Digital transformation of construction safety audits: a blockchain-enabled safety and health management system compliance management

Purpose Ensuring transparency, consistency, and traceability in safety and health audits remains a major challenge in construction projects due to manual documentation, incomplete records, and limited verification mechanisms. This study aims to develop and validate a blockchain-enabled Safety and Health Management System (SHMS) audit platform that provides a tamper-evident, decentralized, and verifiable framework for safety compliance management. Design/methodology/approach A design science research approach was adopted to design, develop, and evaluate the proposed platform. The system integrates blockchain technology with the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) to securely store audit data and associated evidence. An empirical case study incorporating 18 core audit components derived from international SHMS frameworks was conducted to validate the system. Data were analyzed using blockchain transaction logs, gas-consumption measurements, transaction execution-time analysis, audit completeness verification, and IPFS hash validation to evaluate system performance and data integrity. Findings The results demonstrate that the proposed system achieves efficient operational performance, with transaction times of less than five seconds and average gas consumption of 0.026 ETH. All IPFS identifiers were successfully validated, confirming the integrity and traceability of audit evidence. The platform improves transparency, accountability, and reliability in safety audits through real-time verification and immutable record-keeping. Originality/value This study contributes to construction management research by introducing a novel integration of blockchain and the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) for SHMS audit processes. Unlike traditional audit systems, the proposed framework operationalizes automated compliance verification and evidence authentication within a unified digital infrastructure, enhancing trust and governance in construction safety management.