5 Ways AI Is Making Construction Jobsites Safer & More Efficient
- Written by News Co
When it comes to the construction industry, there are a few things that we need to see in the right perspective. Construction industry is vital and critical for the overall development of an economy. Secondly, it employs millions of people across the world.
According to some estimates around 7% of the work-force across all industries and across the entire world are directly or indirectly attached to the construction industry. As construction activities continue to see a big surge because of increased demand, both in the public and private sectors, we need to keep in mind a few things.
Construction sites are becoming potential sources of accidents and other risks because the number of people working in them are increasing. Further, there is a common complaint that the construction industry is notorious when it comes to adhering to timelines. Cost overruns are a common problem.
How to overcome this problem?
Whether it is construction cones manufacturing or other such things associated with the construction industry, there is a need to make the place comfortable, convenient and safe for the workers. The number of accidents need to come down as much as possible.
Towards this objective, there is no doubt that modern technologies in general and artificial intelligence in particular has a big and important role to play. The next five points we are sure may help our readers to have a reasonably good idea about the positive impact of AI in the construction industry.
1. Human Error Gets reduced
We need to bear in mind that machines do not make errors. This is because they are programmed to do some task and they can continue performing such tasks, day in and day out with almost zero chances of error.
On the other hand, human beings often make mistakes and commit errors in spite of being attentive and concentrating fully on the work at hand. Automation using AI is a smart, tried and tested way for overcoming human errors in the construction industry.
The employees can be taken off such mundane and repetitive tasks and the human resources so saved could be used for other purposes.
2. Automation of Workplace
There are many tasks in the workplace and also in the construction industry that can be automated fully or partially. This is where the role of AI becomes crucial and perhaps even indispensable in the next few years.
Whether it is moving, lifting, shifting and transporting heavy and hazardous materials within the construction site, AI based equipment and machinery can do a wonderful job of it. They will prevent accidents and make things efficient.
Hence, apart from making the workplace relatively risk free, these automation using AI could also improve productivity quite a bit.
3. Location Tracking
Workers in construction sites are spread over long areas. In fact there are construction sites that run many miles in length, breadth and overall circumference. At any given point in time hundreds and in some cases thousands of workers could be involved.
Tracking them, monitoring them and forewarning them against any potential risks and dangers is extremely important. This is one more area where the role of AI becomes quite vital.
There are many AI software solutions, GPS based trackers and other such things that could help quite a bit.
4. Replace some human tasks
We have talked about it in the previous few lines but would like to reiterate it a bit more. Trivial tasks, when done repeatedly and for extended lengths and periods of time could lead to problems such as work fatigue and boredom.
When this happens, it also could lead to higher risk of accidents. All these could easily be overcome and even can be completely prevented with the help of different types of artificial intelligence ways and means.
They are being used extensively through robots, drones and other such inventions.
5. Bring down operating Costs
Operating costs are important and quite often construction sites see big cost overruns, wastage duplication of workforce efforts and so on. All these things can be efficiently handled with the help of some intelligently worked-out AI steps and processes.
They can come in handy for tracking salaries, marketing costs and traveling expenses, help in better tracking of shipments and inventories and also manage the cost of various materials that are used in the construction industry.
Conclusion
There are many positive ways in which AI or artificial intelligence can help in making the workplace safer and more efficient. The above are just a few examples and there are many other such things that could be added to the list.
