Application of case based reasoning in construction safety planning

Abstract

The construction industry had been known for its poor safety performance. Poor safety performance is unacceptable both ethically and economically. In order to improve safety performance, it is widely accepted that the industry needs to implement efficient and effective safety planning prior to commencement of site activities. This paper presents the Safety Knowledge Management System (SKMS), which is meant to assist safety-planning teams in developing and improving safety plans for construction activities through the reuse of past safety knowledge. The SKMS is based on Case Based Reasoning (CBR) methodology and technology, which is a relatively new area of artificial intelligence. CBR is chosen mainly due to the ease of maintenance of CBR systems and the episodic nature of the safety knowledge employed in the system (safety plans and incidents). This paper describes how CBR is being applied to facilitate the development of risk assessment tree based on past cases. A hypothetical safety-planning scenario is also presented to explain the CBR concepts proposed.