How Digital Transformation Reduces Safety Risks on Jobsites
While safety has always been the top priority in construction, it is often compartmentalized.
- By David Brian Ward
- Mar 01, 2022
Digital transformation is changing how safety is managed on jobsites. If the term digital transformation is familiar, but not clear, here is a refresher. Digital transformation is about using technology to improve business processes, company culture and customer experiences. Extending this to safety, digital transformation also reduces risks and compliance costs and improves productivity. It does this by streamlining and/or eliminating time-consuming processes and administrative tasks, identifying potential safety risks at the office or jobsite and providing the data and insight necessary for general contractors to make more strategic decisions about their business and each construction project.
While safety has always been the top priority in construction, it is often compartmentalized. It is common to see the safety officer conduct routine inspections and audits to identify and address potential risks and observe workers to ensure they are following protocols. However, safety is only practiced by workers not imposed by consulting engineers. Separating out safety can create an uncomfortable environment for the safety officer and colleagues, potentially impacting productivity as workers feel they are being monitored. In turn, this can foster adversarial relationships. Yet to be effective, safety is everyone’s job and requires continuous learning and collaboration.
Digital transformation can help if safety practices are no longer a drag on productivity and if digital transformation empowers everybody on the jobsite to play a more active role in ensuring safety. Digital does not eliminate the need for a safety officer, although it will reduce the overall workload. Rather, it highlights how technology can make it easier to prioritize and follow safety guidelines, especially onsite, further reducing risks while raising profits.
Four Obstacles Holding Back Digital Transformation
The benefits of digital transformation have been proven across many industries, yet construction is among the last to adopt it. That is not to say the industry is not aware of the proliferation of new technology on jobsites. Just look at the rise in innovative solutions such as digital apps, jobsite management platforms, virtual reality, robots, sensors and drones all contributing to the creation of the connected jobsite. Yet, not every new technology leads to a company's digital transformation.
While digital transformation holds a lot of promise for construction, here are some of the most common obstacles and how to address them.
This article originally appeared in the March 1, 2022 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.