Integrating BIM and Safety: An Automated Rule-Based Checking System for Safety Planning and Simulation

Safety planning in the construction industry is generally done separately from the project execution planning. This separation creates difficulties for safety engineers to analyze what, when, why and where safety measures are needed for preventing accidents. Lack of information and integration of available data (safety plan, project schedule, 2D project drawings) during the planning stage often results in scheduling work activities with overlapping space needs that then can create hazardous conditions, for example, work above other crew. These space requirements are time dependent and often neglected due to the manual effort that is required to handle the data. Representation of project-specific activity space requirements in 4D models hardly happen along with schedule and work break-down structure. Even with full cooperation of all related stakeholders, current safety planning and execution still largely depends on manual observation and past experiences. The traditional manual observation is inefficient, error-prone, and the observed result can be easily effected by subjective judgments. This paper will demonstrate the development of an automated safety code checking tool for Building Information Modeling (BIM), work breakdown structure, and project schedules in conjunction with safety criteria to reduce the potential for accidents on construction projects. The automated safety compliance rule checker code builds on existing applications for building code compliance checking, structural analysis, and constructability analysis etc. and also the advances in 4D simulations for scheduling. Preliminary results demonstrate a computer-based automated tool can assist in safety planning and execution of projects on a day to day basis.