Building Information Model and Safety Requirements for Spatial Program Validation

Abstract

The extensive use of digital mock-up and Building Information Models software packages is now within the reach of most practitioners in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction domain. The increasing use of BIM in construction projects may change the way risk prevention is approached. Potential risks can be identified in advance and the associated prevention measures can therefore be applied well before the work situations are set up. It is known that many safety risks are created in the early design stage of projects. Among the most effective means of handling a hazard is to eliminate it at source or provide protective means to mitigate the risks. A research project on workplace design for safety have investigated the missing link between design and safety in the context of a BIM based project. This paper discusses the contributions and limitations of BIM models and tools to consider and manage safety requirements from the architectural program to the design definition. An extension proposal of IfcSpace model is used to enrich space definition with the activities that will take place and the related topological requirements such as closeness, accessibility or minimum required area. A pre-formatted Excel ® document is used to fill in these requirements. The import of this document into the Autodesk Revit ® design tool allows to fill in the attributes associated with each space in a project structure. Several dynamo procedures have been developed to allow the designer to verify compliance with these requirements based on aisle width, door sizes, room area or minimum travel distance. These procedures have been applied to the design of a nursing home for elderly people. The main problem reported in these building is work equipment accessibility such as person lifter or handling system. We show that this approach can be helpful in sharing and validating safety related requirements in a BIM project.