Worker 4.0: The Future of Sensored Construction Sites

Abstract

The digitalization of the construction industry (CI) has the aim—among others—to raise the bar of overall productivity. The craft workforce is very relevant on the overall value-chain. Therefore, a boost in this dimension impacts the entire sector. There is a gap in proper methodologies to measure and model productivity. Construction 4.0 novelties provide new approaches for its evaluation and progress. This communication presents a review of workforce productivity assessment and delivers methods focusing primarily on craft workers motion monitoring. Products and services opportunities from Construction 4.0 in the spectrum of craft workforce management include support by embedded sensors for data collection that allow near real-time monitoring. The work developed led to the systematization of a framework to standardize craft workers’ motion productivity. The craft workforce motion productivity framework, Worker 4.0, tenders nine processes integrated on a flowchart to streamline task processes assessment and mechanization level. It also sets up a two-handed/two-legged chart system to model craft workers’ activities and operations. The contributions to the body of knowledge are substantiated on the framework creation with the ability to model and assess craft workforce performance. This approach is meant to serve as base point for different stakeholders focusing on skills, efficiency, mechanization and productivity improvements.

A Systematic Review of Construction 4.0 in the Context of the BIM 4.0 Premise

“…Improved safety has the potential to be the key benefit of implementing CPS and DT in the construction industry since it is predicted that project managers and safety specialists will have access to locations of employees and heavy equipment at all times [72,73]. Additionally, sensors have made data exchange among workers easier and provided opportunities to monitor their health to increase safety [74]. Moreover, structure monitoring sensors can detect malfunctioning structural components to ensure site safety.…”

Towards an AEC-AI Industry Optimization Algorithmic Knowledge Mapping: An Adaptive Methodology for Macroscopic Conceptual Analysis

“…AEC industry that will also suffer transformative innovation is the workforce. The profile of workers under the new paradigm of Industry 4.0 results in a worker 4.0 conceived to streamline productivity performance and management [26]. Recommendations for future education include: BIM as the digital platform, involving BIM-standalone and BIMembedded courses; collaborative BIM aimed to reduce the fragmentation among different AEC disciplines (e.g., interdisciplinary project-based learning).…”

Human Data Interaction in Sensored Sites, Challenges of the Craft Workforce Dimension

“…Sensing Technologies will be applied at construction sites to monitor the environment conditions and the workforce performance (Calvetti, Mêda, et al, 2020). It is necessary to manage those devices to collect data, as example, embedding customised software or setting permissions.…”

“…Many Conditions (Features) can be observed/collected from craft workers and from the construction site environment (Calvetti, Mêda, et al, 2020). That data should be managed to be sent/shared.…”