Rodrigues, F; Antunes, F and Matos, R (2021) Safety plugins for risks prevention through design resourcing BIM. Construction Innovation, 21(2), pp. 244-258. ISSN 1471-4175
Abstract
The use of building information modelling (BIM) methodology has been increasing in the architecture, engineering, construction and operation sector, driven to a new paradigm of work with the use of three-dimensional (3D) parametric models. However, building information modelling (BIM) has been mostly used for as-built models of a building, not yet been widely used by designers during project and construction phases for occupational risks prevention and safety planning. This paper aims to show the capacity of developing tools that allow adding functionalities to Revit software to improve safety procedures and reduce the time spent on modelling them during the design phase. To reach this objective, a structural 3D model of a building is used to validate the developed tools. A plugin prototype based on legal regulations was developed, allowing qualitative safety assessment through the application of job hazard analysis (JHA), SafeObject and checklists. These tools allow the automated detection of falls from height situations and the automated placement of the correspondent safety systems. Revit application programming interface allowed the conception and addition of several functionalities that can be used in BIM methodology, and more specifically in the prevention of occupational risks in construction, contributing this paper to the application of a new approach to the prevention through design. This paper is innovative and important because the developed plugins allowed: automated detection of potential falls from heights in the design stage; automated introduction of safety objects from a BIM Safety Objects Library; and the intercommunication between a BIM model and a safety database, bringing JHA integration directly on the project. The prototype of this work was validated for fall from height hazards but can be extended to other potentials hazards since the initial design stage.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | accidents; automated hazards detection; building information modelling; construction 4.0; construction technology; fall hazard; health and safety; risk assessment; risk management |
| Index terms: | placement, health and safety, functionality, prototype, methodology, as-built model, integration, programming, design stage, regulation, fall hazard, construction 4.0, building information modelling, 3D model, designer, database, falls, risk assessment, paradigm, risk management, design phase, construction phase, prevention, modelling, construction technology |
| Subjects: | research methods, education and knowledge transfer, health risk and incident analysis, management, financial risk, health safety and environment, organizational analysis, data management, information systems, political science, digital engineering, computational design, profession, risk assessment, programming, technical documentation, design features, modelling and simulation, analytical methods, project delivery, professional practice |
| Topics: | Human Resources, Digital Applications, Design Practice, Organizational Design, Engineering Principles, Project Management, Research Practice, Health and Safety, Cost Management, Governance, Roles and Professions, Risk Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here