Developing a Framework for Deploying Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to Improve Construction Safety Management

Abstract

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is gaining traction in the construction industry. UAVs are used to address productivity, inspection and safety matters. This paper presents a conceptual framework that would help to deploy UAVs on construction sites for safety inspection purposes. The paper was compiled from the data obtained in the literature. The keywords unmanned aerial vehicles and safety in construction were used to search the relevant database. The findings reveal that the use of UAVs would help the construction professionals improve safety on construction sites through the capturing of visual images and video clips on the site project from a bird’s eye view. The collected data (images or video clips) could be analyzed to identify risks and hazards that might cause accidents on construction sites. There is major scope for using UAVs to improve construction safety when appropriate guidelines are implemented.

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Book Title The Construction Industry in the Fourth Industrial Revolution
Series Title
Chapter Title Developing a Framework for Deploying Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to Improve Construction
Safety Management
Copyright Year 2020
Copyright HolderName Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Corresponding Author Family Name Mollo
Particle
Given Name Lesiba George
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Division Department of Built Environment
Organization Central University of Technology, Free State
Address Bloemfontein, South Africa
Email lmollo@cut.ac.za
Author Family Name Emuze
Particle
Given Name Fidelis
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Suffix
Role
Division Department of Built Environment
Organization Central University of Technology, Free State
Address Bloemfontein, South Africa
Email
Author Family Name Smallwood
Particle
Given Name John
Prefix
Suffix
Role
Division Department of Construction Management
Organization Nelson Mandela University
Address Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Email
Abstract The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is gaining traction in the construction industry. UAVs are
used to address productivity, inspection and safety matters. This paper presents a conceptual framework
that would help to deploy UAVs on construction sites for safety inspection purposes. The paper was
compiled from the data obtained in the literature. The keywords unmanned aerial vehicles and safety in
construction were used to search the relevant database. The findings reveal that the use of UAVs would

help the construction professionals improve safety on construction sites through the capturing of visual
images and video clips on the site project from a bird’s eye view. The collected data (images or video
clips) could be analyzed to identify risks and hazards that might cause accidents on construction sites.
There is major scope for using UAVs to improve construction safety when appropriate guidelines are
implemented.
Keywords
(separated by '-')
Construction - Safety - Unmanned aerial vehicle

Developing a Framework for Deploying
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to Improve
Construction Safety Management
Lesiba George Mollo
1(&)
, Fidelis Emuze
1
, and John Smallwood
2
1
Department of Built Environment, Central University of Technology,
Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
lmollo@cut.ac.za
2
Department of Construction Management, Nelson Mandela University,
Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Abstract. The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is gaining traction in the
construction industry. UAVs are used to address productivity, inspection and
safety matters. This paper presents a conceptual framework that would help to
deploy UAVs on construction sites for safety inspection purposes. The paper was
compiled from the data obtained in the literature. The keywords unmanned aerial
vehicles and safety in construction were used to search the relevant database. The
findings reveal that the use of UAVs would help the construction professionals
improve safety on construction sites through the capturing of visual images and
video clips on the site project from a bird’s eye view. The collected data (images
or video clips) could be analyzed to identify risks and hazards that might cause
accidents on construction sites. There is major scope for using UAVs to improve
construction safety when appropriate guidelines are implemented.
Keywords: Construction Safety Unmanned aerial vehicle
1 Introduction
The nature of construction work is complex and unique when compared to other
industries. Construction industry embraces different types of risks and hazards that are
faced by workers daily. Thus, there is a need to reduce risks and hazards in construction
and this need encouraged researchers and practitioners to search for innovative
methods, technics, and technologies. Despite innovative methods of construction or the
adoption of technologies, safety at work is a complex phenomenon, and often the
adopted method of construction works exposes the workers to hazards that might result
with accidents causing either injury or fatality [1]. To solve this reported problem, most
of the construction organizations have opted to design safe work procedures that have
the primary purpose of managing safety on sites [2]. In addition, safety at work is
concerned with the workers, and most of the workers have an informal and oral culture
of risks, in which safety is rarely openly expressed in the workplace [3].
AQ1
©Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
C. Aigbavboa and W. Thwala (Eds.): CIDB 2019, The Construction Industry
in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, pp. 1–8, 2020.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26528-1_59
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There are several factors contributing to the unsafe working environment in con-
struction. For instance, the worker’s safety-related behaviors and their compliance with
safety rules are influenced by the site supervisors’decisions or actions. Site supervisors
decide how to control certain risks on construction sites, and this makes it necessary for
the workers to behave in certain ways [4]. The unsafe behavior of the workers on
construction sites is recognized as one of the factors causing accident causation [5].
This is because the knowledge and attitudes of the workers towards safety often differ
from individual to individual. Also, safety practices, norms and attitudes are continu-
ously negotiated between the workers and site supervisors [3]. Additionally, it is
reported in the HSE [4] report that it is better to eliminate the risks and hazards in a way
which are not reliant on human behavior.
To ameliorate reported safety problems causing accidents in construction, several
tools are deployed on project sites. In the context of this paper, a tool called unmanned
aerial vehicles (UAVs) is chosen to address safety problems in construction. UAVs has
been used in construction for a variety of purposes for more than a decade [6]. It is
reported that in the United Emirates of Arab (UAE), Australia and the United State of
America (USA), UAVs are used to perform site inspections and violations detections
on construction sites [7–9].
However, in South Africa, the construction industry is not utilizing emerging
technology to improve safety when compared to other developed countries. In essence,
there is little utilization of such technology in South African construction, despite
UVAs been in existence for more than a decade. Thus, the aim of this paper is to
propose how to deploy a UAVs for on sites in South Africa. The deployment frame-
work emphasizes the effectiveness of UAV as a tool for enhanced safety regarding
construction site objectives.
2 Research Method
In this research, the authors applied systematic literature review to answer the questions
which asked, how will the use of UAVs help the safety manager to improve safety on
construction sites? The literature review included papers that investigated UAVs and
safety topics in the construction industry. The adopted literature search is completed by
reviewing the titles and abstracts of the published papers between 2010 and 2019.
Firstly, the author would review the title, followed by an abstract, and a full paper
would be screened. The adopted flowchart of this systematic literature study is high-
lighted in Fig. 1. The databases used to search for the published papers included a
Science Direct database (https://www.sciencedirect.com/), International Council for
Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB) database (http://www.
irbnet.de/daten/iconda/CIB_DC31504.pdf), and Google Scholar databases (https://
scholar.google.co.za/). To identify the relevant papers for this study, the keywords such
as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), safety management systems and construction
industry, were used to search the databases. In this study, 26 authors were cited from
the reviewed papers.
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3 Background of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)
This section outlines the history or background of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
So, UAVs, which is commonly known as drones, are aircrafts systems that can fly
without a pilot and passengers on board [10]. The aircraft system includes the UAVs or
drones (remotely controlled aircraft), the control system, satellite-based equipment,
communication links and an operator (pilot) needed to operate or fly the aircraft
effectively and safely [11]. The operations of the UAVs depend on the participation of
a pilot being a person. Historically, UAVs were designed for the purpose of military
services [8]. In the year 2006, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the USA
issued a first commercial UAVs permit to grant permission for its use for business
purpose [12].
According to the report by Dronethusiast [12], the first commercial UAVs in the
USA were used by the government agencies for disaster relief, border surveillance and
wildfire fighting, and while the Agricultural Industry started using UAVs to inspect
pipelines and spray pesticides of farms. In the industrial sectors, the agricultural
industry dominated the use of UAVs for improving agricultural production, and other
industries such the real estate has taken advantages of this technology to conduct aerial
survey and mapping of planned developments [11].
UAVs in the construction industry has been adopted to carry out site inspections
and design site layout plans [13]. It is also used to monitor the working conditions of
people, and to identify the potential risks and hazards on sites [14]. According to
Hubbard et al.[15], UAVs provides a platform to improve safety management by
providing real-time visual information to monitor the work on sites. The high definition
camera which is installed on UAVs provides visual assets (images and video clips),
which can be analyzed to improve the safety management system on construction
projects [14].
LITERATURE SEARCH
1. Science direct databases
2. CIB databases
3. Google scholars
databases
LITERATURE
SELE CT ION
1. Review the title
2. Review the abstracts
3. Screen the paper
CONTENT ANALYSIS
1. Analysing the literature
2. Summarizing the
literature
FRAMEWO RK
DEVE LO PMENT
1. Develop a conceptual
framework
2. Validate a framework
Fig. 1. The flowcharts of the study
Developing a Framework for Deploying Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) 3
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4 Regulations Governing the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
(UAVs)
It is stated in the previous section, that the first commercial permit to fly UAVs in the
USA was issued in 2006. The permit to fly UAVs in the USA shows a sign of good
regulations and it also helps to remove the anxiety of citizens regarding the usage of
UAVs for commercial purpose [16]. Thus, regulations both endorses and overturns
innovations. Good regulations should be able to apprehend social values and objectives
and is effective in promoting economic activities by reducing direct and indirect costs
[16]. UAVs in the USA is regulated by the Federal Aviation Industry (FAA), which is
the main agency for managing civil aviation [6]. The FAA regulates UAVs by dividing
the UAV uses into two categories namely, to fly for hobby purposes and fly for
commercial use [6].
While, in South Africa, the use of UAVs is regulated by the South African Civil
Aviation Authority (SACAA). In terms of Part 101 of the Civil Aviation Regulations,
2011, the pilot operating a UAVs shall be appropriately trained on the UAVs and
qualified for the area and type of operation. In addition, the SACAA acknowledges that
numerous businesspeople interested in obtaining a UAVs operator certificates for
business purpose are required to provide aerial work service South African Civil
Aviation Authority [17]. The operator or pilot of a UAVs is compelled to observe all
statutory requirements relating to liability, privacy and any other laws enforceable by
any other authorities when flying a UAVs.
5 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) on Construction Sites
This section outlines the impact of UAVs in the construction industry. As elaborated in
the introduction section that this study focuses on the deployment of UAVs for
enhanced safety regarding construction site objectives. Safety in the construction
industry is a serious concern and the industry is regarded as one of the most hazardous
industry contributing to high accidents rate worldwide [2,3,18]. The causes of acci-
dents in the construction industry are rooted in the working conditions of people.
Notably, construction sites could be overcrowded with workers who are exposed to
high risks duties such as operating at height and outdoors and with heavy machinery
and equipment [19]. There are numerous factors contributing to the worker’s safety
through the interactions among the workers and the work environment [20]. Thus, it is
important to investigate the working environment of the workers to improve safety in
the construction industry. The use of modern technologies on construction sites is one
of the most recent interventions used to improve safety management system on con-
struction sites.
As explained by Tatum and Liu [11] UAVs are used to improve the working
conditions on construction sites. For example, UAVs could be used to investigate the
worker’s safety-related behaviors through site inspections. However, it is critical for a
UAVs operator to investigate the site project which UAVs would be deployed to and to
determine the area which would be suitable to capture the images and videos of a site
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project [21]. It should be acknowledged that safety inspections are the responsibility of
a safety manager on a site project [8]. The safety inspection process is carried out by
regularly walking and taking direct observations of the site activities or tasks by a
safety manager.
The competency of a safety manager on construction sites can be increased sig-
nificantly with the use of UAVs [11]. The use of UAVs in the construction industry is
continually changing the safety managers task of direct observation on site works and
interacts with the workers [15]. UAVs improves site inspection by providing real-time
inspection and surveillance from the site project in the form of a high-definition
(HD) images and videos [9]. Figure 1highlights the images that were taken on a
Brazilian construction site using a UAVs for a safety inspection. It can also be noted
that the images captured using a UAVs on a site project helps the safety manager to be
able to identify the risk and hazards which might cause accidents. Additionally, the
images and video clips captured using a UAVs provide reliable data suitable to
improve the safety inspection as indicated in Fig. 2[21].
It should be acknowledged, that safety inspection process in the construction
industry is based on the three main aspects, which includes, being regular, imple-
menting direct observation and leading interaction with workers [22]. Therefore, it is
critical for the safety manager to align safety inspection process with the safety system,
especially when evaluating the working conditions of a site project [23]. It is further
reported that safety inspections through visual aspects (images and video clips) also
provide data to improve the working conditions at a site project [24].
Fig. 2. Examples of non-compliance observed images on a site project in Brazil (Adapted from
Melo et al. [21])
Developing a Framework for Deploying Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) 5
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In addition, Fig. 2shows the example of non-compliance observed images on a
project in Brazil. Plate (a) demonstrate waste unprotected from rain; (b) workers
without hard-hats and personal fall arrest systems; (c) safety platforms not installed on
the entire perimeter of the building; (d) workers on the roof unprotected from falling;
(e) inappropriate use of hard-hats; (f) there is no isolation of areas for loading and
unloading of materials.
6 Discussion and Way Forward
Based on the reported literature regarding the construction challenges relating to safety,
it can be concluded that indeed safety at work is a complex phenomenon as emphasized
by Rae and Provan [2]. Accident experienced in construction is described as
unavoidable, happens unexpectedly and the construction industry is high risk when
compared to other industries [25]. Hence, the causes of accidents are also rooted in the
working conditions on construction sites. To solve this reported safety problem, a
proposed conceptual UAVs framework sets a standard ground on how to improve
safety in construction using visual safety inspections. According to Mendes et al.[24]
the use of visual technologies can contribute positively to the entire process of safety
inspections and improving safety practice on construction sites. Additionally, it is
reported by several authors such as Melo et al.[21], Hubbard et al.[15], Tatum and Liu
[11], Irizarry et al. [8], and Moud et al.[6] that the application of UAVs for safety
inspections is used to identify hazards and improve the unsafe working conditions on
construction sites.
The application of UAVs for safety inspections is indicated in Fig. 2. While Fig. 3
presents a conceptual framework guideline for deployment of UAVs in the construction
industry. The following procedures must be followed when deploying UAVs for safety
inspections. Firstly, an operator that might be a safety manager must set a UAV.
Thereafter, an operator must fly a UAV to start with the site surveillance. During the
surveillance, an operator will capture the images or video clips of the site under
surveillance (Fig. 2shows the images captured using UAVs on a Brazilian site project).
The images or videos clips will be saved either on a smartphone or iPad, which was
used as a signal transmitter. Thereafter, a database will be created, and the images or
video clips will be saved on a computer. The images or video clips would be analyzed
with the determination of identifying the risks and hazards, which might cause acci-
dents, and the working conditions on sites. Thereafter, the data would be processed to
help the safety management team to improve the safety management system based on
the analyzed data of the images or video clips (Fig. 2shows the images which were
used to identify hazards on a Brazilian site project).
6 L. G. Mollo et al.
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Despite the formulation of a UAV deployment UAVs to improve safety in con-
struction, there is still a need to validate the UAVs framework on an actual research
project. To test this deployment framework, new studies are under development in
order to evaluate the impact of safety inspection using UAVs on a construction site.
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AQ2
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