Emerging Technologies, Tools, and Methods for Enabling Safer, Healthier, and More Productive Work Settings in Construction Project Management

Dear Colleagues,

The construction industry has entered an era when the infiltration of innovative technologies, methods, and tools with traditional construction project management and engineering has led to opportunities towards a safer, healthier, and more productive work environment. For example, the use of building information models (BIMs) as a mandatory asset for many infrastructure projects has allowed for integrated planning, design, construction, and maintenance that cut costs and save time. Augmented/virtual reality and cloud-based computing are transforming how field crew interact with their tasks in a safer and more productive manner. Green and innovative materials are emerging and actively attempted for opportunities to reduce the embodied carbon of the constructed facilities, as well as to lessen the health impacts associated with hazardous materials (e.g., silica) contained in many construction products. The benefits of wearable technologies, such as exoskeletons and exosuits, have attracted the interest of many for their use among construction workers, in order to prevent injury, alleviate the chronic health burden of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) among the worker population, and enhance workers' physical capabilities for improved production outcomes.

The aim of this Special Issue is to inform the community of the forefront of emerging technologies, tools, and methods in assisting in the endeavor of advancing towards safer, healthier, and more productive work settings in construction project management. We invite submissions of cutting-edge or synthesis articles for this Special Issue, with topics including, but not limited to:

• Safety–productivity balance;
• Human-centric work settings;
• Collaborative worker–machine construction;
• Wearable technologies in construction;
• Digital, robotic, and automated construction;
• Off-site (modular) construction;
• Physical, mental, and respiratory health;
• Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs);
• Human-in-loop performance monitoring and modeling;
• Innovative technologies for training and education.

Dr. Fei Dai
Dr. Zhenhua Zhu
Prof. Dr. Man-Woo Park
Dr. Juhyeong Ryu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.