sustainability-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

Digital Innovations and Smart Technologies for Occupational Health and Safety in Construction

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Health, Well-Being and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (26 March 2023) | Viewed by 4630

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK
Interests: construction management and engineering; construction health and safety; smart construction informatics (e.g., machine learning, deep learning); construction ergonomics; digital technologies and innovations (e.g., building information modelling (BIM), blockchain technology, wearable sensors, robotics); technology transfer in construction and biomechanical analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong 999077, China
Interests: construction informatics and automation; infrastructure management and engineering; occupational safety and health
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Architecture and Built Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK
Interests: construction health and safety informatics; wearable sensors; IT in construction; construction ergonomics; machine learning

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

I would like to draw your attention to a Special Issue of the international, cross-disciplinary, scholarly open access journal Sustainability (IF: 2.576 (2019)), titled “Digital Innovations and Smart Technologies for Occupational Health and Safety in Construction”, for which we are Guest Editors.

Occupational health and safety (OHS) is one of the major concerns in the construction industry because of the increased number of fatal and non-fatal injuries among construction workers. It is widely known that these occupational injuries can lead to substantial disorders, project delays, increased project costs, workers' absenteeism, medical burden, and permanent disabilities. Given these adverse effects, there is a need to mitigate occupational injuries in construction by monitoring construction hazards and suggesting proactive injury-preventive measures. With the advancement of digital innovations and smart technologies, there is great potential for researchers and industry practitioners to improve occupational health and safety among construction workers.

The goal of this Special Issue is to publish technical, empirical, and review papers that make practical and theoretical contributions to the cutting-edge digital innovations and smart technologies with the latest research findings and practical interventions to enhance OHS in the construction industry.

Given the above, this Special Issue is directed at any aspects of digital innovations and smart technologies for improving OHS in the construction industry. Topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

Applications of building information modelling (BIM) in safety checking and performance

Wearable sensing technologies for construction safety monitoring, activity recognition, etc.

Construction automation and robotics (e.g., exoskeletons)

Computer vision application for construction safety

Construction ergonomic risk assessment and interventions

Artificial intelligence applications for safety hazard identifications and prevention

Virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) applications in construction safety

Integration of different digital innovations and smart construction technologies

Dr. Maxwell Fordjour Antwi-Afari
Dr. Yantao Yu
Dr. Waleed Umer
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. Sustainability 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 2400 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.

Keywords

  • building information modelling
  • wearable sensors
  • computer vision
  • occupational health and safety
  • wearable exoskeletons and robotics
  • safety hazard identification
  • virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR)
  • artificial intelligence
  • digital innovations and advanced technologies
  • Internet of Things
  • machine learning

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

12 pages, 387 KiB  
Article
Evaluating Occupational Health and Safety Management Strategy Success Factors for Small-Scale Contractors in Zambia
by Mwewa Mambwe, Erastus M. Mwanaumo, Wellington D. Thwala and Clinton O. Aigbavboa
Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 4696; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094696 - 22 Apr 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2838
Abstract
Small-scale contractors (SSCs) require management strategies in implementing occupational health and safety (OH&S) performance at projects to reduce accidents, injuries, fatalities and diseases. Management strategy success factors have been acknowledged to be of great benefit in improving in OH&S performance. Hence, the study [...] Read more.
Small-scale contractors (SSCs) require management strategies in implementing occupational health and safety (OH&S) performance at projects to reduce accidents, injuries, fatalities and diseases. Management strategy success factors have been acknowledged to be of great benefit in improving in OH&S performance. Hence, the study sought to assess the management strategy success factors for the improvement of OH&S performance by SSCs in Zambia’s electricity industry. Using quantitative methods, data was collected using a survey questionnaire from 246 respondents representing firm owners, managers, project managers and OH&S representatives at electricity industry projects at 70.3% response rate. Descriptive and inferential statistics were adopted as methods of data analysis using exploratory factor analysis. After analysis, the success factors were clustered into three construct categories within OH&S performance namely, compliance and workplace processes, policy and human resource development, and leadership and structure significant values ranging from 0.513 to 0.972. The independent reliability was tested using the Cronbach Alpha coefficient. The study exposed management strategy success factors are well recognised by most SSCs and contributed to the body of knowledge in this mastery by introducing three success factors for OH&S performance. It is recommended that these factors be adopted and considered to improve OH&S performance management by SSCs in the electricity industry in Zambia. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop