Telematics to drive construction industry revolution

Advances in technology are transforming the construction industry. From digitisation to drones, innovative new technologies are helping to increase quality, reduce costs and improve safety in all areas.

John Cameron, General Manager of Trimble Field Service Management, believes that the Internet of Things is poised to radically change the way service and maintenance operations are performed on equipment within the construction industry and sees telematics-driven connected workflows as being the key enabler for preventative maintenance. In this article, he discusses these latest innovations and the effect they are having on construction.

The Internet of Things is poised to radically change the way service and maintenance operations are performed on equipment within the construction industry. Whether equipment is owned, leased or rented, pressure is put on maintenance and repair teams to perform tighter SLAs. Construction jobs run on tight margins and have a lot of cross-dependencies between tasks. A broken piece of equipment can bring the entire project to a halt, causing loss of work and, ultimately, income.

A big focus has therefore been put on the Internet of Things (IoT) for preventative maintenance. Gartner agrees, stating that field service management processes must change to benefit from IoT devices and that he expects there to be 20 billion internet-connected things by 2020.

Telematics a key enabler for preventative maintenance

Advances in telematics technology are at the heart of the IoT for field service management revolution. Once regarded as being the basis for tracking the location of vehicles, today it can be extended to connect the entire service workflow. Indeed, telematics today can share real-time information and connect mobile workers in the field with the back office, customers and equipment.

When combined with deeper analytics systems, telematics-driven connected workflows offer a plethora of benefits to both construction businesses and equipment rental companies. One such benefit is switching the service model from a reactive, break-fix workflow to a preventative and, ultimately, predictive model. These advanced workflows require a tight connection from the asset/equipment to the service management system and telematics is the best candidate for providing this connection.

How it works

Many assets and equipment today are equipped with sensors, connected to cloud software, that can monitor telematics data. This data can include machine operating hours, the state of the motorised parts and health information such as faults and diagnostic codes. Any unexpected behaviour is visible remotely to the service or rental provider, including its exact location. The equipment sensors can automatically trigger a service call when it needs something repaired or is due for maintenance.

The future of operational efficiency lies in detecting and performing maintenance before failures occur. That way, service/rental organisations are not forced to react to emergencies after equipment has failed and construction businesses don’t have to deal with the more serious damage that can occur as a result of the domino effect a single failure can cause.

This proactive way of working allows service and rental companies to control their operations and solve equipment problems faster, whilst the construction company can get the most out of the equipment.

What’s more, adopting a preventive and predictive approach to service and maintenance as opposed to a break/fix service structure maximises the long-term usage. In the event of a vehicle, asset or piece of equipment breaking down, real-time intelligence about its location enables businesses to retrieve it for service immediately whilst a nearest available asset can be identified and reallocated, helping to minimise downtime. Furthermore, many businesses track service vehicles alongside assets and they can often be viewed on the same map. Identifying the nearest service technician to a broken down asset therefore becomes a simple task and this can improve response time considerably.

There are still many advantages to deploying telematics to connect assets even with break-fix workflows. Understanding the condition of the asset before deploying a technician will improve first time fix rates; which will drive higher customer satisfaction. This is often the first step in changing the service model.

Connecting assets from multiple suppliers

A challenge many construction businesses need to consider is how to connect to assets from multiple suppliers. Each supplier often has their own proprietary systems that have different data formats which make integration difficult and time consuming.

The construction industry is starting to incorporate data standards that help alleviate much of the effort required to establish connections to the assets. One such standard is the Association of Equipment Management Professionals (AEMP). A standard protocol was recently adopted that allows for fault code and other information to be shared in a standard way. This standardisation helps create more interoperability in the market and will surely be a boost to connected workflows in this market.

Maximize equipment utilisation across job sites with telematics

The case for telematics technology to considerably improve the utilisation of assets and equipment across job sites is a simple one. Businesses can monitor the location of their assets on demand and generate utilisation reports to determine which are being under-utilised across sites. With this information, they are better placed to determine how best the assets should be deployed, if any should be reallocated, which types of equipment customers need most and compare owned to rented asset usage – streamlining the efficiency and profitability of their asset-dependent business.

Having the ability to monitor assets and equipment on demand can also help jobs remain on track. If an urgent job comes in that requires an asset be reallocated immediately, any idle units or those closest to the construction site can be identified and reassigned to ensure delays are not incurred.

What’s more, the ability to create accurate utilisation reports for each job site can help businesses to improve job bids and win more business. Knowing the actual hours it takes to build a parking lot of a particular size or a certain scale of building helps companies to bid competitively and can mean the difference between winning and losing a contract.

Prevent the loss or misuse of assets and equipment

A major challenge construction businesses face is the loss or theft of expensive equipment due to it being abandoned, misplaced or stolen once it reaches a job site. Over 10,000 high valued construction assets are reported as stolen annually, causing the annual cost of construction equipment theft to reach $1 billion.

Businesses equipped with telematics can significantly maximise recoverability rates. They are able to quickly locate their assets, eliminating time spent searching for missing equipment and avoiding the need to replace lost assets.

Many telematics solutions incorporate functionality that ensures that if an asset or piece of equipment changes location or has been disconnected, an alert will be emitted and the equipment or branch manager will receive an exception notification. This helps them to minimise misuse and theft as they can locate the asset immediately and act quickly to retrieve it.

The future of telematics

The future for telematics is certainly bright. As businesses within the construction industry increasingly look to extend their telematics capabilities to track their vehicles, workforce and assets, investing in telematics driven connected workflows, combined with deeper analytics systems, will reap many benefits. We will see businesses switching the service model from a reactive, break-fix workflow to a preventative and, ultimately, predictive model. What’s more, businesses ultimately need to ensure that they are allocating and using their equipment across sites as efficiently as possible. Those that do not have the visibility into the status of their assets to determine this will be much more prone to costly inefficiencies. These advanced workflows require a tight connection from the asset to the service management system and telematics is integral to providing this connection.

[1] *The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB)

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PM social housing boost

Prime Minster Theresa May addressed the National Housing Federation Summit this week, in a speech which emphasised her personal mission to fix the broken housing system.

Mrs May was the first Prime Minister to speak at the conference, which showed how much she has taken the housing crisis to heart and her determination to ensure everyone has a home who wants one.

She said that housing associations have a central role to play in building the homes we need and challenging the attitudes that hold us back, alongside an announcement of new long-term funding for affordable housing.

Some £2Bn has been confirmed in new funding which will give housing associations the long-term certainty they need to deliver tens of thousands of new affordable and social homes. The Prime Minister has pledged to work in partnership with the associations to get more people on the housing ladder and make sure those who can’t afford their own place also have somewhere they’re proud to call home.

Setting out the measure the government has already and will take to support the industry, Mrs May said: “You said that if you were going to take a serious role in not just managing but building the homes this country needs, you had to have the stability provided by long-term funding deals. Well, eight housing associations have already been given such deals, worth almost £600M and paving the way for almost 15,000 new affordable homes.

“And today, I can announce that new longer-term partnerships will be opened up to the most ambitious housing associations through a ground-breaking £2Bn initiative. Under the scheme, associations will be able to apply for funding stretching as far ahead as 2028/29 – the first time any government has offered housing associations such long-term certainty.

“Doing so will give you the stability you need to get tens of thousands of affordable and social homes built where they are needed most, and make it easier for you to leverage the private finance you need to build many more.”

The Prime Minister asked the industry to respond to this support with its own expertise, and for housing associations to use their unique combination of qualities – from their close ties with local communities to their expertise as property managers and their ability to ride out the business cycle and carry on building – “to achieve things neither private developers nor local authorities are capable of doing”.

She said: “Today, I’m asking housing associations to use the tools we have given you. Not just to build more homes, though of course more homes are needed. But to take the lead in transforming the very way in which we think about and deliver housing in this country.

“Rather than simply acquiring a proportion of the properties commercial developers build, I want to see housing associations taking on and leading major developments themselves. Because creating the kind of large-scale, high-quality developments this country needs requires a special kind of leadership – leadership you are uniquely well-placed to provide.

“…Given the right tools and the right support, you can act as the strategic, long-term investors in the kind of high-quality places this country needs. To put it simply, you get homes built. And I want to work with you to transform the way we do so.”

Mrs May also called for a fundamental rethink of social housing from developers, to tenants, and society, and the way It is viewed, to remove the stigma that is associated with social housing.

She said: “For many people, a certain stigma still clings to social housing. Some residents feel marginalised and overlooked, and are ashamed to share the fact that their home belongs to a housing association or local authority.

“And on the outside, many people in society – including too many politicians – continue to look down on social housing and, by extension, the people who call it their home.

“…We should never see social housing as something that need simply be “good enough”, nor think that the people who live in it should be grateful for their safety net and expect no better.

“Whether it is owned and managed by local authorities, TMOs or housing associations, I want to see social housing that is so good people are proud to call it their home… Our friends and neighbours who live in social housing are not second-rate citizens.”

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Tackling barriers to building

In order to tackle one of the country’s most pressing issues and deliver on its promise to create more homes, for everyone, the government is providing funding to help get sites build ready.

This investment will help tackle issues on potential housing sites and get homes built in the areas where they are needed most. Issues like land contamination, infrastructure requirements, and complex land ownership can present real barriers to building homes where they are needed most.

Two streams of investment are now available, the Land Assembly Fund and the Small Sites Fund, which will help release land to deliver 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s.

The £1.3Bn Land Assembly Fund, will be used to acquire land needing work and get it ready for the market, making it less risky for developers to invest in and start building. Outside of London this work will be carried out by Homes England.

For public land owners or local authorities that are struggling to get building on land in their area, the £630M Small Sites Fund will provide grant funding to speed up getting the right infrastructure in place to support home building on stalled small sites to provide the homes their communities need.

Communities Secretary, Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP said: “We need to act on a number of fronts to build the homes this country needs.

“The availability of this investment will help us intervene in the sort of sites that aren’t yet ready to build on, or where developers have been put off.

“Developers can now get straight on with building homes, rather than overcoming the barriers to build. And in the same way we are also supporting councils that have land for housing, but need additional help to enable development.”

One site which is being assisted by Homes England is the Burgess Hill in Sussex, a site that desperately needed affordable housing, but which sat undeveloped for years. The national housing agency has stepped in, bought the land and is also delivering the infrastructure, so that the roads, schools and doctor’s surgeries are all in place for over 3,000 new homes that will now be built there.

Homes England Chairman, Sir Edward Lister said: “Homes England is stepping in where the market isn’t working, unlocking land and releasing sites to those developers that are committed to providing homes at pace.

“The £1.9Bn announced by the government today will mean we can invest in crucial infrastructure and help local authorities to get more homes built on public land.”

The government will work closely with the Greater London Authority to help ensure targeted funding through the Land Assembly Fund and Small Sites Fund can deliver additional homes in the capital.

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Construction firm fined after demolition incident

A construction company has been prosecuted and fined by the HSE following an incident at a site which resulted in a worker being severely injured.

The company, Northern Structures LTD, was carrying out demolition work at a farm building when the worker fell from height and suffered a fractured spine.

South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court heard how, on 20 September 2017, the employee of Northern Structures Ltd was removing roof sheets from a timber frame farm building when he fell approximately four metres through one of the asbestos cement roof sheets onto the ground below.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that, while a risk assessment and method statement were in place to remove the roof sheets from below, this method was then changed to remove them from above. It was during this process that the employee fell through a roof sheet.

Northern Structures Ltd of Amble Industrial Estate, Amble, Northumberland pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1)(a) and Regulation 4(1)(c) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £150,000 with £791.70 in costs.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Loren Wilmot said: “Suitable and sufficient measures should have been in place through the use of alternative access equipment.

“This would have negated the need for the employee to be on the roof of the building, therefore eliminating the risk of a fall from height through the roof sheets.”

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Clean energy tech breakthrough

Swansea University has been awarded £36M in funding from the government to develop its clean energy innovation.

Chancellor Philip Hammond announced the funding from the Industrial Strategy Challenge, for the consortium led by Swansea University, which promotes the development of clean energy innovations in the construction sector.

The consortium has developed a breakthrough innovation of new building materials and coatings which generate electricity from light and heat. The green technology uses light and heat to make energy, and has the potential to power homes, workplaces, schools and hospitals. These materials could replace conventional walls, roofs and windows, generating electricity which is stored and released by a smart operating system. Excess electricity could also be sold back to the national grid.

The funding announcement supports the government’s mission to at least halve the energy use of new buildings by 2030: making buildings more energy efficient by embracing smart technologies will cut household energy bills, reduce the demand for energy, and boost the UK’s economic growth whilst meeting targets for carbon reduction.

On a visit to Swansea University, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, said: “Swansea University and the innovative companies working with it are world-leaders in clean energy. The UK government is backing the industries of the future that will deliver jobs and opportunities across Wales. This £36M new funding will support exciting green technology that could cut energy bills, reduce carbon emissions and create better homes and workspaces.”

Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Greg Clark said: “This centre has the potential to transform how buildings use energy, turning them from energy consumers into power stations. This £36M investment in clean energy innovation shows the UK continues to lead the way in cutting emissions while growing our economy.

“We are putting our world-leading science and innovation sector at the heart of our modern Industrial Strategy, and have set the ambitious target for investment in research and development to reach 2.4% of GDP by 2027.”

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is delivering the funding for the new Centre. UKRI Chief Executive Professor Sir Mark Walport said: “As we move towards a low-carbon economy, we need to explore more efficient ways of generating, conserving and using power and energy.

“Active buildings, which integrate solar generation and storage technologies for electricity and heat within their construction, can help to achieve this. The Active Building Centre will work to remove barriers to the large-scale adoption of active buildings on new developments throughout the country.

“The UK’s work in this field has been world-leading, and the Centre announced today is an important step towards realising the potential of low-carbon technologies.”

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Community Housing fund Phase II

Phase II of the Community Housing Fund has been launched, making some £163M available to communities across England who will create community led affordable housing schemes across England.

Phase I of the fund, which launched in July, supports applications for capacity building, pre-development revenue funding and capital funding for local infrastructure projects. While Phase II is open to eligible organisations to bid for capital grants to fund the costs of acquiring land and building community-led housing schemes.

The fund aims to give local people a leading and lasting role in delivering local affordable housing.

Jackie Jacob, General Manager for Housing Programmes, at Homes England said: “Community-led housing is about giving local people the lead to solve local housing problems and provide affordable homes in their communities.

“At Homes England, we’re committed to increasing the supply of affordable housing where it’s most needed. It’s great to make funding available for community groups across England to transform how the homes are delivered locally.” Bidding is open to a range of organisations. Both Local authorities and Registered Providers may apply on behalf of community groups to support them through this process.”

Bidding for both phases is now open on a Continuous Market Engagement basis via the Homes England Portal.

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Bureau Veritas asks industry to reduce Silica exposure

With guidelines on managing exposure to hazardous substances at work becoming ever tighter, Bureau Veritas has called on the construction industry to ‘work smarter’ on addressing the risk silica dust poses to employees.

Silica is a material found in most types of natural stone, clay, bricks and sand, and activities such as grinding, crushing and mixing break down the silica and generate a fine dust like Respirable Crystalline Silica (RCS). Regarded as one of the most significant causes of occupational lung disease worldwide, exposure to RCS causes Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and in the UK alone is estimated to result in up to 1,000 deaths each year through silicosis and or lung cancer.

According to global certification expert Bureau Veritas, in light of recent industry campaigns to raise awareness of this hidden killer, it has never been more important for construction firms to ensure they have the right occupational hygiene programme in place.

Gerard Mooney, Principal Consultant in Occupational Hygiene at Bureau Veritas, comments: “For many employees working in factories and construction sites across the UK, there continues to be a significant risk from over exposure to silica dust and in particular respirable crystalline silica (RCS), which can penetrate deep in to the lungs to cause damage and disease. The invisible nature of this dust – much of the Respirable Crystalline Silica (RCS) cannot be detected by the human eye – and long timeline before health effects occur often means control measures are ignored, by which time, unfortunately, it can be too late.”

“Given the danger it clearly presents, it’s time for the construction industry to work smarter on limiting the risks that silica dust and RCS pose to employee health. At the heart of this will be ensuring a robust occupational hygiene strategy is in place for controlling workplace exposure to these harmful substances, which if done correctly not only prevents potential fatalities but by stopping dust from becoming airborne in the first place can reduce non-productive man hours spent cleaning up and reduce the reliance on expensive respiratory protective equipment (RPE).”

With so many factors to consider and a myriad of different regulations to meet, such as Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH) and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, construction firms can often struggle to effectively manage the health of employees who perform operations involving stone, rock, concrete and plaster.

Gerard advises: “We would therefore encourage manufacturers to review their existing occupational hygiene programme to ensure it goes beyond simple compliance. A comprehensive review of all potential sources of RCS exposure including substituting where possible for materials with a lower RCS content, implementing a continuous risk reduction program, and having effective Local Exhaust Ventilation systems in place, can certainly go a long way in safeguarding employee wellbeing and will ultimately save lives.”

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