CMU School of Drama


Friday, December 04, 2020

Digital Technology Will Be Important for Compliance and Safety Testing Beyond the Pandemic

2020-12-03 | Engineering News-Record: When construction companies can’t build, it affects us all. According to McKinsey defines the construction industry as encompassing real estate, infrastructure, and industrial structures, and ranks it the largest industry in the global economy, accounting for 13% of the world’s GDP. Few sectors are more critical to the economy

2 comments:

Andrew Morris said...

I never had pondered about how important the construction and building sector was so valuable to the state and health of the economy. I guess this makes sense, here in New York, Construction workers were some of the first people to go back to work in our Phase 1 of reopening. It is easier to social distance for a-lot of construction jobs, so that hasn't proven to be much of a challenge, since most construction jobs are outdoors and construction sites have adequate space for social distancing. I had no idea that there was construction industry and workplace insurance (I guess you can get insurance for anything nowadays), but it is very smart that the price of the premium that they have to pay is determined by the Experience Modification rate, which is based on performance and industry averages. The COVId 19 safety requirements have determined what is essential to keep this essential business of our economy open in a way that doesn't put the health of its workers at risk.

Jonas Harrison said...

It is interesting to hear about how COVID has affected industries I am not immediately aware of. In particular, I did not expect the pandemic to increase modern technology used at construction sites, but it has proven very useful in keeping social distance. Signing in on a mobile device and using drones to monitor progress are two of these developments that are becoming more frequent for construction sites in a pandemic world. Although this article discusses the risks of no construction in a society, I doubt that the pandemic will take it that far. I know construction workers who were not cast out of work by the pandemic, however, that could just be my own personal bubble. Despite this, the economic disasters accompanying a world with no construction are very real and should always be at the back of one’s mind if involved in the construction industry. By considering the gravity of the side effects of projects stopping, people will likely be more willing to follow safety protocols on the job.