Previously, cameras installed at construction sites were only there to alert security guards to theft.
These days the security camera has grown up and morphed into an important part of the risk mitigation strategy at construction sites.
As Erik Mikkelsen of UCIT Online Security Inc. in Mississauga, Ont. notes, the big issue for construction sites today is ensuring insurance compliance.
"As camera technology has developed so has how we use them," said Mikkelsen. "A few years ago it wasn’t cost effective to put thermal imaging cameras on sites. Today, it’s affordable and fire detection is one of the big reasons. Insurance companies want to know how you’re monitoring your site. In cities like Manhattan it isn’t theft so much because they have 50 foot hoardings, it’s liability."
UCIT has 700 construction sites in its portfolio and has grown from an Ontario regional company to having offices across Canada.
"We just opened in Montreal and we have an office in Seattle now," Mikkelsen said. "We do our monitoring ourselves here in Toronto and we have a monitoring centre in Manila, Philippines. One of our value propositions is that we do all the monitoring ourselves. We couldn’t have done that five years ago because the bandwidth needed for video is huge. Now with the new data compression standards we can."
He said fibre cables under the Atlantic and backups like satellite and cellular are changing the commercial side of video surveillance far beyond the old adage of "eyes in the sky, boots on the ground."
UCIT made 3,000 videos for clients last year to assist them in their investigations and analysis.
"We’re not just capturing thefts, we’re seeing fatalities, equipment problems, accidents, all kinds of things," he said. "With 700 active sites, that’s not a surprise."
Technology has changed over the 14 years since UCIT started up, Mikkelsen notes, with solar powered cameras running wirelessly and networked with analytical software.
Solar arrays and battery backups have also gained traction as they become more efficient, more affordable and more reliable, especially in Canada’s climate.
"We like to wire it if we can but sometimes you’re in really remote areas," he said, noting Wi-Fi bandwidths have become much more robust as router technology has advanced.
UCIT consulted with IT professionals outside security to come up with their IT architecture.
"We met with Manulife for example and learned from them about their network deployments," he said. "It was a big step."
Three years ago UCIT had 100 employees. Today there are 245.
"We’ve also set up an R&D section so we’re constantly looking at new cameras and hardware," he said. "Cameras have really come down in price but rather than buy the cheaper cameras we’re buying the really advanced equipment."
The higher resolution and capabilities, such as built-in thermal imaging, are also being connected with state-of-the-art software.
"The software actually learns from the images as to what is normal and what isn’t," he said. "So once you set up it learns that there’s a road and it’s busy and that’s normal. It can also count gravel trucks coming and leaving, for example, so you don’t get shortchanged by a supplier."
He said it’s at the software end where things are now cutting edge in terms of construction surveillance.
"We’re looking at machine learning, which we have already, but also artificial intelligence," he said.
He said Vancouver-based startup Avigilon is one of the hottest companies in the market with its advanced video searching capabilities and analytics which in turn is driving predictive prevention — the system can literally detect a problem based on behaviours and patterns.
The next frontier will probably be drones, he said, though there are currently some regulatory hurdles.
"The problem of battery life has pretty well been solved but as the rules stand you have to have someone on the ground with eyes on the drone and you have to file a flight plan and meet other conditions," Mikkelsen said. "We are monitoring it along with others in the industry but at some point we’re hoping that will change because as it stands now you really can’t use commercial drones for video surveillance on construction sites."
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