Site inspections can be a time-consuming, labour-intensive and costly process. They can also be highly dangerous and often prove to be ineffective, particularly for larger, more complex sites. However, recent developments in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) or drones offer a safer, cheaper and more efficient option for site inspections.
Below we explore how drones have the ability to transform how your business conducts site inspections.
Drones are essentially unmanned aircraft. They can be controlled remotely, or can fly “autonomously” using a pre-planned guide accessed from their on-board computers. Originally designed for military operations, they are usually used in situations where having a normal, piloted aircraft would be too “dull, dirty or dangerous.”
These days, civilian-owned drones greatly outnumber those used by the military. And because they are highly reactive and nimble machines, capable of flying at speeds of around 80 km/h for 30 minutes while taking 4K video, their use has expanded widely into different fields. These include commercial, scientific, agriculture, construction, surveillance and aerial photography, among many others.
In the US, there has been a big push for registering drones, with over 300,000 registrations collected by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in January 2016. This is because there is a risk that people will misuse the technology, particularly in areas of privacy. The same is true in Australia. Drone owners here are required to register drones over 2kg in weight with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).
There are four main benefits to using drones for construction site inspections:
Drones are an important technological asset. Their use in the construction industry will only increase in time because they can efficiently collect data of a high standard, greatly minimising risk to the safety of your team.
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