Brazilian crane and rigging contractor Makro Engenharia is one of many firms in construction using telematics to improve its productivity, but the company also is using the big data to boost the safety of its workforce and project operations with surprising results.

As the company began implementing telematics more than two years ago, it found that thousands of safety violations were occurring per month on its projects. Today, that number is down to five or less. "We have had years without a serious accident," says Fabio Escaleira, project manager in charge of performance improvement for Makro.