Zhipeng Zhou

Design and implementation of an identification system in construction site safety for proactive accident prevention

Identifying accident precursors using real-time identity information has great potential to improve safety performance in construction industry, which is still suffering from day to day records of accident fatality and injury. Based on the requirements analysis for identifying precursor and the discussion of enabling technology solutions for acquiring and sharing real-time automatic identification information on construction site, this paper proposes an identification system design for proactive accident prevention to improve construction site safety. Firstly, a case study is conducted to analyze the automatic identification requirements for identifying accident precursors in construction site. Results show that it mainly consists of three aspects, namely access control, training and inspection information and operation authority. The system is then designed to fulfill these requirements based on ZigBee enabled wireless sensor network (WSN), radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and an integrated ZigBee RFID sensor network structure. At the same time, an information database is also designed and implemented, which includes 15 tables, 54 queries and several reports and forms. In the end, a demonstration system based on the proposed system design is developed as a proof of concept prototype. The contributions of this study include the requirement analysis and technical design of a real-time identity information tracking solution for proactive accident prevention on construction sites. The technical solution proposed in this paper has a significant importance in improving safety performance on construction sites. Moreover, this study can serve as a reference design for future system integrations where more functions, such as environment monitoring and location tracking, can be added.

Applying advanced technology to improve safety management in the construction industry: a literature review

Technology application is deemed an effective way to further construction safety management. Various technologies have been adopted for construction safety, including information communication technology (ICT), sensor-based technology, 3S (GIS/GPS/RS) technology, radio frequency identification (RFID) and virtual reality. A review of previous studies in the area of technology applications for construction safety would be indispensable for the main stakeholders in this field to share innovative research findings and gain access to future research trends. A three-step method was used to obtain relevant publications (119 papers met the ultimate selection criteria) and compile a database of the findings. The results present a general review of technology application for construction safety from the aspects of number of papers published annually, publication type, publication name, country/region of distribution, research level, project phase and project type. Corresponding analysis was performed with the collected data and the radar chart was used for analysing the trend of technology application for construction safety and the trend of research topics. Five research gaps were identified in the review process. The trends and gaps can serve as motivation for researchers and practitioners to work on the next generation of studies and the development of future effective measures, which can ensure a safe construction environment.

Developing a Versatile Subway Construction Incident Database for Safety Management

AbstractIt is very difficult to implement quantitative risk assessment (QRA) for safety management in subway construction because of to the shortage of sufficient information about accidents happening in subway construction. QRA contains, for example, the statistical analysis of incidents, the calculation of safety precursors, and a foundation of precursor early warning systems. To enhance the possibility of QRA and further the safety management in subway construction, a versatile subway construction incident database (SCID) was developed. SCID is composed of three kinds of incidents—inclusive of accidents, near-misses, and unsafe behaviors/conditions. First, this paper researched in-depth on the relationship and differentiation among incident, accident, near-miss, and unsafe behavior/condition, and the methodology of data collection about subway construction incident was represented. Second, Microsoft Access 2007 was employed as the software platform and each part of SCID was devised. Then, the organizat...

Integrated Framework of Modified Accident Energy Release Model and Network Theory to Explore the Full Complexity of the Hangzhou Subway Construction Collapse

AbstractThe Hangzhou subway construction collapse (HZSCC) is a serious accident that caused the most casualties in China’s subway construction history. This disaster took place on November 15, 2008, causing 21 fatalities and 24 injuries. Past analyses of the HZSCC were incomplete, and using traditional linear causation models made it difficult to grasp the nature of the HZSCC within its complex context of subway construction. This study aims to capture the full complexity of the HZSCC, on the basis of an integrated framework of a modified accident energy release model (MAERM) and network theory. Given that the energy release model has the advantage of revealing the nature of accident occurrence from an ontological perspective, it was adopted and was modified by employing the hierarchy of the causal influences model. The HZSCC causation analysis was conducted by identifying energy sources and analyzing invalidation of energy restraints. This accident is not isolated but rather a combination of 11 subaccide...

Overview and Analysis of Ontology Studies Supporting Development of the Construction Industry

AbstractBeing information-intensive, the construction industry has the feature of multiagents, including multiparticipants from different disciplines, multiprocesses with a long-span timeline, and multidocuments generated by various systems. The multistakeholder context of the construction industry creates problems such as poor information interoperability and low productivity arising from difficulties in information reuse. Many researchers have explored the use of ontology to address these issues. This study aims to review ontology research to explore its trends, gaps, and opportunities in the construction industry. A systematic process employing three-phase search method, objective analysis and subjective analysis, helps to provide enough potential articles related to construction ontology research, and to reduce arbitrariness and subjectivity involved in research topic analysis. As a result, three main research topics aligned with the ontology development lifecycle were derived as follows: information ...

Using Grounded Theory Methodology to Explore the Information of Precursors Based on Subway Construction Incidents

Precursor management has been studied and applied across a wide range of industries. The findings demonstrate that knowledge of precursors can provide an opportunity to avoid incidents and further safety performance. A review of the literature and present construction practice implies that there is a lack of comprehensive knowledge about what precursors mean within the context of construction safety. This study aims to fill this gap by using grounded theory to capture the nature of precursors in the construction industry. Seventy-nine collapse incidents from a subway construction incident database (SCID) were employed as the source of data. The grounded theory analysis (including the three steps of open coding, axial coding, and selective coding) was conducted one by one, using qualitative data analysis software. By discreet and broad analysis, comparison and abstraction of these incident cases in subway construction, a path diagram of precursor development was generated within the context of subway construction safety management. Causal factors, frequency, categories, and information of precursors were discussed. A comparative study among the collapse incident cases was conducted to illustrate the significance of discovering precursors, adopting corresponding measures, and ensuring measure effectiveness. Set theory was applied to explore the interrelationships among precursor, incident, accident, near miss, and unsafe behavior/condition. The incident chain offered supplemental information about the interrelationship among the five constructs. The included discussion provides knowledge and information indispensable for the field of precursor management. Safety personnel can easily and clearly apply precursor management to assisting in construction safety management.

Complexity and Vulnerability Analysis of Critical Infrastructures: A Methodological Approach

Vulnerability analysis of network models has been widely adopted to explore the potential impacts of random disturbances, deliberate attacks, and natural disasters. However, almost all these models are based on a fixed topological structure, in which the physical properties of infrastructure components and their interrelationships are not well captured. In this paper, a new research framework is put forward to quantitatively explore and assess the complexity and vulnerability of critical infrastructure systems. Then, a case study is presented to prove the feasibility and validity of the proposed framework. After constructing metro physical network (MPN), Pajek is employed to analyze its corresponding topological properties, including degree, betweenness, average path length, network diameter, and clustering coefficient. With a comprehensive understanding of the complexity of MPN, it would be beneficial for metro system to restrain original near-miss or accidents and support decision-making in emergency situations. Moreover, through the analysis of two simulation protocols for system component failure, it is found that the MPN turned to be vulnerable under the condition that the high-degree nodes or high-betweenness edges are attacked. These findings will be conductive to offer recommendations and proposals for robust design, risk-based decision-making, and prioritization of risk reduction investment.

Access and monitor vulnerability of urban metro network system in China

It is a transition period for UMNSs in China, as operation mode is changed from single line operation to network operation. With the booming construction of UMNS in many big cities, interdependence and cascading relationship is more and more clear. Impropriate handled of failures in one line would induce malfunction in related lines or even cascade the whole operation network. This research takes UMNS as object and focuses on vulnerability analysis of it. The objectives of this research contain: exploring the connotation and formation mechanism of vulnerability; identifying the relationship between characters of the network and vulnerability of UMNS; assessing physical, structural, and social functional vulnerability of UMNS; establishing visualized dynamic monitoring system and case study.

An Approach for Understanding and Promoting Coal Mine Safety by Exploring Coal Mine Risk Network

Capturing the interrelations among risks is essential to thoroughly understand and promote coal mining safety. From this standpoint, 105 risks and 135 interrelations among risks had been identified from 126 typical accidents, which were also the foundation of constructing coal mine risk network (CMRN). Based on the complex network theory and Pajek, six parameters (i.e., network diameter, network density, average path length, degree, betweenness, and clustering coefficient) were employed to reveal the topological properties of CMRN. As indicated by the results, CMRN possesses scale-free network property because its cumulative degree distribution obeys power-law distribution. This means that CMRN is robust to random hazard and vulnerable to deliberate attack. CMRN is also a small-world network due to its relatively small average path length as well as high clustering coefficient, implying that accident propagation in CMRN is faster than regular network. Furthermore, the effect of risk control is explored. According to the result, it shows that roof collapse, fire, and gas concentration exceeding limit refer to three most valuable targets for risk control among all the risks. This study will help offer recommendations and proposals for making beforehand strategies that can restrain original risks and reduce accidents.

Mathematical modelling of blood perfusion and oxygen transport in the cerebral microvasculature of ischemic stroke

Most frequently (80%) strokes result from the occlusion of one or several brain vessels and are called ischemic strokes (in the other cases, strokes are hemorrhagic strokes). Measurements of haemodynamics and oxygen delivery on microscopic scales are technically difficult or impossible in many cases, especially during brain activity. One way to study the disease is to establish mathematical models to better understand the dynamic process of blood perfusion and oxygen transport in an ischemic stroke. In this paper, we propose a mathematical modelling system to investigate the haemodynamics and oxygen transport through a 2D cerebral microvascular network during ischemic stroke. The microvessel network is based on the anatomical brain microcirculation structure. The haemodynamic calculation is carried out on the microvessel network by fully coupling the intravascular blood perfusion, the transvascular flow and the interstitial fluid flow. In addition, the compliance of microvessels and blood rheology with hematocritic distribution are also considered. The coupling procedure is based on the iteratively numerical simulation techniques in our previous study for tumour microvessels. The oxygen delivery is described by the time-varying oxygen advection diffusion equation which includes oxygen diffusion and advection in individual microvessel segments, oxygen flux across the vascular wall, and then oxygen diffusion and consumption within the brain tissue. The haemodynamic information and oxygen distribution are investigated under physiological and pathological conditions.