Innovative approaches Rethinking health and safety: How emerging technologies and new approaches are making construction safer
T
he construction industry is
industry as technology proves to be a critical
work from home, safety protocols had to be
one of the most dangerous
element for both. When it comes to innovative
redesigned to ensure the safety of workers
industries to work in. Data
approaches to safety management, such
against Covid-19 infection. Now is the time
from OSHA – Occupational
as Prevention through Design (PtD), the
for the construction industry to rethink health
Safety and Health Administration – shows
construction industry is also behind the
and safety to address traditional and new
that in 2019, one in five worker deaths that
curve. PtD is still an emerging safety
safety challenges. The implementation of
took place in the private industry, occurred
management practice in the United States,
emerging technologies will be instrumental in
in construction. In such dynamic workplaces
but has already garnered high levels of
addressing the aforementioned challenges.
with high exposure to risk and the growing
success in other nations; as seen in the UK,
From BIM 3D visualization and AV/VR
complexity of operations, ensuring the health
where PtD has been mandatory by law since
immersive environment tools to IoT sensors
and safety of all those on-site is a challenging
1994. PtD is a process where safety risks are
and wearables, emerging technology is
task. Here, Kenny Ingram explains how the
removed during the project design stage,
helping overhaul outdated health and
adoption of emerging technologies and
completely eliminating worker exposure to
safety practices.
innovative safety management practices can
risk. Where the approach is growing in the US,
help organizations attain elevated levels of
emerging technologies can help propel this
BIM to create a safety masterplan
health and safety.
practice further.
Building Information Modeling (BIM) is one
The construction industry has traditionally
The recent onset of the Covid-19 pandemic
of the leading technologies used to improve
been slow to adopt new technologies. Studies
has further brought into focus health and
on-site health and safety standards. While
suggest that this could be a leading factor
safety. With construction workers deemed as
by no means a new technology anymore, its
in lower levels of health and safety in the
essential workers and having few options to
implications for health and safety are gaining
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