Applications of BIM and UAV to Construction Safety

Building information modeling (BIM) and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) have shown a potential to improve construction safety performance. As new technologies, they are in an early adoption stage in the construction industry. It is still not clear what is the application status of UAV to construction safety or how BIM and UAV are working together to serve as a safety inspection tool. Therefore, this paper conducted a preliminary literature review to identify the current research and application status of BIM and UAV to construction safety. It was found that there are two approaches in the literature in terms of using UAV and BIM for construction safety. In approach 1, UAVs are used to collect geometric data of construction sites to visualize current site conditions in BIM, based upon which potential safety issues can be identified. In approach 2, BIM with the aid of experienced safety experts can provide potential safety hazard locations, and then flight routes of UAVs can be generated accordingly. In the end, this paper proposed a loop system integrating approach 1 and 2.