Digital Tools to Increase Construction Site Safety

The purpose is to investigate the use of digital tools to mitigate risks and increase worker safety at construction sites. Construction is one of the most dangerous industries to work in with relatively high numbers of injuries and fatalities. At the same time there is an ongoing trend of digitalization of construction, and digital technologies, including, i.e., electronic tools, systems, devices, embedded sensors, that generate, store, or process data, are introduced to the construction sites, also for safety applications. Based on five case studies, this study investigates the use of digital technologies for improving site safety. All cases are a part of a larger project where digital technologies, including sensors, edge cameras and computers, object recognition, AI, cloud computing, etc., are tested in a “real environment”, on-going construction projects. The analysis focuses on three areas: the technical feasibility, user acceptance, and the possibility to scale-up and commercialise the digital technologies. The results show that the construction context puts extra demand on development when it comes to technical feasibility, whereas the user acceptance is generally good. The main challenge is, however, to show commercial benefits and scale-up the technology for broader implementation in the industry.