Construction Site Safety at the Windiest Time of the Year
There is a basic rule that applies for any construction project: preventing accidents is much cheaper than fixing the damage, and when the consequences affect human beings, the damage can be irreversible. The best contractors in the world know this, and that is why they deploy risk management as a company-wide process.
There are also weather-related risks that have a higher probability during a certain season of the year; they depend on external conditions rather than on the nature of the project itself. Of course, there are cases where a task-specific risk is compounded by environmental conditions, and extra caution is needed – crane and plant operation during windy seasons is a prime example of this.
The weather is impossible to predict with full certainty, but it can be monitored in real time across many sites with a high degree of precision, and that is precisely the value proposition of WINDCRANE.
Why Measure the Weather in Construction Projects?
There are two conditions that every construction project must take into account:
- There are deadlines to meet, and contractors are fined for missing them.
- Weather forecasts are not completely accurate, so they are not a reliable basis to stop a project.
The combination of these two factors creates a challenge: ensuring safe working conditions at the project site, but without compromising deadlines. This becomes even more complicated during the autumn and winter months, for the simple reason that there are more days with harsh weather.
- Stopping a project frequently based on weather forecasts creates the risk of missing a deadline and, since forecasts are not fully accurate, there may be no way to justify the missed deadline with the client. In this case, the contractor is fined.
- However, the weather can’t be disregarded either. If weather conditions are assessed on-site and based on “gut feeling”, an accident is very likely to occur, especially if there are cranes in operation. Gusts, which are unpredictable blast of wind of short duration and high strength, can be particularly dangerous.
Project managers and site staff can take better decisions if construction sites are equipped with a monitoring solution that offers a reliable snapshot of weather conditions in real time, while providing mobile access and sending automatic alarms whenever dangerous weather conditions are detected.
Technology Built by Experts
WINDCRANE is built upon the technical know-how of Logic Energy, a company with a decade of experience providing monitoring solutions for applications as varied as energy efficiency, renewable energy, education and scientific research. Our technology is precise and sophisticated, but also extremely tough – thanks to its IP67 enclosure, the WINDCRANE kit is dust-tight and waterproof, capable of withstanding directed jets of water and even brief immersion with no damage.
With its rugged construction, WINDCRANE can be installed directly on project sites with the peace of mind that the unit will not be damaged by the weather. It can be powered with an AC connection, or with an optional solar panel if the site is inaccessible for the main power supply.
Even in the extremely rare event that a WINDCRANE unit is damaged beyond repair, data is kept safe: each unit comes with GSM connection to continuously back up data at a cloud-based server. Other than keeping data safe, this also makes it accessible to the end user at any time as long as an Internet connection is available. The cloud-stored data can also be used by a contractor to justify missed deadlines due to weather, avoiding conflict and fines.
