Leveraging BIM and time-cost-safety trade-off analysis for optimized decisions in construction projects

Purpose Construction projects are frequently plagued by fatal accidents, emphasizing the necessity for proactive safety measures. Therefore, it is important to evaluate safety leading indicators to prevent construction project accidents proactively. This study aims to evaluate safety-leading indicators in construction projects and then conducts a time-cost-safety trade-off to enhance the performance of construction projects. Design/methodology/approach This research introduces a comprehensive framework designed to enhance construction project safety through safety visualization to illustrate safety risk scores throughout the project implementation. Safety is evaluated through two-stage structured interviews and analytical hierarchy process. Then, an optimization process takes place using a nondominated sorting genetic algorithm to get the Pareto front solutions in terms of time, cost and safety. Multi-criteria decision-making model is then applied to get a feasible solution which is fed to a safety visualization model that employs a 3D heat map to visualize safety on project elements over time. Findings The proposed framework is capable to evaluate safety leading indicators, optimize the time-cost-safety trade-off and visualize the selected feasible solution on a 3D-colored heat map. A case study of a residential building located in Cairo, Egypt has been applied to demonstrate the practicality of the framework. Originality/value This research focuses on proactive safety measures by assessing leading indicators rather than reactive measures like incident reports. Integrating BIM with decision-making techniques allows stakeholders to see how the safety risk levels change to assess and respond to safety risks proactively.