BIOTECHNOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO CONSTRUCTION-RELATED OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES IN THE ERA OF INDUSTRY 4.0: EVIDENCE FROM NIGERIA

The persistence of diseases that affect the construction workforce as a result of activities on construction sites poses a danger to the sustainable development of the industry. This resulted in a huge loss of skilled labour and economic development for the entire country. The emergence of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) technologies calls for a need to assess the effect of the technology's biological driver on construction occupation-related diseases. Therefore, this study assessed the effect of genome sequencing and neurotechnology on construction occupation-related diseases in Northern Nigeria. The study is quantitative in design through the administration of 650 questionnaires to project managers and health and safety (H&S) managers in the three geopolitical zones of Northern Nigeria using a proportionate sampling technique. A total of 400 were duly completed, representing a 61.5% response rate. The collected data was analyzed using the Warp PLS-SEM 8.0 software algorithm. The study found that the effects of the 4IR's biological driver variables ranged from moderate to high effects for genome sequencing (GENSE) and neurotechnology (NEURO), respectively. The combined predictive relevance of the two (2) variables predicts 64% of the construction occupation-related diseases. This implies that the adoption of the driver would help reduce the causes of construction-related diseases. The study recommends the adoption of the 4.0IR biological driver for the management of construction occupation-related diseases on construction sites for proper transformation of the sites.