Mitigating Risk in Construction

In the recent panel discussion hosted by IMAGINiT entitled “Mitigating Risk in Construction,” as part of the company’s “BIM and Digital Construction” series, panelists Norman Akin, Senior Applications expert, with a background in architectural construction and manufacturing applications, and Jim Stoneberger, Solutions Consultant for IMAGINiT, with a background in architecture and construction, joined moderator Joe Eichenseer, director of Building Lifecycle Solutions, to discuss this timely topic.

Autodesk BIM 360 Layout

Now with Covid-19, there are new risks in the workplace, yet most of what were discussed were the same types of risks that exist in all construction projects.

The question was asked, what can we do to work through risk a little better?

The answer was to minimize risk by maximizing predictability. To do that we need to

digitize and collaborate, according to Eichenseer.

The next question: how do you get it done? An interconnected platform? How is data moving from design into pre-con?

And, what do you have to understand to get some good data?

Autodesk BIM 360 Layout for iOS

Laying the Foundation for our Discussion

At the core, we want to help construction teams better visualize and take daily action to minimize project risk.

Whether it is risk associated with:

• Safety
• Quality
• Project controls

Streamline workflows to improve project outcomes.

You need to utilize a prediction and analytics ecosystem that provides a deeper understanding of:

• Project performance
• Prioritized daily activities
• Instant visibility into project risk

Give teams the information they need to avoid costly mistakes and further improve risk mitigation.

Example: Construction IQ

• Construction IQ automatically classifies items and flags issues as “high risk”
• “High risk” issues are items that if left open, will likely lead to bigger more costly issues down the road.

Some level of digital platform is needed for this type of risk mitigation.

According to Norm Akin, they have Autodesk BIM 360 Insight and PowerBI as platforms. In the past before iPads and these types of platforms, there was a mindset that the technology may hurt their work or take their jobs. So much more is possible today. “We can barcode pieces of equipment and scan that and put that data in,” said Akin.

Eichenseer said, we are collecting information to put into a repository. “If we got that data, what are different ways to take a checklist and other data in terms of safety on jobsite?”

“Getting information from RFIs issues that are logged, even transmittals, shop drawings submittals, specifically with BIM 360,” said Stoneberger. “all inside that one environment that is the project, not necessarily doing work outside what you traditionally do. It’s a way of capturing and keeping data all in one place. It’s all being tracked. Traditionally we have all that data. We have analytics even if it is kept in order. But what are we using it for? We can use that data for analysis, for safety, so you look at risk analysis and we can use that information as a predictor for quality and safety. With BIM 360 we have dashboards and reporting mechanisms. BIM 360 at its core is built to visualize in ways that you should be taking action to hopefully minimize risks.”

“A challenge is interpreting data correctly,” said Eichenseer. “What do people need from a skillset to be able to interpret data coming through and correctly for quality issues in the field?”

“It doesn’t change, it is just a matter of understanding how to input the information,” said Stoneberger. “Create an issue in BIM 360, and with photos, and sketches you’re reporting a problem. As long as the person knows how to interpret the problem it’s just a matter of using those tools in BIM 360. BIM 360 has that Construction IQ where it can look at risks and factors coming into play, it breaks things down into categories, it looks at traditional construction risk factors, caught between or struck by, electrical risk or fall risk. This causes a lot of jobsite safety problems. BIM 360 will automatically categorize that, and give you list of top areas you need to take care of.”

“It’s not necessarily a matter of knowing how to use the tool, it’s reporting the same information you need to report. There is nothing special about it. The interpretation coming from the tool itself is based on how you’ve asked it to interpret for you.”

“What are the types of issues that identify risks in a project?” asked Eichenseer.

“While putting data in correctly you don’t have to know the tool. This is BIM360. We can track the risk, design, quality, safety and data,” said Eichenseer. “There is a large list of projects here; a new food mart is a medium risk.  We have one high risk subcontractor, and will tell what the risk is, perhaps a water risk. If it involves us having to shift teams around, so one team can’t go in until another has finished their job, for example.

By going through safety, three high risk issues on safety for example, all data reliant on people collecting the data, we’re not to the point of putting a camera on the corner of the jobsite and identifying something going on there. We are still human reliant. The software is driven by people and how they use the software.”

“We are just changing tools for process,” said Eichenseer. “People drive innovation. People may not recognize it’s up to them to provide the data, and must learn how to input the information of your portion of it.”

The biggest disconnect is apprehension of learning a new platform, yet once you realize the processes aren’t very different, BIM 360 doesn’t change how you work, it’s just a different tool,” said Stoneberger. “The biggest apprehension is being afraid to open it up and how do you use it. Tools are easy to pick up and learn, you’re applying knowledge you already have and a different environment. I think the disconnect is that apprehension and fear that I don’t know how to use it.”

“It may not always be something that’s available immediately,” said Eichenseer. “There are times when you’ll be able to identify, here’s my process, we do these things repeatedly, let’s automate it where we can take input and process it and have it be something that’s simple, so you and your team don’t have to keep going through this process. Clarity helps with design automation. We have software that synchronizes data. With Covid, people are realizing they can work in different ways and be profitable, instead of having the attitude that it’s different and we don’t want to try it.”

Because we can look at all our data historically that is all being analyzed and stored, these top three or four factors have been in some of our projects, and give us the ability to predict what could be, said Stoneberger.

Best practices for taking action on that data are not necessarily changing what you have done, not telling you what you should do, what is the action you want to take? “We can provide all the data, the tools can provide a wide breadth of information and it’s up to you to figure out what is your course of action,” said Stoneberger. “The results of that analytics might be, here are some suggested courses of action, based on what’s right for your environment.”

“On the jobsite now we must minimize the number of people,” said Eichenseer.  “If we have fewer people but other tools like BIM 360, what can we do from scheduling standpoint to help out with this?”

“You can set up your schedules with BIM 360, say, mechanical in 2^nd shift, electrical in 1^st,” said Akin. “One contractor invested in hololens goggles and BIM 360 and the guy can mark various issues and translate it back to the BIM people. We Covid we are looking at ways to  reduce number of people there.”

“Back up to pre-construction, if you can go in and use BIM 360 for coordination and class detection and understanding construction sequencing, we can mitigate a lot of things from taking place,” said Stoneberger. “A lot of safety issues we can control because we understand what the data is.”

“When you’re talking about sequencing a piece that went to court, it looked great in the model, but no one took the time to note that things were in the wrong order so the sequencing wasn’t correct, said Eichenseer. “If we’re going through the pre-con process correctly, what are requirements as to, before I place this thing, what do I have to have in place to eliminate any rework that might be happening there?”

“Set schedule up so it’s phased and sequenced, like building in China done by slot a to hole b,” suggested Akin. “Look at the schedule and think of how to mitigate risks involved in the construction project and set up in checklists. Get information in pre-con and everything will go easier.”

“Don’t be afraid to get in there,” said Stoneberger. “With BIM 360 almost nothing you put in there goes away; we can almost always get it back. Don’t be afraid to set up a dummy project to learn the software. You have a different tool to do things you already know how to do. It’s a huge benefit on the back end.”

“It’s got to be good data coming in, good checklists,” said Eichenseer. “If you haven’t moved to digital yet, if I could do something different what would it be? Am I considering all the appropriate vendors, suppliers, scanning barcodes, etc.? As it sits right now, my personal thought is make sure we get those checklists correct. Let’s capture that good data and use it for construction or AI. Now you will have empirical data. It’s all about digitalization of what we have going on.”

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