Barriers to Digitalisation of Construction Health, Safety, and Well-Being Regulations Enforcement and Compliance Checking

To improve health, safety, and well-being (HSW) in construction, enforcement and compliance with regulations are fundamental. While the attention to digital technology in the industry is gradually improving, practitioners have been using digital aids in form of wearable and connected devices (e.g., tablet computer linked to web-based software platform dedicated to safety management) for checking and auditing construction site safety performance, research into the area in terms of human-assisted compliance and enforcement of HSW regulations in the design and planning phase remains low. Using the systemic literature review methodology, the barriers to implementing such digital technologies in the enforcement and compliance with HSW regulations have been examined. The findings indicate that research into this area is still in the embryonic stage. However, the main barriers to compliance checking include typical technological factors (including its readiness and reliable use on construction sites), people (e.g., their acceptance, phobia for digital technology, and scepticism), organisational (e.g., exceeding or meeting contractual obligations), economical (e.g., the high investment both in the purchase and maintenance of the digitalization effort), and lack of relevant skills and knowledge. Further, regulatory authorities still struggle with integrating digital technologies into the existing enforcement approaches, and the nature of HSW data and types of risks are also barriers to them. This study is a desktop review hence empirical validation is required.