (SON) addressing the participant's name, and a combination of both. SON is recommended as a viable alternative for effective alarm sound. By investigating alarm sounds that enhance operators' responsiveness to obstacles in blind spots, particularly in environments where frequent alarms are unavoidable, this paper contributes to reducing struck-by accidents involving construction equipment. • Frequent alarms from construction equipment are unavoidable at construction sites. • Frequent alarms can lead to habituation, resulting in slower reaction times. • Assess the effectiveness of auditory warning sounds in mitigating habituation. • As auditory warning sounds, probe-tone, auditory icon, self-owned name, were tested. • Self-owned name is recommended as a viable alternative for effective alarm sound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performance evaluation in construction safety is of great importance to further improve upon safety management processes. This paper develops a data envelopment analysis (DEA) based framework to evaluate the construction safety performance at the macro level. The core of the method is to compare the output-input ratio of construction safety. Using the building practitioner, construction machinery and equipment, and construction area as the inputs, and value added of construction and death toll as the outputs, safety performance score is computed for the China's provincial construction industries from 2009 to 2017. The results show that the number of benchmark provinces every year is between five and seven. The gap between the best-performing and underperforming province was relatively small in 2012 and big in 2014. Beijing, Qinghai, Hainan, Fujian, Chongqing, and Tianjin can be utilized as role models for the provinces that need to improve their performance in construction safety. The eastern region has the highest score in construction safety performance, followed by the western and central region. This study provides an effective solution to solve performance issue in regional construction safety and improves the tradition performance evaluation system to a certain extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the many occupational risks construction workers encounter every day falling from a height is the most dangerous. The objective of this article is to propose a simple analytical design method for horizontal lifelines (HLLs) that considers anchorage flexibility. The article presents a short review of the standards and regulations/acts/codes concerning HLLs in Canada the USA and Europe. A static analytical approach is proposed considering anchorage flexibility. The analytical results are compared with a series of 42 dynamic fall tests and a SAP2000 numerical model. The experimental results show that the analytical method is a little conservative and overestimates the line tension in most cases with a maximum of 17%. The static SAP2000 results show a maximum 2.1% difference with the analytical method. The analytical method is accurate enough to safely design HLLs and quick design abaci are provided to allow the engineer to make quick on-site verification if needed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To solve safety problems of construction machine on working in construction work site, safety technologies have been developed as the last barrier. Active safety technologies need to acquire data to identify danger, so information technology plays an important role. In this paper, definition of Active safety technology is illustrated and some current active safety examples are shown. The key information technologies used in active safety technologies are analyzed, such as Real-time sensor, data processing and visualization. To solve the function fail of the safety control system coming from the electrical, electronic, and programmable systems (E/E/PS), the function safety design is taken in account and the process and PL calculation are introduced. Finally, the important formation technology in active safety control is illustrated by a case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, several smart and automated systems have been developed to address the issue of struck-by hazards in construction-that is, workers on foot struck by equipment or equipment struck by equipment. False alarms (false positives and false negatives) are common in such systems, but methods for limiting struck-by hazards have not yet been thoroughly studied or tested for real-world implementations. This study presents two novel four-dimensional (4D) [time and three-dimensional (3D) space] models, a time-sphere model and a time-cuboid model, that are effective in reducing the rate of false alarms. In each developed 4D model, (1) entities'[ state information, including 3D position, orientation (roll, pitch, and yaw), and velocity, is acquired and analyzed over time; and (2) the hazardous area around equipment or workers is represented by a sphere or a cuboid with the warning distance adjusted and updated according to the entities' collected state information; and (3) unsafe-proximity query rules identify and predict contact collisions using relative position, moving direction, speed, and a pairwise 3D unsafe-proximity query. The effectiveness of the developed 4D models was evaluated through simulation and field experiments; however, the data were not wirelessly communicated because the focus of the study was on development, analysis, and comparison of two models for safety hazard identification. The obtained false positive and false negative rates indicate that the two developed 4D models have a strong capability for reducing false alarms. The obtained reduced alarm percentages imply that on average 65% of the alarms triggered by the most prevalent method can be averted by using the time-sphere model and 81% can be reduced by using the time-cuboid model. Furthermore, three major categories of findings are summarized: model comparison, model analysis, and the relationship between alert zone dimensions and model performance. The developed rigorous 4D models can also be employed for several types of contact collision that involve temporal and permanent site facilities, materials transported in air, and equipment and workers on foot. Reduced false alarms will improve construction safety, productivity, and mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In consideration of the enormous importance of construction industry to the economy of any nation, Nigeria not exempted, the quest to achieve sustainable development across the country requires a healthy construction industry devoid of incessant building collapses. Unfortunately, the incessant occurrence of collapse of existing buildings, abandoned buildings and buildings under construction in the country appears not to be encouraging, thereby calling for urgent attention of all stakeholders. The aim therefore of conducting this study was to determine the remote causes of incessant building collapse in Nigeria, and to proffer solutions to checkmating the menace. A questionnaire survey was carried out to extract opinions from built environment professionals in relation to the study. The findings indicated that the remote causes of building collapse in the country is attributed to; use of quacks, use of substandard/inadequate material, poor workmanship, lack of adherence to design specifications, lack of proper supervision by professionals, failure of client to pay for professional services, proliferation of market with sub-standard material, professional negligence/compromise, corruption in governance and lack of government concern. The study recommends that various built environment professional should form an alliance to stamp out “quacks” from carrying out design and construction supervision in the country, town planning units and standard organization of Nigeria (SON) must ensure that existing development laws are strengthened, empowered and invoked, and finally, government must work towards improving the economy to ensure that the common man can access and afford professional services and adequate building materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamic nature and limited work space of roadway work zones contribute to dangerous working environments for construction workers. This environment can result in hazardous proximity situations because pedestrian workers are required to operate in close proximity to heavy construction equipment. A total of 609 work zone personnel fatalities were reported in 2012. Previous analysis of work zone fatality data found that the majority of the pedestrian worker and mobile object struck-by fatalities resulted when pedestrian workers were struck by construction equipment. These statistics indicate that current safety practices for pedestrian workers and equipment operators are inadequate. The objective of this study was to create and evaluate a proximity detection and alert system using Bluetooth sensing technology. The scope included hazardous proximity situations between pedestrian workers and construction equipment in roadway work zones at grade. Evaluation metrics were implemented to assess the tested proximity sensing systems including the cost, time and ease of calibration, required hardware, system capabilities, and many others. Commercially available radio frequency identification (RFID) and magnetic field proximity sensing systems were also evaluated to provide a basis for comparison. Various interaction scenarios between pedestrian workers and construction equipment were used in the evaluation of the system. The performance evaluation based on the statistical results showed that all the tested systems were considered reliable with minimal false alarm rates. However, the magnetic system showed a significant drop in its coverage range, while still providing reliable coverage measures, with a set of tests that were more dynamic than other sets of tests. The created Bluetooth system provided the highest level of simplicity with its minimized infrastructure, ease of calibration, and ease of installation. In sum, experimental results demonstrate that the created proximity detection and alert system (1) requires minimal infrastructure; (2) provides adequate alerts to equipment operators and pedestrian workers; and (3) provides, through an alert, an additional layer of hazard avoidance in real time during hazardous-proximity situations in roadway work zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To reduce the rate of collision accidents between mobile cranes and immobile obstacles in construction sites during lift operations, this paper develops a real-time automated anticollision system that can warn crane operators about potential collisions and automatically implement collision-avoidance strategies. This system does not require additional devices and can be installed in existing crane controllers. Before the lift operation, the location and shape data of all immobile objects in the work area are collected by a boom head and stored in tracksector database of the system based on the position parameters of the boom head. During the operation of the lift, the proposed system calculates a three-dimensional safe zone for the crane, including boom, cable, and lift object based on the object data in real time, and the movement and position of the crane including boom, cable, and lift object are consistently monitored and predicted in real time through weighted linear-regression models. If the predicted position of the crane is reaching the boundary of the precalculated safety operation zone, three different levels of decelerations and an emergency stop will be automatically executed in order, according to the distance between crane and the obstacles, by the lifting controller to prevent the crane from potential collisions with immobile obstacles. A tentative application of this real-time anticollision system at real construction sites has demonstrated its ability to prevent collisions between cranes and immobile obstacles in work zones during lift operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a practical tool for articulating best value criteria during the procurement of public-sector building projects in Korea. Data is obtained from sampling 180 stakeholders drawn mainly from a pool of government construction and project management experts in the Republic of Korea. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is employed to rank emergent value criteria. The study finds that best value judgments are (1) multi-faceted assessments of stakeholder most needs; (2) mitigated by project characteristics; and (3) span functional and aesthetic considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temporary work at height is one of the primary causes of construction accidents that result in serious injuries and fatalities. Many of these accidents occur because of falls from scaffolding and work platforms. In Europe, scaffolding equipment for temporary work at height is regulated by several directives. A directive is a legislative act of the European Union, which requires member states to achieve a particular result without dictating the means of achieving that result. In this sense, the European standard is of great interest because it facilitates compliance with the requirements of a directive regarding temporary work at height. This paper presents the results of a research study that was conducted in Spain between March 2003 and 2004, in which 146 construction sites were inspected with a view to examining the scaffolding surface at each site. The building sites with scaffolding that complied with a European standard were compared with those with older (nonstandard) scaffolding. Both types were qualitatively evaluated to ascertain their safety levels. The findings reported in this paper demonstrate that the standardization of scaffolding equipment had a direct and positive impact on work safety conditions at construction sites. Consequently, fomenting standardization of scaffolding equipment in the construction industry can contribute to improving work safety conditions as has occurred in Spain. The methodology in the authors' paper can also be applied in other countries to evaluate their regulations or codes regarding personal protective equipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mini-excavators (m-excs) are commonly used in construction and allied industries to maximize productivity and reduce costs, but they present considerable health and safety hazards, the greatest of which is arguably their tendency to overturn. Assessment of m-exc stability is not prescribed in recognized standards and is primarily achieved using a 'tilt-test.' The tilt-test has considerable limitations and its application in practice varies, indicating that procurers have incomplete information on selecting the most stable (i.e., safest) machine. The purpose of this study was to compare three types of m-exc stability tests (i.e., tilt, operational, slewing) and contrast these to determine the most reliable testing regime. From these results, an innovative mini-excavator procurement model is proffered that incorporates the assessment of machine stability and practical selection criteria. The effect of the study to date (and for the future) on encouraging original equipment manufacturers to engender innovative m-exc design and production is presented; and a call for the development of a new stability testing standard is made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Tracking of project related entities such as construction equipment, materials, and personnel is used to calculate productivity, detect travel path conflicts, enhance the safety on the site, and monitor the project. Radio frequency tracking technologies (Wi-Fi, RFID, UWB) and GPS are commonly used for this purpose. However, on large-scale sites, deploying, maintaining and removing such systems can be costly and time-consuming. In addition, privacy issues with personnel tracking often limits the usability of these technologies on construction sites. This paper presents a vision based tracking framework that holds promise to address these limitations. The framework uses videos from a set of two or more static cameras placed on construction sites. In each camera view, the framework identifies and tracks construction entities providing 2D image coordinates across frames. Combining the 2D coordinates based on the installed camera system (the distance between the cameras and the view angles of them), 3D coordinates are calculated at each frame. The results of each step are presented to illustrate the feasibility of the framework. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Safety is an essential research area in the field of construction because the construction work is very hazardous and able to kill many lives each year. The 4D CAD model has been accepted for better conceptualizing and comprehending the sequences and spatial constraints in a construction schedule. It has a potential to integrate safety into construction schedule. This research aims to create the methodology that visualizes the construction safety requirements via the 4D CAD model. Also, it develops and implements the 4D CAD model with Fall Guard Boundary Visualization (or FGB-4D model). The FGB-4D model can automatically generate boundaries for safety requirements according to an individual building component. Main types of components: namely, beams, columns, slabs, and walls are considered. The safety requirements for the fall-from-height and falling objects hazards are visualized. The size and placement of these boundaries are the results of the sophisticated geometric calculation which refers to the size and placement of a building component. The developed model can enhance the visualization of the 4D CAD model and provide a more informative construction schedule. The FGB-4D model is a proactive method of construction safety. The visualization of construction safety integrated into the technique helps project managers better comprehend and be aware of safety requirements throughout the construction. They must allocate right resources and adjust the schedule more effectively. This contributes to the accidents reduction in the construction industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aspiring to adopt a nonstatistical quantitative approach to safety assessment, this study implements a multiattribute decision-making tool to elicit knowledge from experts and formalize it into a set of weighted safety factors. The environment addressed is the construction site and the specific factors studied are those affecting safety due to the operation of tower cranes. Nineteen senior construction equipment and safety experts were interviewed and led through the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to provide their assessments on the relative importance of safety factors obtained in an earlier study. The results accentuate the dominance of the crane operator and general superintendent on the site safety scene and play down the contribution of “classic” site hazards such as power lines. Quantitative measuring of safety, such as reflected in the weights obtained in this study, is important in communicating safety requirements and focusing the limited resources available for safety improvements. These factor weights are also deemed to be a vital component in the development of a comprehensive model that will allow the computation of safety indices for individual construction sites employing tower cranes. It is expected that the methodology can then be adopted for addressing other site safety issues as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction accounts for up to 25% of all occupational fatalities. About half are being struck by and caught-in/between objects or vehicles, resulting from insufficient or delayed detection of pedestrian workers. Research has proposed detecting visibility-related close calls in order to alarm the involved personnel and prevent negative consequences at the earliest possible time. This work has three objectives: First, a comprehensive synthesis on close call reporting processes and individual technologies. Second, a system focusing on (a) autonomous close call data generation from real-time proactive proximity detection and alerting technology and (b) cloud-based data processing and visualization in building information models at run time. Test results demonstrate that the developed system reaches purposes for decision making in safety management beyond the scope of existing detection and alarming devices. Third, guiding future research by outlining the role of proximity detection and alarming technology in developing autonomous safety systems for construction. [Display omitted] • Struck-by and caught-in/between accidents remain leading causes of fatal injuries. • Frequent worker-machine interactions demand research for autonomous safety systems. • Understanding and use of emerging technology for proactive assistance is limited. • A cloud-based close call data management based on automated reporting is proposed. • Model-based close call data visualization allows right-time personalized feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the safety machine-focused project that aims for industrial operator protection from construction machines.

The article explores the best safety practices for the use of scaffolding. The three structures of typical scaffolding systems are discussed, focusing on self-supporting scaffolds, suspension platforms, and specialty scaffolds attached to a roof. Recommendations for the prevention of scaffolding injury are presented, including using safety tags to promote safety culture, testing of harnesses and other accessories, and not allowing workers on the structure during severe weather.

At present, industrial projects are constructed primarily using a prefabricated approach. The modules are produced in an off-site facility and transported on transport trailers to the construction site where they are lifted by mobile cranes. One of the keys to the success of modular industrial projects is efficient crane planning, which includes path checking to find whether or not a crane has a feasible path through which to lift a module over obstructions in a congested plant. However, due to the large number of lifts, the manual path-checking practice is quite tedious and prone to error. In light of this problem, this paper proposes a methodology for automatically checking the lift paths for industrial projects. The proposed methodology simplifies and represents the three-dimensional site layout using project elevations. For each elevation, the crane feasible operation range (CFOR) is calculated based on the crane's capacity and clearances, as well as site constraints. The pick area (PA) is calculated by subtracting the ground obstruction areas from the CFOR. The relative positions of the module's set point, the CFOR, and the PA are checked to determine the feasibility of the lift path on each elevation, as well as the project elevation combination. This approach has been fully automated for path checking of entire sites, and the results are responsive to site changes over time as a project progresses. This proposed methodology is generic and thus can be easily applied to check lift paths for entire industrial plants or similar projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]