According to ILO, a quarter of a billion people work in the global construction industry. A significant percentage are migrant construction workers. Even as clear communication is essential to worker safety in the changeable environment of a construction site, millions of migrant workers around the world have no choice but to communicate in an unfamiliar language on a daily basis.

Existing platforms require language competence and tech literacy, excluding migrant workers by design. As a result, they remain at a far greater risk of injury and death than their local peers.

Pluxity, a South Korea tech startup, decided to leverage its bespoke digital twin technology by partnering up with Hoban Construction, one of South Korea's largest construction companies to create a new platform for construction management. The result of the collaboration is Shared Safety.

Communication is a constant challenge on construction sites. Accidents occur when managers and workers do not have access to the same information.

Existing platforms require language competence and tech literacy. Such solutions leave out the millions of migrant workers around the world who are confronted by the language barrier daily. As a result, migrant workers remain at a far greater risk of injury and death than their local peers.

Shared Safety empowers all workers to participate in on-site communication regardless of language barrier or tech literacy. The platform transforms site information into animated pictogram alerts for workers wearing smartbands.

Shared Safety automatically adapts information to the requirements of each user group, enabling everyone to view the most up-to-date information in real-time. The open-source promise of Shared Safety gives it the potential to make work safer not just for migrant workers but for all 220 million people working in construction worldwide.

Select implementations of Pluxity's Digital Twin:

- Incheon Airport

- Samsung Display Factory in Tangjeong

- Seoul Subway System (Line 2)

Total investment received for Digital Twin development:

4,000,000,000 KRW (approx. 3.2 million USD)

Expected Benefits of Shared Safety, Digital Twin for Construction Management

1. Safety

- Increased participation of migrant workers in safety eduction due to visual aids (3D visualizations, Pictograms).

- Improved risk projections through use of real-time data with 3D visualizations.

2. Productivity

- AI-based risk assessment automation.

- Improved collaboration and communication between participants thanks to visual aids such as 3D visualizations.

- Improved bid competitiveness of construction companies.

3. Innovation

- Web-based BIM with real-time data and 3D visualization. A more inclusive, easier to use, and significantly cheaper than other professional BIM solutions.

- Workers able use platform using any smart device.

- Open API-based platform that accommodates new technologies.

Shared Safety automatically adapts site information to the requirements of each user group. From top-level planners to on-site construction workers, everyone is able to view the most up-to-date information in real-time.

The service flow of Shared Safety involves 4 processes that are active at all times.

Prediction:

Powerful AI modeling system provides accurate projections based on site data collected in real-time.

Planning:

The project planners use projections to effectively plan and distribute resources in the safest way possible.

Feed:

On-site managers monitor the digital twin's updates and verify scheduling information during their safety rounds. When a potential hazard or schedule clash is identified, managers immediately issue alerts to workers in danger.

Feedback:

Workers at risk due to on-site hazards receive and respond to pictogram alerts in real-time on their smartbands.

These smartbands are off-the-shelf smart watches that are reprogrammed and integrated into the Shared Safety platform, enabling them to receive alerts anywhere on the construction site.

By allowing everyone on-site to view the same information in real-time, Shared Safety makes construction sites safer and more inclusive.

Development Ecosystem

- Platform: AWS (Amazon Web Services) based on SaaS (software as a service)

- Device OS: iOS & Android

- 3D Engine: WebGL based on proprietary engine

- 3D Model Data: IFC, CityGML, FBX.

Key Development Stages

- Web-based 3D visualization

- Risk Factor Assessment Model (capable of calculating 8 different risks)

- Service UI Design Development

Development Timeline

- February 2020: Development begins

- October 2020: Prototype Development

- June 2021: Architectural Engineering + Digital Twin + Visualization Service Convergence (TAD)

- February 2022: Prototype Testing

- April 2022: User Field Test

- August 2022: Service Launch at 1st Hoban Construction Site

- April 2023: Service Adoption across multiple Hoban Construction Sites