The recent British Labour government has committed to constructing 1.5 million homes during his first term in office. To achieve this goal, he guarantees planning reform and the reintroduction of local housing targets. However, the role of recent technologies is barely considered.
Drones have the potential to remodel the development industry within the UK. Our current study within the ACM Journal on Responsible Computing shows that the laws governing the business use of drones within the UK remain inconsistent, chaotic and sometimes even contradictory.
A drone or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)is a remotely piloted aircraft, often equipped with a video camera or sensors. In construction, drones can monitor site progress, conduct safety inspections, and even lift heavy materials, with some models capable of lift over 20 kg.
This makes them a viable, cheaper and safer alternative to human construction employees for certain tasks. For example, drones could reduce the variety of falls of employees from heights, Most common explanation for death in the development industryThey may reduce the price of nighttime site monitoring and conduct safety inspections over large areas of land, helping with the upkeep of energy pipelines and other infrastructure projects.
Despite these advantages, the UK's drone policy is a patchwork of local regulations, national laws and retained European Union (EU) rules, making a confusing environment for businesses to navigate.
Flystock / Shutterstock
For example, to operate a 250g drone in a busy urban area, an organization must register the drone, complete pilot training, obtain insurance, and Obtain operating licence from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)This includes drawing up a flight plan, conducting risk assessments and completing other administrative steps.
Companies must then consider laws on privacy, data, harassment (for drones with cameras), noise and human rights, including the possible dismissal (or retraining) of human employees.
There are also specific laws that apply to drones in construction, including lifting regulations, occupational health and safety laws, and laws governing the transportation of varied construction materials and substances. Some of those laws vary at local, national, and international levels.
This increases the regulatory burden on construction corporations and makes it harder for them to work efficiently. The paperwork required to undergo the CAA approval process for higher-risk business use cases may cause delays for giant construction projects. Currently, there’s minimal transparency about which projects are approved or rejected, leaving corporations at the hours of darkness about their investments until approval is granted.
New frame
Our study proposes the creation of a brand new national framework for business drone use, combining all advantages and risks in a single law. We propose that certain use cases, especially in regional areas, get the green light quickly and by default, even for heavier drones.
Line-of-sight requirements – operators must keep their drone in sight in any respect times – ought to be relaxed in hazardous areas. This could actually improve employee safety, as drones can operate independently and employees do not need to follow them into dangerous situations.
In addition to humans, the law must also protect flying animals (reminiscent of birds and bats) and insects (reminiscent of butterflies and bees), especially those threatened with extinction.
Casezy Idea / Shutterstock
The environmental impact of drones should be rigorously assessed, including the danger of fireside when drones transport chemicals or other hazardous substances.
The UK government should use the country's scientific and technical expertise to provide guidance, compliance manuals and other tools to hurry up the approval process.
These resources would allow best practices to spread throughout the industry. Standard flight paths, algorithms and application programming interfaces (APIs) – a way for 2 or more computer programs to speak with one another – ought to be available to corporations so that they can operate in specific zones without lengthy documentation processes.
Basic plans ought to be developed for drone “elevators” that may be used inside construction sites to move heavy materials between floors.
Unifying laws
National laws could bring together all efforts to mitigate the risks posed by drones right into a single, unified law, addressing data protection, noise, safety, human rights concerns and environmental issues in a single step.
This includes creating noise profiles to make sure drones in cities adhere to certain maximum noise levels, and providing clearer guidelines for corporations on what drone use is allowed and what’s prohibited. A brand new drone law for business use could also set technical requirements, safety features, privacy protocols and cybersecurity measures to maintain hackers out.
Current laws governing drone use are based on the idea that a human determines the drone's flight path. As AI becomes more involved in decision-making and moves toward full autonomy, thought should be given to regulating AI itself.
Who is responsible if a control program doesn’t work as intended? What disclaimers are needed? Another consideration is that AI techniques are based on statistics on limited data. This means they might never achieve what they promise. ISO safety standards which set essential standards for the development industry.
The integration of drones into the UK construction industry could significantly boost a brand new construction boom by making constructing processes cheaper, safer and more efficient. However, the federal government must embrace this technological revolution and introduce stricter drone policy and regulation to pave the way in which for future advances.
