Last Updated on April 18, 2023 by Admin
While security is essential in every construction project, large-scale ones have an increased need for measures aimed at offering a safe work environment to their employees and protecting private property, while taking into account the project’s financial constraints.
From reducing the number of injuries and hazardous events and preventing damage to materials or equipment, to ensuring only authorized personnel have access to the area: everything must be handled in a way that minimizes risks and doesn’t affect the project’s profitability.
This article will first explore the main problems faced by operators of large-scale construction sites and projects. Then, it will focus on practices and solutions businesses can adopt to improve security and reduce negative occurrences significantly and consistently.
Table of Contents
Main Security Issues on Large-Scale Construction Sites
Obviously, the most pressing safety issue faced by construction companies managing large-scale projects is workers’ safety. Based on stats published by the US Department of Labor, 1 in 5 deaths among US workers happens in the construction industry. Moreover, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that this industry accounts for 6% of all injuries that generate lost work days.
The second major security issue faced by businesses in this industry is the theft of tools, equipment, and material. A report estimates this problem’s yearly cost to be between 300 million and 1 billion dollars.
Then there is vandalism, which includes a wide range of events, from graffiti to physical damage. According to the Crime in Construction Industry report, 91% of those polled claimed to have suffered cases of vandalism on their sites. Many also describe this as a weekly occurrence.
Fires are another major problem, especially when provoked by arsonists. For example, the UK has experienced a worrying increase in deliberately caused construction site fires over the years. Finally, we should add trespassers, cyber threats, and violent episodes to this long list of factors that threaten the security of large-scale construction projects.
Workers’ Safety: Benchmarking, Onboarding, and Safety Training
Benchmarking refers to the practice of defining areas of improvement with regard to safety standards, followed by efforts to track your performance in these areas. The goal is to constantly improve safety results by eliminating the causes that lead to injuries, death, and other unfortunate events.
It’s one of the most popular and effective methods to improve the safety of your workers’ results over time. Improvements can be measured against your previous performance or that of leading competitors.
Onboarding is the process of exposing new personnel to:
- skilled-based training (e.g., practical demonstration on handling potentially dangerous equipment)
- awareness-based training, which teaches workers how to correctly identify and report safety issues.
Onboarding should obviously be complemented with continuous safety training for the existing workforce. Government institutions like OSHA also offer quality safety courses with the release of a certificate upon completion.
Cloud-Based Access Control Systems
Given the size of the projects under discussion, one of the main goals when it comes to access control systems is to maximize business security while keeping costs at a reasonable level.
Physical access control systems tend to be quite expensive due to higher upfront costs. They are inflexible due to proprietary systems that make it very difficult to change your vendor. Moreover, their use requires the presence of on-site specialists who can deal with any unexpected issue.
In contrast, cloud-based access control systems keep costs down as you won’t need to purchase dedicated servers or invest too much in training your personnel for their use. Not to mention they usually come with free updates and tech assistance.
Integration of Mobile Devices for Security Tasks
The use of cloud-based systems pairs well with that of mobile devices that allow security managers to supervise the site remotely. The possibility of granting or denying people access to the site without having to be there physically can reduce costs and speed up construction times while increasing the overall security of your construction project.
Managers can also analyze site videos if problems arise during operations and decide which action to take without having to drive to the physical location each time or delay the solution.
Eliminating the need for 24/7 on-site surveillance and gaining remote access to multiple construction sites through one centralized platform significantly boosts efficiency and allows the business to generate unprecedented savings.
Finally, the use of app-based keyless door entry systems with customizable features can turn your mobile phone into a key and provide a safer and more affordable solution for unlocking doors compared to other access systems. Some other high-security alternatives include commercial key fob door lock systems, keypad entry systems, and biometrics.
IoT, Machine Learning and AI Solutions
One of the new frontiers of construction site security is the integration of IoT (Internet of Things), machine learning, and artificial intelligence solutions.
Using a combination of IoT sensors and advanced cameras (equipped with infrared, night vision, and thermal sensing capabilities), machine-learning monitoring systems can capture live data before combining them with historical data to predict thefts, incidents, and dangerous scenarios.
These solutions can help decrease the number of unfortunate events significantly while also reducing the frequency of false alarms.
Another way through which AI (artificial intelligence) can improve site security is by analyzing which workers are correctly wearing protective equipment, which will lead to a decrease in the number of work-related injuries.
