1. The risk of personal injuries
In a worst case scenario, construction site accidents can lead to personal injuries. According to Finnish Transport Agency’s study, for example excavation collapses cause 1-3 fatal accidents in a year (Danger lurks underground – research project on excavation safety. Finnish Transport Agency, Investment steering). By using automatic monitoring, it is possible to get real time information and minimize the risks of these kind of accidents. For example, the information on the possible changes in excavation’s support walls is received as soon as they take place. This way corrective measures can be taken in time, before changes lead to accidents and damages.
2. The risk of economical losses
Structures at construction sites don’t always behave as planned and the economical effects caused by accidents can often become significant. With automatic measuring, already small changes in the structures can be detected. This way the dangerous situations can be prevented in time before they lead to accidents. When designers receive measurement data, they can create better structural designs than before and make sure that the structures are correctly sized. Wrong sizing leads to excessive costs – with monitoring the structures can be optimized which decreases the expenses.
3. The risk of liability to compensate
The construction site is responsible not only for its own safety, but also for the safety of the surrounding buildings and the environment. If something happens to the environment, it is not always easy to name the one who is liable to compensate. With the help of automatic measurements, the contractor can prove if their operations have caused damages to the environment of the site or not.
4. The risk of scattered information
When using automatic monitoring, also the documentation of the measurement data is generated automatically. No one has to make the documents, the system produces them independently. All the documents can also be found from one place and it is easy to get back to them later, if necessary.
5. The risk of being late on schedule because of unexpected situations
Unexpected situations like accidents can delay the construction project considerably. With automatic monitoring one gets up-to-date information of ground and structure behaviour which increases predictability. When the accidents can be prevented, also the schedule delays can be in this respect avoided.