The question itself is a paradox. Inspecting a site requires that the inspector is there, on-site. Doesn’t it?
But as technology advances, and people discover there are other, often better, ways to do things, new opportunities come to light.
For all of its evils, COVID-19 has also been the catalyst for positive change around the world. We know that any catastrophe also provides opportunities for those awake to them. At Yenem the opportunities for off-site site inspections are opening up due to our strict border closure.
In April, we couldn’t attend our six-monthly inspection of concrete bins in outback NSW. But our drone pilot and photographer Brad could – he was in the state – and following our system of data gathering, he, or rather his drone and camera, became our site-eyes. Back at the desk, our engineer reviews the data in a virtual site consisting of 3D imagery and high-resolution photographs.
Providing Remedial Solutions
A current project involves significant remedial works at a mineral processing plant that has suffered from major corrosion. Throughout the process, we’ve worked with existing drawings, photographs and measurements fed from people on site to produce structural design models and a CAD model (Navisworks) to fully document the remedial works.
We want to ensure our designs are constructible. We want to make sure we haven’t missed anything. We really need to go to site. But we can’t. At least not without two lots of 14-day self-quarantine.
So we’re doing it again.
We have our drone pilot/photographer, our photo modeller, and our structural engineer, poised to perform an offsite site inspection using our systemised method I’m calling… Well, I’m kinda stuck on a name.
Hit Reply and let me know what you think.
