The role of industry 4.0 in construction occupational health (OH)

Historical occupational health (OH) challenges, in terms of a range of issues, continue to be experienced, namely not following procedures, unsafe acts, unsafe conditions, non-compliance, sprains and strains, fatigue, and heat stress among workers, materials containing hazardous chemical substances, untrained workers undertaking work, commencement of activities without conducting hazard identification and risk assessment (HIRA), data gathering and recording, and monitoring. Given the abovementioned, and the advent of Industry 4.0, an exploratory quantitative study, which entailed a self-administered questionnaire, was conducted among registered  Construction Health and Safety (H&S) practitioners to determine the OH challenges experienced, OH performance, and the potential of Industry 4.0 to contribute to resolving the former cited challenges. The findings indicate that a range of historical challenges, which negatively impact OH performance, continue to be experienced in construction; H&S practitioners rate themselves average relative to awareness of / exposure to eleven Industry 4.0 technologies, and that Industry 4.0 technologies can contribute to resolving the OH challenges experienced in construction. Conclusions include: a different approach is necessary to mitigate the persistent OH challenges; current technology is not capable of resolving the OH challenges; an integrated digital effort is required to resolve the OH challenges, and artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, digitalisation in general, drones, the internet of things, robots, and virtual reality have the potential to contribute to resolving the H&S challenges experienced in construction. Recommendations include: employer associations, professional associations, and statutory councils should raise the level of awareness relative to the potential implementation of Industry 4.0 relative to OH in construction; case studies should be documented and shared; tertiary construction management education programmes should integrate Industry 4.0 into all possible modules, especially H&S and OH-related modules, and continuing professional development (CPD) OH should address Industry 4.0.