Page 34 - OHS, April 2021

FIRE SAFETY
amplify an augmented reality projection of that building. High quality renders can be put directly into AR because BIM has a detailed, consistent information set from multiple steps of the design and construction process. AR can then also selectively display subsystems, like electrical, plumbing or HVAC.
How are BIM and AR Useful for Fire Safety Inspections?
Researchers are exploring ways to bring the benefits of AR and BIM to fire safety inspections and related maintenance procedures.5 Currently, most facility maintenance workers use 2D drawings to find elements in the building. This procedure is tremendously inefficient, since 2D drawings only show an isolated view of the building, and each of those 2D drawings may have inconsistencies with how the building was actually constructed. This can cause misinterpretation or discrepancies between fire safety-related records and the actual implementation and storage of fire safety equipment in the building.
The fire systems for a building are designed early in the BIM process, usually during the design development (DD) phase. Once the building is constructed and complete, any changes to the fire system will have already been integrated into schematics and renders. As a result, fire safety inspections can be expedited by informing inspectors of the location of all relevant systems beforehand. Furthermore, an AR overlay can speed up finding these systems throughout the building. The inspectors can also be enabled to bypass access control to avoid delays.
In general, the participants in this research project agreed that the AR-BIM system reduced the time of the inspection process, reduced paper waste, ensured correctness and integrity of information transmission and ensured compliance with the testing process. The majority of participants experienced a learning curve to adjust to the tablet-based AR system, but even with this learning curve, inspection time was reduced by 25 percent.
What are the Limitations of BIM and AR Systems?
Although there are many benefits to these technologies, there are several known limitations to AR and BIM6 that are actively under research, such as:
■ Cybersecurity. As with all digital technology, it can be challenging to keep sensitive information protected. Limiting data access is especially important to protect personal information and prevent crime.
■ Legal implications. Intellectual property, including the building designs captured in BIM and used in AR displays, is governed by complex legislation. As each of these technologies have been recently adopted and under ongoing development, the legal implications of these technologies are not yet fully explored.
■ Human error. Although BIM is designed to be collaborative among all parties, it is possible for a miscommunication between on-site workers and designers to occur. This could lead to a discrepancy between the model and actual building. Bringing more AR capability into BIM would help automatically validate constructed features against their models in real time.
■ Development overhead. Both BIM and AR require software design overhead, which consumes more time and energy up front. As these programs and processes are further refined, overhead will be reduced.
■ Data interoperability. Existing model data might be stored across various programs and sources. BIM integrates all of these disparate data sources into one location, which could require data management to transition to a new modeling system. This is a challenge that is already present with current use of 2D systems, and AR-BIM systems would facilitate the collection of these data sources.
■ Management shift. Introducing BIM and AR fundamentally changes the way building project management and safety inspections are handled. Technology isn’t the only piece of this equation—this changes project requirements, timelines and deliverables for all parties involved in the project.
■ Cost. Licensing and device expenses for BIM and AR systems is well above paper-based methods in regards to upfront investment.However,thelifetimesavingsandoveralloptimization these technologies provide pushes overall cost down.
Why Should My Team Use BIM and AR for
Fire Safety Inspection?
While there are many challenges to adopting new technologies, the benefits of both AR and BIM are immediately apparent. Their additional cost and effort reduce over time. If you use any BIM programs in your design cycle (which you should, since BIM provides benefits to almost everyone), then pivoting your current inspection procedures to take advantage of AR with BIM is a must.7 Introducing AR and BM to fire safety inspection reduces user error and facilitates information transfer between parties. Additionally, AR can automatically validate and update BIM documentation to further reduce human error. At every step of the building project lifecycle, BIM and AR increase efficiency and quality, even for emergency preparations like fire prevention.
Caitlyn Caggia is a content writer with PDF Electric & Supply. She is an experienced systems integrator and solutions architect focused on analytics and artificial intelligence initiatives. Caitlyn holds her MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Georgia Tech. Alex Saad-Falcon is a content writer with PDF Electric & Supply. She is a published research engineer at an internationally acclaimed research institute, where he leads internal and customer sponsored projects. Alex has his MS in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech and is pursuing a PhD in Machine Learning.
REFERENCES
1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/building-information- modeling
2. https://books.google.com/books?id=JQ5gAwAAQBAJ
3. https://ascelibrary.org/doi/full/10.1061/%28ASCE%29
LM.1943-5630.0000127
4. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/ S0926580518309956
5. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/ S0926580518309956
6. https://www.caesoft.es/IFC_WORKSHOP/downloads_files/Estudio_BIM_ Alabama.pdf
7. https://www.thebalancesmb.com/building-information-modeling-bim- benefits-845045
30 Occupational Health & Safety | APRIL 2021
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