Assessment of Awareness and Integration of Industry 4.0 Technologies to enhance Construction H&S Site Operation in South Africa

The study focused on establishing an alternative to the traditional methods of mitigating construction accidents by exploring the usage of technology to monitor the movement of workers and construction equipment with the hopes of avoiding an accident before it occurs. Construction accidents is a topic that has been thoroughly investigated in the construction industry for several decades as the industry has been plagued with fatalities and injuries throughout its history however, the high number of accidents is persisting. The Eastern Cape region is no exception with high numbers of accidents that have a high cost of accidents. This research was particularly focused on the Gqeberha construction industry to establish the main causes of falls from height and struck accidents and whether industry 4.0 technologies can mitigate these accidents. However, to mitigate these accidents, the study had to determine their causes/influencers. The study employed a quantitative research approach which prompted the use of a questionnaire among SACPCMP-registered construction professionals working for medium to large contractors that are registered with the ECMBA. The findings of the research indicated that the respondents are somewhat slightly have awareness and practical knowledge of elements of industry 4.0 technologies such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Ultra-Wideband (UWB) and Global Positioning System (GPS) would enhance strategic intents to tackle H&S challenges on construction site and for worker safety. Thus, the findings clearly indicates there is somewhat moderate level of awareness of some of emerging technologies that would enhance and improve health and safety and well-being of construction workers on site. Therefore, study recommends that the construction site operations would be effectively and safely manged if there is a rapid access to accurate and trustworthy onsite information are met through integration of industry 4.0 technologies’ which have capability to locate and monitor the resources on a construction site with technological animated information and action-data.