Prevention through Design (PtD) of integrating accident precursors in BIM

Construction workers are engaged in many activities that may expose them to serious hazards, such as falling, unguarded machinery, or being struck by heavy construction equipment. Despite extensive research in building information modeling (BIM) for safety management, current approaches, detecting safety issues after design completion, may limit the opportunities to prevent predictable and potential accidents when decisions of building materials and systems are made. In this respect, this research proposes a proactive approach to detecting safety issues from the early design phase. This research aims to explore accident precursors and integrate them into BIM for tracking safety hazards during the design development process. Accident precursors can be identified from construction incident reports published by OSHA using a text mining technique. Through BIM-integrated accident precursors, construction safety hazards can be identified during the design phase. The results will contribute to supporting a successful transition from the design stage to the construction stage that considers a safe construction workplace. This will advance the body of knowledge about construction safety management by elucidating a hypothesis that safety hazards can be detected during the design phase involving decisions about materials, building elements, and equipment. In addition, the proactive approach will help the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry eliminate occupational safety hazards before near-miss situations appear on construction sites.