An Object Library Approach for Managing Construction Safety Components Based on BIM

Purpose One of the potential solutions for designers’ lack of safety expertise in design decision is utilizing IPD to allow for constructor input. But how this is to be done is often unclear because few cases from either practice or research can be found. In this study we tried to develop an IPD-method to facilitate ‘safety in design’ with the contractor’s knowledge using an object-oriented programming (OOP) approach for design decision based on BIM. Method Our principal research method is simulation of the decision process in OOP2 in a case study. The integration of contractor’s knowledge in construction safety is achieved by setting parameters for construction safety investment with contractor’s input into a construction safety component library (CSCL) e.g. scaffolds, boards, barriers, etc. under the proposed IPD-framework. Results & Discussion A prototype of CSCL using one OOP-language, C#, is developed in Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 to Autodesk Revit 2012 with a completed construction project for demonstration. The results show that CSCL is a semiautomated tool with contractor’s knowledge of construction safety for design decision. It is consistent with the theory that BIM is not only a type of software but a knowledge repository for in-depth collaboration, information sharing and knowledge re-use among all parties involved in a project. New issues and rethinks including level of detail (LoD) on company’s library, IPDevaluation metrics, and BIM-development method addressing construction safety management, are also recommended in the final part.