Applicability of unmanned aerial system (UAS) for safety inspection on construction sites

The use of technologies on jobsites is one of the recent challenges for construction management. To exemplify this, studies report the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles/Systems (UAV/UAS) for transportation and jobsite monitoring, and these potential features have caught the attention of the construction industry. However, studies are still required to orient the development of operational procedures for using this technology effectively, mainly for on-site safety monitoring. This study aims to assess the applicability of UAV for safety inspection on construction sites, focusing on the identification of the requirement that can be inspected and the non-compliances with the safety requirements established. This study was based on two case studies, conducted by a protocol developed for data collection, processing and analysis of the visual assets (photos and video recording) gathered from the UAS flights on jobsites. The results show that the visual assets collected by UAV can improve the safety inspection on jobsites by means of a better visualization of working conditions. This fact was pointed out by the analysis of the visual assets which provided detailed information about the compliance of safety items according to the safety regulations. The main contribution of this research is the development of a set of procedures and guidelines for collecting, processing and analyzing safety requirements from UAS visual assets on jobsite in order to identify the potential to incorporate this technology into the project's safety management routine.