Real-time locating systems and safety in construction sites: A literature review

Highlights

• A total of 75 articles about RTLS applications on safety in construction sites from 2008 to 2018 are reviewed.

• The information related to publication distribution is extracted and tabulated.

• Eight main research streams of RTLS applications on construction safety are identified.

• The benefits and limitations of RTLS technologies in construction safety management are discussed.

• Possible paths for future research on RTLS are indicated to extend its application on construction safety management.

Abstract

Construction site safety is a vital issue in construction project management. Real-time locating and tracking technologies are getting widely used for automated monitoring of the location and direction of onsite resources, specifically workers and equipment in order to prevent hazard exposures and potential accidents. Despite the importance of utilizing real-time locating systems (RTLS) for better site safety, research on this area has been ubiquitous and a systematic review which directly addresses the association between RTLSs and construction safety is lacking. This study aims to conduct a systematic literature review to investigate predominant research streams, achievements, and limitations to the all existing applications of RTLS technology in construction safety management, and suggest potential areas for future research on the integration of RTLS applications into wider scopes of onsite safety management. The main contribution of this review lies on providing a more comprehensive knowledge of the current utilization and further development of RTLS applications on improving construction safety management. RTLSs have aided safety management process in eight major research streams including safety monitoring, accident prevention, behavior-based safety, safety alerts and warnings, ergonomics analysis and physiological status monitoring, communication-based safety, performance evaluation of the developed RTLS-related technologies and on-site safety training. However, there are limitations and gaps in applying each particular application which are highlighted to clarify the future research avenues.

Introduction

Construction worksites have complex and hazardous environment with many dynamic resources including staff, equipment and materials (Li et al., 2016, Perttula et al., 2006, Pinto et al., 2011). Statistics show that construction workers considerably are at greater risk of death and being injured compared to the workers in other industries (Sousa et al., 2014). Although construction site safety is recognized as a vital issue in construction project management, there are still a huge number of accidents happened in construction sites (Choudhry et al., 2008).

Previous research on construction safety have mainly considered the general and indirect causes of accidents (e.g. insufficient safety strategies). To establish an effective management system, direct immediate causes of accidents which are unique in each particular worksite should not be neglected (e.g. working environment, construction methods, equipment, materials and status of staff) (Heinrich, 1941, Lee et al., 2014, Zhou et al., 2015). The occurrences of many direct immediate causes of accidents can be prevented by proper monitoring of site conditions, such as location of on-site staff, equipment and materials (Carter and Smith, 2006). It would be impossible to monitor the whole site in real time without using advanced technologies (Golparvar-Fard et al., 2009, Guo et al., 2017). Real-time locating system (RTLS) has emerged as a promising technology which can automatically specify the exact position of an object or human in real time within an instrumented environment (Li et al., 2016). In terms of safety management, RTLSs are majorly utilized for automated monitoring of the real-time location and direction of all workers, equipment and materials on a particular construction site by detecting and tracking them through sensors or tags in order to make alarms on specific hazardous areas and prevent collisions and falls and provide information for further analysis (Choe and Leite, 2017, Kanan et al., 2018).

Recent growth and advances of RTLSs have expanded their applications to various construction-related areas (Li et al., 2015a). In this regard, a review paper recently done by Li et al. (2016) has discussed the applications of RTLSs for different construction management purposes, such as in construction process management, safety management, and on-site resource management. However, this review has not addressed the details of RTLS applications specifically for construction safety management. In the work of Li et al. (2016), it has been suggested that more research of the use of RTLS should be done on construction health and safety management. So, although previous research has indicated the importance of RTLS technology for construction safety, there is a lack of a systematic review to specify what currently exists under this emerging topic or what should be considered in the future. Therefore, this paper aims to present a comprehensive literature review of the current applications of RTLS on various aspects of construction safety management. The objectives are to identify predominant research themes and topics and their major achievements, unveil limitations and gaps in the literature, and provide signposts for future research. Significance of this review lies on providing a better knowledge of the utilization and development of RTLS applications on construction safety management. The review will be useful for identifying potential areas for further research. Moreover, this study contributes to providing construction safety managers with a deeper and richer understating on the relation between RTLS and safety management which helps them design more effective strategies for their execution using this integrated approach.