The use of BIM (Building Information Modelling) in construction has doubled in the last six years and has been mandated for all government projects greater than $5 million.
Health and safety are among the major drivers behind the push. Our overall construction industry has one of the highest rates of accidents and injuries. According to BIMSafe NZ, construction accounts for 10 percent of the workforce and 17 percent of ACC claims at an annual cost of $138 million.
“Construction has more injuries and claims than any other sector, and to date, rates of serious injury and deaths in New Zealand are higher than our OECD equivalents,” says BIMSafe Project Lead Paul Duggan.
The latest developments will be discussed by experts leading the change at The Future of Health and Safety Conference on July 24th at the Christchurch Town Hall, which includes key learnings from the successes of BIM.
Naylor Love’s Health and Safety Advisor, Jen Dransfield, will share the construction giant’s experiences, and Southbase BIM manager Jonathan Dutton will talk about how BIM-powered robotics have enhanced safety in construction. Southbase Construction was founded in 2013 as part of the recovery response to the Canterbury Earthquakes of 2010/11.
The BIMSafe NZ team will also unveil its new web portal and share what they learned from the construction of the ACC Building in Dunedin.
BIMSafe NZ is a $1.7 million three-year collaboration between the Canterbury Safety Charter and the Building Innovation Partnership (BIP) at the University of Canterbury.
This project is funded by ACC’s Workplace Injury Prevention Grants and MBIE and aims to change behaviour in the way risks are identified, managed, and communicated on construction sites in New Zealand. https://conference.safetycharter.org.nz/