LETTERS: AS we enter a new decade, occupational safety and health (OSH) professionals have a lot to consider.
From demographic changes and new regulations to technology and medical advancements, there isa lot to explore.
New technologies should be implemented in work procedures to improve safety at construction site, such as incorporating the use of sensors and wireless devices to connect machines and personnel to a common system (the Internet of Things).
They could be based on predictive date, artificial intelligence or ergonomic devices.
These are the technologies that the construction industry can explore and leverage to improve employees’ productivity as well as workplace safety and health.
The future is all about people. It is important for us to shift our priority from OSH compliance to having an OSH culture that is employee driven, that is, a proactive OSH culture that rewards positive safety behaviours instead of disciplining negative behaviours.
Injury prevention and wellness plans for workers in the construction industry must be given priority, just as much as preventive maintenance plans for machines and timely delivery of projects.
We will also have different types of employees in the industry. Baby boomers are leaving the employment arena.
Now is the time for Generation Z, that is, the generation born in a digital era, where they lack experience in an industrial and mechanical environment that their predecessors had.
This makes traditional safety concepts, such as lockout-tagout and safe operation of machinery, initially hard to grasp.
However, their skill and interest in automation and technological processes are a strong point we need to adopt and hone.
Since new technologies are taking over many tasks that required low-skilled workers, we should re-think and take a fresher look on how we can use technology to reduce risk, encourage safe behaviours and improve efficiency in the construction industry.
We should welcome digitalisation, innovative technologies and new construction techniques such as Building Information Modelling (BIM), autonomous equipment and advanced build- ing materials, drone technology, robotics and remote-control vehicles.
Other systems include wearable technology, visualisation technology, and record-keeping and communication systems.
The use of this technology will boost productivity, streamline project management and proce- dures, and boost quality and safety.
The challenge for us, in the construction industry, is to recruit the requisite digital talent.
The use of technology will reduce the chance of human errors and increase OSH awareness through real time and data that can be used to prevent accidents or potential hazards as well as determining unsafe behaviour or condition.
For instance, BIM will enable hazard elimination or substitution (design for safety), improve hazard recognition and identification.
It will also boost safety planning, awareness or communication, and safety inspections.
Virtual reality (VR) is another technology that will help the industry improve its OSH compliance.
It places users inside a virtual environment, so that users experience a full immersion in the virtual space.
It is used to simulate the construction process before work starts. For example, when a collapse occurs, it is contained within a virtual-reality setting.
With VR, the cost of the collapse would be minimal. VR provides an opportunity to eliminate project hazards before construction begins, thus avoiding workplace accidents.
Adopting digital transformation may be the best way to improve OSH in the construction industry and mitigate the human and capital costs of accidents at work.
It will also lead to improved workplace conditions and safety performance.
TAN SRI LEE LAM THYE
OSH advocate, Kuala Lumpur
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times