Construction Safety Innovation and Barriers in Different Company Types and Sizes: A Survey in Vietnam

Abstract

In recent years, safety innovation has brought potential benefits to the sustainable development of building industries. However, safety innovation is still limited owing to a limited understanding of technology capabilities and associated barriers within construction organizations. This study aimed to evaluate the potential technologies and barriers based on company type and size toward construction safety innovation. The literature review identified twelve technologies and ten barriers to safety innovation. These technologies are classified into geospatial, image, and interactive technologies, whereas barriers are classified into technology, organization, and market-related problems. The rank-based non-parametric tests analyzed data collected from 184 industry practitioners in Vietnam to examine differences between groups of developers, consultants, and contractors with small, medium, and large construction organizations. The findings showed that developers and consultants are pioneers toward innovation in safety management practices compared to contractors. Additionally, image technologies are the top solutions for improving safety performance for SMEs, whereas organization-related problems are major challenges for their innovation. A comparison between countries reveals the growing trend of utilizing interactive technologies to enhance construction safety management. The results provide valuable insights into the context of global construction safety innovation. These findings are expected to provide innovative guidelines for the sustainable development of the building industry. © Korean Society of Civil Engineers 2024.