Viability of bridge inspectors determining defect ratings using photographic images

The visual inspection of bridges is a major undertaking for asset owners and operators. In the UK, visual inspections require inspectors to visit bridges on-site and often at night and in unfavourable weather conditions. Therefore, it would be beneficial to move some of the visual inspection process off-site. This paper studies whether the defect classification aspects of the inspection process could be conducted remotely using photographs. This study examines the defect ratings assigned by ten survey participants who were tasked with examining photographs from visual inspections of ten UK bridges. The survey results were compared with the results from the general inspections previously carried out for the bridges in question. From this dataset, the differences in the ratings given and the extent to which defects are missed were examined. The results show that a higher number of defects were identified for a given bridge by the remote inspectors. Statistical analysis shows that aggregated defects rated by off-site inspectors tend to be more severe and of a higher priority rating compared to those from the on site inspectors. The results also indicate that there is closer agreement between on-site and off-site inspectors for defects of a higher severity rating.