The last decade or so in the AEC industry has been defined in many ways by a massive uptick in technological adoption, a shift that had been a long time coming but has finally come through in a major way. That’s not to say there’s no more work to be done on this front, but clearly attitudes are shifting. For the most part, the driver that is brought up in these discussions is around improving efficiency. Of course, many new tools are addressing this problem, and the sector has become significantly more streamlined.
That being said, these aren’t the only benefits that are achieved by greater technological adoption. As we’ve covered here at Geo Week News, perhaps an even bigger gain by bringing these new tools and techniques into the fold is improving safety for the workers in the industry. Below, you can find five recent stories from Geo Week News highlighting the strides made around different forms of safety in the industry.
Find links to the full articles below.
How technology can make safer job sites
It makes sense to start at the highest level, looking at the issue at hand from a broad point of view. This article was written during last year’s Construction Safety Week, an annual event which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2024, and detailed a number of different technologies that contribute to the safety of works. That includes tools like robotics and drones to complete work in potentially dangerous parts of a job site, as well as simpler and, frankly, more boring examples like project management tools that are freely available to those in the field.
How The B1M and Procore are teaming up to raise awareness around mental health in construction
Generally speaking, the conversations around safety in construction revolve around physical safety – and for valid reasons – but the industry is also dealing with a massive mental health crisis as well. This article includes conversations with Fred Mills, Founder of The B1M, and Sasha Reed, Senior Director of Industry Transformation with Procore. These two companies came together to form a joint initiative called Get Construction Talking, which hopes to address the industry’s mental health crisis. While technology isn’t as directly involved as compared to some of the other examples here, Procore is of course a technology company, and sharing these stories online for mass audiences to see go a long way toward finally addressing the core issues.
Can Drones Provide a Safer Insight During Inspections?
Now, we start to get into some of the more specific solutions to address potentially dangerous situations in AEC, this one looking at how drones can be used for these purposes. Often, inspections for infrastructure can involve dangerous maneuvering to try and catch the necessary angles to fully capture a given structure. As UAVs have become more accessible, and sensor payloads have shrunk to the point where they are light enough to fly with a drone, they are helping to capture the necessary data for these inspections, even in the most dangerous situations.
What’s All That Racket? Addressing Sound Pollution on Jobsites
Just like mental health, dealing with sound pollution on a job site isn’t necessarily what comes immediately to mind when it comes to safety in construction, but it is a real problem for many workers. This article highlights studies that show just how dangerous regular exposure to these loud job sites can be for workers, and what can be done to mitigate these effects.
