Computer vision for behaviour-based safety in construction: A review and future directions

The process of identifying and bringing to the fore people’s unsafe behaviour is a core function of implementing a behaviour-based safety (BBS) program in construction. This can be a labour-intensive and challenging process but is needed to enable people to reflect and learn about how their unsafe actions can jeopardise not only their safety but that of their co-workers. With advances being made in computer vision, the capability exists to automatically capture and identify unsafe behaviour and hazards in real-time from two-dimensional (2D) digital images/videos. The corollary developments in computer vision have stimulated a wealth of research in construction to examine its potential application to practice. Hindering the application of computer vision in construction has been its inability to accurately, and generalise the detection of objects. To address this shortcoming, developments in deep learning have provided computer vision with the ability to improve the accuracy, reliability and ability to generalise object detection and therefore its usage in construction. In this paper we review the developments of computer vision studies that have been used to identify unsafe behaviour from 2D images that arises on construction sites. Then, in light of advances made with deep learning, we examine and discuss its integration with computer vision to support BBS. We also suggest that future computer-vision research should aim to support BBS by being able to: (1) observe and record unsafe behaviour; (2) understand why people act unsafe behaviour; (3) learn from unsafe behaviour; and (4) predict unsafe behaviour.