Technology Alternatives for Workplace Safety Risk Mitigation in Construction: Exploratory Study

Safety performance in the construction industry has reached alarming levels and continues to be a primary source of concern to industry stakeholders. The construction industry is considered more hazardous than other major industries such as manufacturing. In the other industries, safety performance has been substantially improved and generally falls within acceptable levels. One noticeable difference between construction and other industries is that the rate of technology implementation in the other industries is significantly higher than in construction. High rates of technology implementation are expected to lead to improved safety and non-safety performance. The primary objective of the present study is to summarize the use of technology alternatives in the application of the hierarchy of controls using a preliminary, unstructured review of literature. The hierarchy of controls is a systematic method to reduce worker exposure to workplace hazards and mitigate potential safety risks on jobsites. The result of the study indicated that there are several technological controls used to mitigate workplace safety hazards during construction. Although virtual reality and building information modelling (BIM) are more effective than others in mitigating workplace safety hazards, the other technologies such as wearable sensing devices, warning systems, drones, and robotics can play significant role in protecting and/or alerting workers from potential workplace safety hazards. It is expected that the present study will help industry practitioners improve their understanding of technological controls used to mitigate workplace hazards and motivate higher levels of technology adoption in construction.