A proactive system for real-time safety management in construction sites

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is presenting a new advanced hardware/software system, boasting two main features: first it performs real time tracking of workers' routes in construction sites; then it implements an algorithm for preventing workers to be involved in hazardous situations. This research step is part of a wider ongoing research concerning the development of a new generation of advanced construction management systems, allowing for real-time monitoring and coordination of tasks, automatic health and safety management, on-site delivering of technical information, capture of as-built documentation. Exploiting the high accuracy provided by the UWB system responsible for position tracking and successfully tested in previous research, our software interface is able to graphically reproduce (and store) the travel patterns of workers. Moreover, it constantly checks if they are accessing hazardous areas, using an algorithm based on a predictive approach: it is conceived to predict in advance whether any worker is approaching a forbidden area, in fact performing virtual fencing. This approach could be easily extended to other applications, too. Some preliminary tests simulated in the DACS laboratory are described and the obtained results discussed.