Safety gains remain hard to prove
When Shelley Copsey was appointed by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, one of the world’s biggest infrastructure investors, her job was to find ways to use technology to solve problems across its portfolio.
She quickly learned that there were persistent problems facing front-line workers.
Four years later, Copsey is CEO of FYLD, a London-headquartered software company that uses artificial intelligence to support workers in construction, utilities and infrastructure.
It comes as AI plays an increasingly important role in some of the most physically demanding jobs, from maintaining roads and railways to working on construction sites.
The aim is to reduce both paperwork — and accidents.
Tunvarat Pruksachat | Moment | Getty Images
According to Copsey, when fieldwork goes wrong, attention usually turns to budgets or cash flow.
“We always go to the back office and we’re like: oh, if we could help them forecast the job better, maybe this wouldn’t be a problem,” she told CNBC. “I think that what nobody ever did was just sit and say: well, what goes on in those field workers’ lives and how do we make the life of the front line easier?”
Planning with AI
FYLD uses AI to predict which permits a project will need, helping workers avoid delays. Previously, workers often arrived at a site without all of the information they needed, Copsey said. The system can also help crews plan around the weather, for example, rescheduling heavy lifting from a day when strong winds are forecast.
Workers record short videos describing their day’s tasks and safety concerns. AI analyzes the information to help workers and managers anticipate potential problems.
An additional benefit is a reduction in paperwork, according to Copsey. Field workers can spend around 20% to 25% of their time on site on administrative work, she said, whereas now, photos, video and job information can be used to generate draft reports, reducing a task that previously took around half an hour to two or three minutes.
What nobody ever did was just sit and say: well, what goes on in those field workers’ lives and how do we make the life of the front line easier?
Infrastructure services provider Amey announced in March that it would roll FYLD out to 2,500 field workers as it looks to improve safety and give supervisors real-time visibility of work on the ground. Copsey said FYLD case studies have reported reductions in incidents and injuries of as much as 48%.
AI remote inspections
AI is also being used to reduce the need for physical infrastructure inspections.
Nathan Marsh, London-based senior vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at U.S. software company Bentley Systems, told CNBC that the company’s road maintenance platform, Blyncsy, analyzes images captured by drivers to spot problems, including damaged guardrails, overgrown vegetation and debris.
“Applying AI to existing imagery provides complete asset coverage in a fraction of the time a conventional survey would take,” Marsh…
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