Role of UAVs in Construction Safety Management: A Review

Purpose: Construction industry is known as the most dangerous industry because of its complicated design, increasing accident cases, project time, and cost limitations. The safety of construction workers on the job site, accident causation factors, and preventive measures are mostly emphasized in recent research. Integrating safety management aspects with digital technologies like UAVs, BIM, IOT, VR, and AR has the potential to minimize on-site accidents and injuries during construction. Methodology: A systematic literature review using PRISMA methodology has been conducted to understand the role of UAVs in construction safety. The WoS database is used to retrieve the relevant literature. This study also offers a comprehensive analysis of the most recent trends and advancements in using UAVs in the construction sector. Findings: The study has identified the growth of publications, countries’ contributions, and different research themes in the subject domain. It also reviews the present status of UAV technology and examines the various drone applications and challenges in adopting UAVs on the construction site. This research also examines UAV integration with various image and remote sensing technologies, emphasizing data analysis using AI and machine learning techniques. At last, a UAV-based research framework is generated to understand the current situation and future scope of UAVs and safety research. Practical Implications: The results provide a useful resource to help researchers and industry practitioners understand the advantages and barriers to the adoption of UAVs for construction safety management.