Keywords: virtual construction environments, construction site safety.

The complex nature of construction site safety is a major issue to be considered during construction. Among the top reasons affecting the safety of the construction site is the available workplace and the surrounding environment [1]. Moreover, much research effort and experience has reported that proper site management is vital for reducing hazards and accidents on construction sites [2,3]. Therefore, several causes of construction site accidents and health hazards (such as falls, falling objects, site transportation, site layout, and hazardous substances) can be controlled through creating an efficient site layout plan.

With the recent advances in the computer-based visualization and 3D CAD systems, virtual reality (VR) is becoming a more popular form for providing a visual interactive medium to test different scenarios of any environment representing real world processes. Additionally, the term virtual construction environments (VCEs) is becoming more popular in engineering applications such as architectural visualization, design validation, constructability, planning and scheduling, and project integration.

In this research, a virtual environment, named SIMCON+, was developed as a test pad to have insight into the construction site, and to support decisions related to the safety considerations. The methodology behind the SIMCON+ environment is based upon engaging the user into a form of visual interactive simulation where different construction site configurations could be tested and analyzed with other key elements of the surrounding environment (such as building components, materials, machines and workers).

The first section of this paper highlights major issues related to the safety of construction sites during the construction phase, and with respect to construction site accidents. Additionally, the paper highlights the root causes of construction site accidents, their types, and the relationship between these types and the surrounding construction environment. The second section provides a historical summary of construction visualization as a planning tool in the area of construction engineering. The third section presents the SIMCON+ application and its major components, and an overall view on how these major components are working and interacting with each other. Then the paper suggests a framework for conducting true what-if analysis based on visual interactive simulation. This framework should be considered when decisions are to be made with respect to the overall management of the construction site. The paper validates the workability of the presented methodology through a realistic case study. Finally, the paper outlines future directions for further research in this area.

1

D. MacCollum, Construction Safety Planning, John Willey & Sons, Inc., 1995.

2

C. Anumba and G. Bishop, "Importance of Safety Considerations in Site Layout and Organization." Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering 1997, 24(2)2, 229-236. doi:10.1139/cjce-24-2-229

3

T. Abdelhamid, and J. Everett, "Identifying Root Causes of Construction Accidents", Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, ASCE, 2000, Vol. (126), 52-60.. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2000)126:1(52)

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