How BIM Ensures Worker Safety in Australian High-Rise Construction

This report delves into the application of Building Information Modeling (BIM) to enhance worker safety in high-rise building construction in Australia. It examines the role of BIM in hazard declaration, risk prediction, and promoting safety awareness among construction workers. The report highlights the benefits of BIM, including its ability to facilitate systematic task sequencing, improve project planning, and reduce accidents. It also explores relevant safety policies, such as the Work Health and Safety Act, and the importance of establishing Safety Management Systems (SMS). Furthermore, the report addresses the impact of different loads on construction projects and discusses techniques for load management. The study emphasizes BIM's significance in improving productivity, reducing costs, and ensuring a safer working environment. The report concludes by underscoring the importance of BIM in the construction industry, especially for high-rise projects, and its overall impact on worker safety and project efficiency.

How to use BIM to ensure
workers safety in high rise
building construction in Australia

Table of Contents
Chapter 4: Results and Discussion...................................................................................................1
4.1 Introduction...........................................................................................................................1
4.2 Result.....................................................................................................................................1
4.3 Discussion.............................................................................................................................9
4.4 Summary.............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

Chapter 4: Results and Discussion
4.1 Introduction
Under this section, researcher will discuss over findings and results which has been
collected with the help of gathered information. Completion of this chapter will show
interconnections of both analysis and theories that has been used in this investigation. Main
target of developing this section is to analyse how effective the BIM (Building information
modelling) when it comes to ensure workers safety in high rise building construction in
Australia. By analysis on set aim, investigator might easily carry out number of results that will
help in gaining appropriate knowledge related to using BIM at a construction site through which
health and safety of workers can be ensured (Benjaoran and Bhokha 2010).
On the other hand, discussion section of this research will help investigator in
demonstrating analysis related to results that has been carried out by the researcher. Also, this
subsection of chapter will help in gaining knowledge related to the areas of the BIM that were
untouched and aid in drawing much more favourable outcomes related to set topic.
4.2 Result
4.2.1. Building information modelling helps in arranging a systematic sequence for workers
while performing tasks at high rise buildings in order to reduce the risk of falling and
empowering safety on construction site.
Building information modelling refers to process of including management and
generation of digital representation's of the functional and physical places characteristics. It is
intelligent 3D model-based process that provides an engineering, construction and architecture
professionals tools and insight to make the better plan, construct, design, infrastructure and
manage buildings. Construction industry is at digital tipping points as Building Information
Modelling is transforming way of infrastructure, designed, operated and delivered. In addition to
this, creation of 3D models and embedded with the information or data shared through whole
construction teams (Bobick, McKenzie Jr & Kau, 2010). BIM is helpful in improving the
technical, functional and economic characteristics of several buildings. Building Information
Modelling is versatile computer tool that is used through engineers, architects and contractors.
The main focus of BIM is on potential effectiveness as well as financial advantages which may
entail for the construction sector. In context to this, BIM significantly contribute towards
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prevention of accidents on site. Construction is more hazardous sector to work and advent of the
new technologies which managed to make life safe.
The Building Information Modelling can provide solution to agonizing safety issue in
construction. BIM is empowering the safety on site from different ways which are given below:
Hazard declaration- If BIM technology is executed on early stage of project then
construction industry gain the significant benefits in context of safety. In order to explain simply,
it is a beneficial idea to invest on concept of “safety by design”. With the help of this, several
safety related bottlenecks will be neglected from starting. It will help in protecting the workers
from dangerous fall on site (Cheung & Chan, 2012).
Consciousness while performing tasks- Under this, Building Information Modelling can
give the effective awareness of potential hazards around project of construction. In addition to
this, more data combine with unhindered flow of information among various involved parties
which permits for better monitoring of progress of project. It will be helpful in determining
different dangers on site. Better project planning as well as coordination is lesser safety related
threats which will appear.
4.2.2. Benefits of building information modelling for construction workers that helps
constructions company in performing tasks with ease and reducing number of chances of
facing problems.
Building Information Modelling mainly focus on the efficiency of a construction industry
along with providing financial benefits. Moreover, BIM has played a crucial role in preventing
employees from severe accidents on sites. Thus, safety is a big concern for most of the
constructing companies and has to be considered because of increasing number of deaths on
sites. Therefore, it has been recorded that around 60,000 people are killed on construction sites
nearby 1 death in every 10 minutes. According to Koutsogiannis (2017), after implementing
BIM company can gain benefits like providing better communication amongst various project
sides this will help them in proper flow of information even the big data as well.
Smarter Risk Predictions: After implementation of BIM technology in the early stage
of project, significant benefits can be attained by company in relation with safety and
precautions. Under this, “safety by design” concept are taken into consideration and through this
many bottlenecks safety are avoided which can create problem in further process. For example:
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while constructing, a building's face remains inside rather than opposite. As a result, it will
protect workers from a dangerous fall.
Deeper safety awareness during the projects: Building Information Modelling, gives a
better awareness of possible hazards which can occur on construction sites. In this, information
are provided in a flow by involving various parties who are important for project's progress.
Therefore, it will help company in knowing different kinds of hazards that can arise on these
construction sites. Thus, it is important that a proper coordination is maintained departments so
that appropriate project plan can be made (Hardin & McCool, 2015).
Hazard Stimulation: By determining every process of construction company can add
great value as it will help them in making construction sites even better. “Virtual Safety Tours”
is one of the powerful feature that is used by most of the construction company as this enable
them in virtual navigation around the sites so that hazardous situations can be identified and
appropriate steps can be taken. In addition to this, it is used for making most efficient safety
strategies for providing safety to workers.
4.2.3. Safety policy related to health and safety to workers belonging to fall hazards at high
rise building construction considering BIM animations that may aid workers to perform
effectively in near future.
In Australia, construction industry comprises more share of national markets of the
developed countries. Improving the construction sector may ease process of construction and
enhance profit level. In this, high rise buildings are current trends in the construction because of
its benefits, luxury, convenience, architectural design and grade. The safety policy related to
health and safety of workers mention below:
Work Health and Safety Act (2011)- It states that at worker should cooperate with
reasonable procedure or policy of person that conduct business concerned to safety or health at
workplace that notified to the workers (Ku & Mahabaleshwarkar, 2011). It is necessary that
employer should take care the health and safety of workers so that they can work in better way.
Occupational safety and health (OSH)- It is a multidisciplinary area related with
health, welfare and safety of people welfare at workplace. The main goal of Occupational safety
and health (OSH) consists foster healthy and safe working environment.
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Most frequent accidents or issues concerned to safety in the high-rise construction consist
falling Debris, skips, ladders, hoist operation, falling from heights and many others. In order to
overcoming from all these issue, some objectives are given below:
 To study about the safety risk in the construction of high- rise building in
Australia.
 To measure weaknesses, strengths and recommendations for the purpose of safety
improvement in high- rise building (Leonid & Feodor, 2016).
 Establish Safety Management Systems at high- rise construction project.
All these objectives are mention in detailed manner:
Summary of Safety Management System (SMS)- For any construction related project
or high- rise construction, SMS is necessary because it is including of several latent risks and
hazard. Without this, investors, managers, developers and shareholders can not reach at expected
target. On the other hand, suppliers, workers, contractors can not also finish their goals in proper
time period. In context to this, high rise construction should have powerful and strong project
management team that will control, handle and monitor safety related matters. It is a duty of
project management team to execute safety plans that consists scaffolding, site status, fire
prevention, pollution control etc.
Summary of Hazard/Risk Identification- It is most necessary part of high- rise project.
It is based on particular situation and for this there are some necessary actions project
engagement can take:
 Fore- seeing and far- seeing for possible causes can lead to the hazard.
 They should focus in high- rise construction for an instance fire, hoist, scaffolding,
elevator etc.
 Evaluate audit or site- safety check for improvements (Namian, Zuluaga & Albert 2016).
Strength, Weakness of the actual SMS-
Strengths
 The project management should control and monitor their subordinates to implement
safety rules. Safety items and rules are based on advanced norms of site- safety and also executed
through long- history consultant of project management.
Weaknesses
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 Not provide safety related training.
 Take more time, prepare paper for inspection and meeting. Involve the actions only in the construction phrase.
4.2.4. Different loads that impacts upon constructing building which delays the overall process
of project and the tools that help civil engineers in reducing loads at construction sites
The load in the view of construction field refers to the different type of forces and
pressure appear in the construction which some time can result in the deformation and
displacement in the structure of the building which makes the construction weak so there should
be proper distribution of the load so that load distribution can be done effectively and there are
less chances or stress in the overall structure and risk could be minimised (National Building
Information Model Standard Project Committee, 2014). If the load distribution is uniform then
the constructed building would be rigid and would be capable of handling the immense pressure.
There are different load management techniques in the civil engineering which uses the
formulas and different theories of scientist. Load management require high level of technical
skill to solve the problem of load distribution a minor error during the calculation can make the
load distribution ineffective so it should be calculated approximately. There are various kinds of
load which appear as the hindrance while constructing the building like snow load, dead load,
hydrostatic load (load due to water), earthquake(seismic) load, special load etc. In which while
the construction of high building the major role of wind load comes in play as the height of
building increases the different pressure of wind at various joints increases.
There are three types of wind load are as follows trade, seasonal and local winds. Trade
winds are which flows from the lower level of the atmosphere of the earth this of pressure is
often recognizable which and have less impact in delay of construction while seasonal and local
wind are the one whose pressure is high then the trade winds. The best way reduce the load at the
construction site is to distribute the load by making pillars which helps in uniformly distribution
of load another way by joining the “gurder”(thick pipe of huge width to distribute the load in
lengthy areas). It helps in distributing load of lengthy area to make division of blocks as per
choice of the house honour . The another way is through putting counter weight but this can only
help at the time during construction. After completing the construction the counter weight is
removed but it helps in saving the cost of permanent load like pillars. These are reusable.
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4.2.5. Importance of Building Information Modelling and its impact over workers considering
number of issues that faced while performing tasks at high rise construction sites.
Building Information Modelling is important in construction industry as it helps in
completing whole project in less period of time by following all safety measures. This models
assures that cost for the project will be used in right place and will be utilised effectively by site
inspector. Some of the main importance of BIM are described as below:
Improves productivity and decreases cost: Usage of BIM is essential factor for the
organisation as it helps in increasing productivity of workers. As it all work is performed in a
systematic manner that is helpful in using minimising cost. This model is successful in guiding
workers about whole work by using effective communication at construction site. As it directly
minimises the time and cost consumed while constructing project.
Decreases reworks: BIM operates whole project at centric level which is helpful in
updating and informing all the manpower who are related to the work. This ensures that no one
at construction site will repeat same work effectively. As a result whole work of construction
will be completed in less time.
Enhances coordination: This model operates whole work in centralised manner which
conveys essential information to all workers at the same time. It enhances coordination among
them and builds positive working environment for workers.
Increases customer satisfaction: Building information model is important as it
accomplishes whole construction project in less time. Along with this, it can be said that overall
whole work is done with high quality, consistency and transparency that will be helpful in
producing effective constructive building. As a result, it will directly increase customer
satisfaction level.
According to the above mentioned importance of building information modelling it can
be said that it impacts positively on employees as it increases safety level for workers. The stated
model is successful in improving working environment at construction site which ensures that
workers will are safe at location. It also helps in decreasing different issues which are faced by
workers while working. It can be said earlier workers were not getting appropriate and safe
working environment which demotivate them to perform their assigned task effectively.
The BIM technique uses different model according to the requirement of the current
task . It helps in solving the difficult or complex task of the worker in effective time and in
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efficient manner. Using BIM the understanding of process management becomes easy which
helps the upper level employee to understand the task and then to convey the information to their
worker or labour effectively through the digital medium or through the sign language to make
labour understand quickly. The BIM model or files can be easily stored and extracted easily and
can share the common information to the different region with the help of high speed network
and its helps in the decision making process while remaining in the field itself.
4.2.6. Influence of Site Environmental Factors on Accidents of high rise building construction
in Australia which affects safety measures of workers
According to the study of Abdelhamid and Everret, (2014), it is stated that the influence
of architects, clients, contractors and project manager in putting the life of the workers in danger
is explored to a great extent. On the other hand, the workers who are involved in the site
construction are spelt out clearly. The factors which are responsible for the unsafe environmental
conditions are left totally incomplete in nonattendance of the site environment where the
accident is taking place (Ku & Mills, 2010). The Occupational Health and Safety Administration
indicates that it is the responsibility of all the employers in order to develop a safe working
environment where all the workers will be happily working without facing any type of difficulty.
The place where different activities related to construction are carried had to be safe in order to
achieve the best results. There are different accidents on sites which affects the safety of
customers such as housekeeping hazards, inadequate guarded sites etc.
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(Source: Accidents at construction sites, 2018)
Numerous types of accident occur on site comprising of contact with objects, and such
objects are inclusive of working tools, electricity, and welding arc flash, with the causes being as
a result of the workers’ exposures to cables or machines carrying electric current, contact with
energised power line, working without personal protective equipment, improperly installed or
damaged equipment, and safe voltage or earth failure. One more problem which is wind because
high rise buildings where number of floors stays really very high, after reaching to a specific
level of height, wind flows with a huge speed which may create problems for workers at
construction site, site environment and proper analysis of project manager may help in making
right decisions as per the requirements (Sattineni & Azhar, 2010).
4.2.7. Importance of Construction Safety Plan and its functions to achieve specific goal i.e.
reducing falling risks
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Illustration 1: Accidents at construction sites

In today's world, every single country is building multi storied complexes which raised
number of risks for workers at the time of performing tasks at constructing site. It is required for
project manager of a whole construction site to keep his/her focus over elements that can impact
performance level of workers. In order to do so, CSP (Construction Safety Plan) is majorly made
that helps in reducing hazardous situations at workstation.
Construction Safety Plan and its importance is that a checklist for construction workers
which generally includes safety procedures and emergency procedures, and in some cases
include first aid procedures, that helps in using personal protective equipment and many other
places (Tarar & Dang, 2012). Some of essential things which a construction safety plan mostly
consider and these are :
 The safety representative
 Medical treatment
 Safety inspections
 Safety indoctrination
 Continuous safety training
 Housekeeping
 Protective equipment
 Accident reports
 Work zone warning devices and so on.
It is required for project manager develop a plan as per the requirements through which
number of chances related to hazardous situation can be reduced to zero. On the other hand,
while applying BIM at construction site, it is required to have a CSP that ensures safety and
security concerns of workers at the time they perform tasks at construction sites. On the other
hand, main function that helps in reducing risks for individuals at workplace is that the harm
which has caused the construction process and formulate appropriate safety measures for each
stage. Here, it is being found that contractor from time to time needs to ensure a safe
construction process (Zhang and et. al., 2013). Considering this may help contractor in
developing much more effective plan for the people who are delivering number of tasks at high
rise buildings. This may easily aid in developing a healthy and safe environment then also when
there is high risk involved for the workers.
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Whenever a non-routine project or task is necessary, a job hazard analysis shall be
performed to evaluate the potential risk of injury to personnel. The analysis will assess each
aspect of a task and address the items which could result in an injury to an individual. This
involves an evaluation of the mechanics of the operation, identifying what can go wrong, and
how to do it safely.
(Source: Construction Workers Fatalities,2018)
4.3 Discussion
This is being considered as the section related to study which needs to be discussed and
analysed in much important ways as it stays vital for whole investigation to get completed in
specific time frame. Worker's safety at construction site remains one of the main subject for
every single construction company. BIM which shows digital representation related to physical
and graphical site may aid a firm in making effective decisions related to workers while they are
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Illustration 2: Construction Workers Fatalities