MONETARY BENEFIT QUANTIFICATION FOR SMART CONSTRUCTION SAFETY TECHNOLOGY

Construction sites are inherently hazardous environments where accidents can lead to severe human, financial, and legal consequences.Despite the growing adoption of safety regulations and monitoring systems, construction accidents remain a persistent issue, incurring substantial economic losses for companies and society.However, there is limited research on systematically quantifying the financial benefits of implementing smart safety technology, making it difficult for construction firms to make datadriven investment decisions.To address this gap, this study proposes a systematic approach to quantify the economic benefits of implementing smart safety technology at construction sites.The economic benefit is calculated in monetary values, based on accident case data from a real construction project in South Korea.Basic project information, including total construction costs, the number of workers, the number of equipment units, and the construction duration, is first collected.Then, the loss costs of safety accident, considering settlement costs, legal costs, interrupted construction costs, safety investigation costs, and penalties under the Serious Accident Punishment Act, are estimated.Subsequently, the potential number of fatalities by considering site characteristics and fatal accident rates in South Korea is predicted.Monte Carlo Simulation is conducted to reflect the uncertainties in a construction suspension period and a workforce size, enabling a more realistic economic analysis that is not confined to a specific case.The economic analysis confirms the range of investment costs for implementing smart safety technology that is economically beneficial.This provides construction firms with clearer criteria for making informed decisions about adopting smart safety equipment.