IoT leading the way to a safer, smarter future for the construction industry BY PETE SCHERMERHORN Worker safety remains a top construction-industry priority. Even so, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, construction accounts for just over 20% of private industries fatalities, and the industry’s median days away from work due to injury or illness is 50% higher than all other U.S. industries.
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his is due in large part to the physically challenging construction environment with heavy materials and equipment and hundreds of workers working at elevated heights. Until recently, safety leaders have been forced to rely on outdated, manual methods to detect and respond to safety issues, such as visual checks (or audible calls for help) to identify a possible injury—or air horns to trigger an evacuation. New technologies to the rescue The good news is that technology is changing the construction safety landscape, giving project leaders and teams new tools to communicate from anywhere on site, detect and document safety issues, and monitor what’s happening across project sites. The spread of the Internet of Things (IoT) at the jobsite, such as wearable devices, equipment sensors, drones and more, act as extra safety personnel, automatically capturing data and monitoring what’s happening in the field more efficiently and effectively than humanly possible.
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For example, drones can survey a jobsite and gather environmental or other site-specific information (think loose roofing) that would be difficult to detect otherwise. Wearable technology, including devices that clip onto a worker’s waist belt, can quantify worker activity on site (location, fall events, etc.) and provide a direct line of communication between workers and supervisors. In addition, sensors tagged onto equipment/machinery (or placed around the jobsite) can monitor realtime machine location and operation (or environmental conditions such as air quality or temperature) to alert supervisors to unauthorized equipment operators (or high temperatures or substances in the air) that require immediate attention. These technologies are enabling a shift in construction safety and risk identification, management and culture by powering: ■■ Real-time safety reporting. Emerging technologies enable workers to report hazards or signal distress from anywhere on site with the push of a button, eliminating the need to leave the work area or use a cell phone to get help. With real-time alerts, safety
