The #1 measure Chief Risk Officers (CROs) with distributed asset portfolios plan to adopt in 2024 is bettering data analytics and visualizations to improve communications, accountability, and to “integrate technology to embed risk information closer to where risk is managed” according to KPMG’s 2023 CRO report.
In fact, CROs are so committed to eliminating information siloes and providing the information managers and employees need to avoid risks in as few steps as possible that 88% of the national companies surveyed say they will increase risk management spend by 5% or more in 2024, with the majority of their budget increases going to technological tools to mitigate risk.
And there is no riskier business – to your bottom line, your timeline, or your workers’ safety – than construction work. Whether that work happens on a new design-build project, upgrading or maintaining a facility, or renovation and expansion, when you’ve got heavy machinery and boots on the ground, risk is ever-present.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, construction fatalities increased from 951 in 2021 to 1,056 in 2022, an 11% increase marking the second-highest fatality rate in the last four years. In fact, in 2022, every 96 seconds, a worker in the United States lost their life on the job. That’s up from a previous high of one fatality every 101 seconds the previous year.
How Do You Get Risk Mitigation Information in the Hands of Construction Workers on a National Scale?
How, as a CRO, construction executive, engineer, or project manager, can you “embed risk information closer to where risk is managed” in the construction trades?
First, you must overcome some institutional and industry inertia. If you walk onto a construction site today, very little has changed in the way of record-keeping in the last two decades. The construction industry has been one of the slowest to embrace digitization and technological advancements, with only a 1% increase in technological adoption in the last 20 years, according to one building industry source.
The standard in construction is still paper plans, fragmented information spread throughout an organization so that no one has the whole picture, and as-builts & record drawings that have never been updated to reflect current conditions.
What’s worse is that, often, the aggregated historical record of a site lays in the head of one long-time employee with no physical documentation at all.
That’s no way to control communications, workflow, and safety outcomes.
The dam of inertia is beginning to break. With the advent of technologies like ground penetrating radar (GPR), electromagnetic (EM) locating, 3D laser scanning, and GPS, actual as-built conditions can be quickly assessed, mapped, and uploaded to centralized cloud-based storage, which has the potential to put risk mitigation several steps closer to those who can manage it.
How Do You QC As-Built Information?
When you hear “cloud-based” storage in the construction & facility management worlds, most people’s minds go directly to GIS. The problem is that while a GIS platform can help you organize existing information, it’s only as good as the as-built data you put into it.
So, you can have the fanciest, most complex GIS system on the planet, but if the data you’re uploading to it is incomplete, outdated, or just plain wrong, it’s not going to help you. And when you’re managing regional or nationally distributed portfolios, the risk of outdated and incomplete data multiplies exponentially.
That’s why GPRS developed SiteMap® Team, to help companies with extensive property portfolios create aggregated historical records and up-to-date above and below ground as-builts…
To create an accurate, single source of truth that documents each property in detail, from subsurface utilities through millimeter-accurate digital twins, that is available 24/7, can be updated on demand, is securely sharable across your organization, contractors, and subs…
And is backed with GPRS’ industry-leading 99.8% accuracy rating – in both concrete scanning & utility locating.
SiteMap® Team allows companies with distributed assets to designate an administrative team to oversee the flow of information – among stakeholders, isolated managers and supervisors, and even to contractors and subs – to eliminate top-down information sharing and communication bottlenecks that lead to costly clashes, change orders, mistakes and even severe injuries, by putting accurate information directly into the hands of those who need it most: the workers on site, executing your plans.
Some of the information GPRS provides includes:
- 99.8% accurate underground utility locating, geolocated and layered in an interactive map
- 99.8% accurate concrete scanning & imaging, providing the location of PT cables, conduit, and other embedments
- Millimeter-accurate 3D laser scans that can capture two million data points per second to create comprehensive BIM models or a digital twin of your site(s)
- 3D photogrammetry via WalkThru 3D to allow you to take stakeholders through your site without travel
- Accurate progressive as-built conditions via ProCap Progressive Capture and FLRPLN 2D plan views
- NASSCO-certified Video Pipe Inspection reports to capture and categorize pipe defects & cross bores so you can plan maintenance and repairs
- Pinpoint leak detection reports
And more.
Every piece of your as-built puzzle, above and below ground, is captured, catalogued, uploaded, geolocated, and layered to create a single source of truth – whether you are managing a handful of locations or hundreds.
And, if you love your existing GIS platform, SiteMap® supports most major GIS software so you can access your accurate GPRS information seamlessly.
Because each piece of your infrastructure puzzle has been located, identified, accurately captured, and documented by GPRS – the largest company in the U.S. with the ability to Intelligently Visualize The Built World® for our customers to help them, design, plan, communicate, collaborate, and build better.
To learn more about SiteMap® and to schedule a personal live demonstration of its capabilities for risk mitigation for distributed portfolio management, click here.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does technology play a role in risk mitigation strategies in construction?
As more companies and general contractors embrace technology to put risk mitigation tools into the hands that need it most, AI, machine learning, and updated dashboard/communication & aggregation tools are leading the charge.
SiteMap® provides the aggregated maps, historical references, and accurate site data, all delivered in a user-friendly interface that makes accessing necessary as-builts a single click operation for most managers.
What are some potential challenges or drawbacks of implementing distributed portfolio risk mitigation?
The two most challenging parts of getting accurate as-built information into the hands that most need it are overcoming technology bias and controlling the quality of the as-built data.
With GPRS & SiteMap® Team, you can ensure quality control for your as-builts, above or below ground, because GPRS provides 99.8% accurate utility locates & concrete scans, and millimeter-accurate 3D laser scans, regardless of what contractor or sub orders the work.