There are no two ways about it. Construction is indeed quite a risky business. When one happens to be working on certain intricate projects that involve half-built structures, heavy machinery, and ever-changing weather conditions, along with the need to go ahead and coordinate the activities of large work crews, there is indeed an element of risk that is impossible to prevent.
The challenge is that, while there happen to be many occupations that are getting far less risky with time, construction, on the other hand, is getting more dangerous by the day. The fact is that construction worker deaths surged 41% between 2011 and 2019, and have gone on to climb since then.
There is indeed no doubt that a business-as-usual approach is not working. So as to ensure the safety of teams, one has to go ahead with a new approach so as to manage as well as mitigate the challenges that are associated with construction sites, which means leaning into new technologies, such as automation and robotics, in order to make the worksites the safest they can possibly go on to be.
Rise of the machines
Robots, as well as automated tools, happen to be already transforming construction sites. Automated masonry tools can go ahead and quite massively increase the speed when it comes to construction- one prototype robot can go ahead and lay 1,000 bricks in an hour, for instance, while also decreasing the need for human workers to go ahead and at the same time also haul the heavy pallets of brick or mortar throughout the worksites. Autonomous vehicles as well as driverless dozers are also starting to break through, hence promising to allow heavy equipment to go ahead and complete risky tasks while at the same time also keeping humans safely out of harm’s way.
Other technologies happen to be already widely made use of such as drones, for example, that are used on a minimum of 37% of construction sites, and they can go ahead and significantly reduce the requirement when it comes to human workers to go ahead and climb to high areas in terms of inspections. With falls from dangerous heights comprising over a third of fatal construction accidents, this is indeed a big deal. There is also the potential for the drone-mounted sensors to aid in the detection of heat signatures in order to prevent fires along with dangerous equipment malfunctions, and in commercial spaces, robots happen to be used so as to detect slip-and-fall hazards. One needs to make the same kind of automated preventative measures quite ubiquitous when it comes to construction sites.
The advantages of such tools happen to be quite obvious. Automating high-risk activities is indeed a huge net win as far as the construction workers are concerned, who will increasingly be able to work remotely, and that too on a dangerous task. Many injuries that are at times fatal can be traced back to human error, and this human element happens to be one factor an automated system, which is working with precision as well as consistency, can go on to completely eliminate. As long as the robotic system gets configured correctly, it will not make mistakes, and if something goes wrong, it is going to be replaceable equipment and not human workers.
Do not take safety for granted
However, it is not all good news. Numerous construction workers go on to say that they find it pretty distracting to work along with the drones, and there is indeed evidence that even when the drones are operating at quite a considerable distance from humans, they go on to lead workers to look away from their respective work at hand. In order to use drones safely, one will need to manage their use and make sure they get deployed in ways that go on to coordinate with human workers and also enable teams to function safely and confidently throughout a range of worksite settings.
New technologies like robot exoskeletons also happen to be a mixed blessing: they can prominently go on to reduce the wear-and-tear when it comes to human muscle and bone, thereby making many workplace injuries less likely to occur. However, any technology that goes on to help a single human lift 1,000 pounds also brings potential dangers. These new capacities come with new risks, and need proper training and novel safety protocols so as to ensure their safe usage.
It is indeed important to note that worksite automation happens to be also about increasing productivity. If a new tool or technology lets workers complete a task single-handed, that is indeed great, but sometimes placing fewer people working on a task can make it all the easier for mistakes to go unnoticed. One will need to have proper planning as well as checklists, delivered and tracked seamlessly by way of using digital tablets as well as other systems, to make sure that automation does not increase the risk of quite dangerous oversights.
A safer future for the construction teams
The reality remains that robots will bring both potential benefits as well as new risks to construction worksites. In order to capture those benefits and also manage those risks, one will need to be proactive in terms of integrating new technologies into worksites and workflows in smart as well as responsible ways.
All this will mean making sure that one doesn’t simply patch together new technologies and also expect them to work seamlessly and safely sans any central oversight. In an era that will be increasingly defined by new construction technologies, one needs to make sure that they have full visibility when it comes to processes, equipment, and people across the worksites.
It might as well help to take a look at manufacturing, in which industrial robots and automated systems happen to be now on par for the course. So as to keep track of factories, plant managers make use of virtual twins that digitally monitor every aspect of the equipment they happen to be using, right from the rpm of a given motor to the locations of specific workers or even the automated vehicles, to the temperature on the factory floor. That helps the factories go ahead and function more efficiently, but it also goes on to offer a layer of centralized oversight along with communication that enables everyone to stay safe.
If one is looking to be as successful with the new technology as they have been in the manufacturing sector, there is a need for proper training and education for construction teams, who will increasingly have to be knowledge workers and also manual laborers. Making use of robotic tools as well as working alongside the automated equipment, work crews will require to be able to keep track of as well as follow safety guidelines and processes for making use of sophisticated tools, and that too in real time. Making that process easy as well as seamless for human workers is going to be vital to making sure that the teams work safely and efficiently, while at the same time, overcoming any potential resistance they might have when it comes to using automated tools.
As one begins to introduce new automated as well as robotic technologies, there is a need to remember that construction worksites happen to be complex places in which humans and machines come together in order to get the job done. Making use of digital tools for training, worksite management, education, risk prediction and mitigation, asset tracking, communication, and other related purposes is indeed going to be pretty essential as one strives to make construction sites the safest, they can possibly be when it comes to their workers.
