Research Article Excavation Safety Modeling Approach Using BIM and VPL Numan Khan, 1 AhmadK.Ali, 1 Miroslaw J. Skibniewski, 2,3,4 DoYeopLee, 1 andChansikPark 1 1 School of Architecture and Building Sciences, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Republic of Korea 2 Professor, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA 3 Professor and Member of Research Board, Institute for eoretical and Applied Informatics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Gliwice, Poland 4 T.-S. Yang Honorary Distinguished Professor, Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan Correspondence should be addressed to Chansik Park; cpark@cau.ac.kr Received 24 January 2019; Accepted 7 March 2019; Published 10 April 2019 Guest Editor: Tatjana Vilutiene Copyright © 2019 Numan Khan et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Soil excavation is a fundamental step of building and infrastructure development. Despite strong enforcement of construction best practices and regulations, accidents in construction industry are comparatively higher than other industries. Likewise, significant increase in injuries and fatalities are recently reported on geotechnical activities such as excavation pits and trenches. Academic researchers and industry professionals have currently devoted vital attention to acquire construction safety in preconstruction phase of the project. ey have developed various algorithms to enhance safety in preconstruction phase such as automated generation of scaffolding and its potential risk analysis, checking BIM model for fall risks, and limited access zone allocation in wall masonry. However, safety in geotechnical works at preconstruction phase is yet unexplored. is paper proposed automatic safety rule compliance approach for excavation works leveraging algorithmic modeling tools and BIM technologies. e focused approach comprises of the following three modules: information extraction and logic design (IELD), information conversion and process integration (ICPI), and automodeling and safety plan generation (ASPG). Specifically, the scope of the paper is limited to major risks such as cave-ins, fall, safety egress, and prohibited zones risks. A set of rules-based algorithms was developed in commercially available software using visual programming language (VPL) that automatically generates geometric conditions in BIM and visualizes the potential risks and safety resources installation along with their quantity take-off and optimized locations. A case study has been presented to validate the proof of concept; automated modeling tool for excavation safety planning generated the required results successfully. It is anticipated that the proposed approach has potential to help the designers through automated modeling and assist decision makers in developing productive and practical safety plans compared to the conventional 2D plans for excavation works at the preconstruction phase. Moreover, it is realized that the same approach can be extended to other rule-dependent subjects in construction. 1.Introduction Safety in construction is a major concern worldwide [1]. Recent studies reported a significant increase in excavation- related accidents [2] and could have been avoided with additional considerations. Soil excavation is an essential step of infrastructure development that includes removing of earth for the foundation installation, cut and fills to create usable lands, and landfill to construct embankments for flood mitigation [3]. In building construction, significance of the excavation works is eminent due to the ultimate base of entire construction. In general, construction projects such as building foundation, utility lines, tunneling, and un- derpasses require excavation in different makeup, e.g., open excavation, potholing, trenches, and shaft drives. According to safety and health agency in the United States, Occupa- tional Safety and Health Administration, hereinafter re- ferred to as OSHA, excavation typically refers to any man made cut, trench, cavity, or depression made by removal of earth [4]. Despite constant determination from safety professionals, researchers, and imposed safety regulations, injuries and fatalities in construction have not significantly Hindawi Advances in Civil Engineering Volume 2019, Article ID 1515808, 15 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/1515808