Hazards Identification and Impact Reduction for At-Risk Construction Activities Using 3D BIM and VR

Despite intensive inquiries efforts, safety standards, and guidelines, construction hazards are a significant worldwide concern continuing to plague jobsites. Tragically, the industry continues to see fatalities and serious injuries. This problem has stemmed a targeted research effort with intent to fill knowledge gaps and improve worker safety, especially during the most hazardous activities. A thorough questionnaire on safety hazards was conducted and it was distributed to construction and civil engineering students, superintendents, safety experts, project managers in six different states from south-east United States. Questionnaire was made available through Qualtrics platform in an effort to identify underlying hazards which emerge during the pre-construction stages but remain unidentified until project completion. The findings aim to identify hazards that have avoided identification by using an integrated approach which includes case studies, quantitative/qualitative assessments. General electrical, mechanical equipment, roofing installations, and concrete works are the main areas of inquiry throughout research. To examine the association between independent variables like hazard recognition and dependent variables like safety training and technical competency researchers used statistical analysis, notably the chi-square test. This statistical method was essential for validating the study's hypotheses. The findings of this exploration have potential for companies looking to improve their safety procedures. Researchers also assumed the significance of emphasizing incident causation as well as the crucial need of thorough hazard recognition and its risk perception. This research aims to improve safety procedures in the specified construction operations by integrating 3D BIM and VR technology to not only uncover hidden threats but clearly identify hazards. It demonstrates a scrutiny of how BIM-integrated VR technologies may affect safety and hazard reduction, foreshadowing the paradigm shift in approaches to virtual/augmented safety training. The investigation also provides insightful information relative to promoting risk awareness and safe prevention methods of the focused construction activities mentioned above.