Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for safety in the construction industry: a systematic literature review

The construction industry is one of the most dangerous sectors with poor safety performance. With recent technological developments, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are demonstrating the potential to be a valuable innovation to improve construction safety. To date, several studies have been conducted to evaluate the applications of UAV for safety in the construction industry. In order to systematically assess the research status on UAV to improve construction safety, this research investigated published journal articles (in English) within the Scopus database to determine the current research gaps and future work suggested by the publications. Thirty-three articles and reviews were included in the study. The analysis revealed a positive trend in publications in this area. Publications were also analysed based on the country of origin of the research and the journal. Prototype and experiments were identified as the most frequently used research methods. The majority of the studies, irrespective of the type of construction, focused on the construction stage. Where health and safety aspects were concerned, the use of UAV for visualisation and identification of hazards were found to be the most frequent applications. Some research gaps and recommendations for future research are also discussed in the paper.