Personnel safety remains the most challenging issue for companies in the construction sector. To eliminate exposure to hazardous conditions, all construction projects implement safety measures for its engineers and laborers. However, thousands of workers still get injured on the job site each year. Construction firms are now considering how virtual reality (VR) training can make a safer job site.
Costs of injuries
Injuries and accidents on construction sites have severe impacts on the three constraints of a project: cost, time and quality. They are considered one of the main causes of cost overruns, project delays, and quality deficiencies. Furthermore, such accidents greatly affect the productivity levels due to the negative psychological effects on workers that emerge while working in uncertain and unsafe conditions.
Most health and safety regulations require personal safety training for employees. For instance, the safety management guidelines of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) consider a 10 hour safety training course as sufficient. Countries such as Australia, the U.K. and China consider a one-day training program as enough. The training is often conducted in a standard traditional approach, through the utilization of audiovisual presentations.
Despite all the precautionary measures implemented by construction contractors, avoidable safety accidents still occur. New employees especially struggle to identify all of the hazards in a construction yard. And it is difficult to implement the lessons of a seminar in a raucous work environment. Project managers are not permitted to introduce employees to real-life situations and knowingly expose them to hazards as a means of proving hands-on practices.
VR in construction
The utilization of VR to ensure the safety of construction workers could be very beneficial in maintaining safe working conditions, eliminating productivity losses and keeping projects on track.
VR has been extensively used for educational purposes such as in aviation, medical fields and surgical procedures. Similarly, it has been implemented by several manufacturers to ensure safe working conditions while working with mechanical machinery.
Nevertheless, it has never underutilized in the construction industry, where it could be implemented in multiple approaches.
It could replace traditional training programs and present employees with situational scenarios that they might find on a job site. Along with their trainer, they can react to hazards as they experience virtually, and then analyze them later. This lesson will be easier to replicate in the field, than the motions demonstrated in a video presentation.
Another example is equipping workers with these on site; a heads-up display keeps them informed of key hazards as they occur. For example, as a load is lifted overhead, the heads-up display can illustrate where the load would fall if the hoist fails. Or it might highlight exposed conduit or other dangers. It could also be used for lockout/tagout procedures, or other safety-related recordkeeping.
Project managers could use it identify potentially hazardous situations before they occur. They can use it to monitor instruments and equipment, ensuring they are used within guidelines. Or they can keep an eye on the weather, instructing crews to table their work before a lightning storm passes through. They could also potentially visualize projects as they come together, and can course correct workers or make informed contingency plans.
The aforementioned approaches and benefits are only a small part of the potential uses and gains associated with the incorporation of VR into construction work. Undoubtedly, with the implementation of this technology, more merits would emerge and be recognized by all stakeholders within the construction industry.
There are ample business cases to be made for VR in construction as well. Architects can model their structures digitally, and then superimposed them over the construction site. This provides a realistic view of what the finished building will look like, and helps express this vision to customers and contractors alike. Meanwhile, VR programs could instruct laborers on the next steps in the construction process, making job site coordination and assembly much easier.
VR is waiting for the construction industry to embrace it more fully, and an optimized and efficient construction industry will be the result.
