Efficiency improvement by navigated safety inspection involving visual clutter based on the random search model

Abstract

Navigated inspection seeks to improve hazard identification (HI) accuracy. With a tight inspection schedule, HI also requires efficiency. However, lacking quantification of HI efficiency, navigated inspection strategies cannot be comprehensively assessed. This work aims to determine inspection efficiency in navigated safety inspection, controlling for HI accuracy. Based on a cognitive method of the random search model (RSM), an experiment was conducted to observe the HI efficiency in navigation, for a variety of visual clutter (VC) scenarios, while using eye-tracking devices to record the search process and analyze the search performance. The results show that the RSM is an appropriate instrument, and VC serves as a hazard classifier for navigation inspection in improving inspection efficiency. This suggests a new and effective solution for addressing the low accuracy and efficiency of manual inspection through navigated inspection involving VC and the RSM. It also provides insights into the inspectors’ safety inspection ability.

Keywords:

• random search model
• navigated inspection
• visual clutter
• inspection efficiency
• construction safety
• safety management

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the United Technologies Corporation for their support of this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Pin-Chao Liao http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6927-9204

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [No. 51578317]; United Technologies Corporation [No.20153000259].