Abstract
The construction industry is prone to major safety hazards owing to the complex and onsite nature of construction projects. Hence, construction researchers have been pursuing concepts, methods, and tools using advancing technologies to improve construction safety management. Subsequently, the rapid digitization of construction work practices is providing opportunities to improve construction safety. Research has revealed that construction safety management practices can benefit from the applications of virtual design construction technologies (VDC), such as building information modeling (BIM), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), geographic information systems (GIS), and gaming technology. This study comprehensively reviews 191 research articles, published between 2010 and 2019, focusing on providing an overview of the implementation and application of VDC technologies for improving construction safety. The objective of this review is to critically collect and analyze applications of VDC technologies and present a holistic view of the features and functions of VDC technologies that can impact jobsite safety improvement in the construction industry. The review showed that VDC technologies can substantially improve construction safety. Emerging digital technologies, such as BIM, VR, AR, GIS, and gaming technologies can transform the traditional document-oriented safety procedures into digitalized safety practices allowing safety managers to visualize and analysis construction sites virtually to devise proactive safety measures and effective safety trainings. This study also highlights challenges such as research gaps regarding these digital tools that are currently impeding their widespread use in construction safety.
Highlights
The construction industry has paved the way toward the advancement of civilization
The impact of virtual design construction technologies (VDC) technology application on jobsite safety management in construction, and resulting productivity poorly understood that forms the scope for this research Using previous studies, this paper aims to identify the features and functions of VDC technologies that can impact jobsite safety improvement in the construction industry
After critically reviewing the research conducted over the last decade, this section discusses future gaps, challenges, and issues for VDC technologies derived from the literature that may become an essential part of construction-safety workflows; these factors are valid for research purposes and have practical implications for widespread industrial application
Summary
The construction industry has paved the way toward the advancement of civilization. Irrespective of being one of the oldest human endeavours, few improvements have been made in this industry from the perspective of jobsite safety. The recorded number of fatal injuries has slightly decreased in recent years (from 5190 in 2016 to 5147 in 2017) in the United States, the casualty rates still remain high (Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S Department of Labor, 2019). These high accident rates associated with the construction industry in comparison to others sectors (Melzner et al, 2014; Choe et al, 2017) such as manufacturing and production, are attributed to the fact that construction sites are less controllable than other sectors, where most tasks are predefined and repetitive (Ringen et al, 1995; Ganah et al, 2017). Various industries have improved their workflows by incorporating digital methods (Kizil et al, 2001; Lucas et al, 2008; Ku et al, 2011), whereas construction remains heavily dependent on human resources and more prone to safety threats
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