Use of Building Information Modeling in Design to Prevent Construction Worker Falls

Abstract

The construction industry has incurred the most fatalities of any United States industry in the private sector in recent years. Whereas many factors may contribute to this statistic, one likely cause is due to designers who often lack design for construction safety knowledge, which results in many safety hazards being built into project designs. Therefore, there is a compelling need for tools that can put the safety-in-design concept into practice. To improve the current situation, a prevention through design (PTD) tool based on computer software was developed. Construction safety best practices were compiled into computable rules so that the PTD tool can automatically conduct compliance checking. Particular emphasis was placed on fall accidents since falls are the most frequently occurring cause of fatalities on construction sites. This tool efficiently makes PTD suggestions available to designers and constructors. With this PTD tool, it is possible for project participants to work together to optimize building designs for construction worker safety, which provides valuable downstream benefits. By using the results of the safety check by this PTD tool, constructors have the opportunity to plan for preliminary safety measures to address construction site hazards from the beginning of the project. Preplanning facilitates reduction of potential hazards on construction sites by allowing for consideration of construction worker safety during the design and preconstruction phases of a project.