From Compliance To Context - Integrating Cognitive Determinants To Inform Technology Driven Safety Communication In Construction

Construction safety communication, a central mechanism for hazard mitigation, has advanced along three global trajectories, namely symbolic standardization, cognitive diagnostics, and intelligent digital interventions. However, their combined insights have been minimally applied to the Indian construction context, where high fatality rates persist, disproportionate to the country’s share of the global workforce. By interviewing nine safety experts from various hierarchical levels in public, private, institutional sectors, and a professional body, this study explores how these trajectories are reflected in the Indian construction industry. Four thematic findings emerge: (1) attentional limitations responsible for failure of static safety communication channels; (2) organisational structures that institutionalize the compliance-cognition gap; (3) a practitioner-led orientation towards dynamic safety communication channels that lacks empirical validation; and (4) adoption of content generation tools by professionals prior to having an evidence base that allows them to be calibrated. Evidence suggests an inverted knowledge architecture, indicating that behavioral measurement infrastructures are lagging behind visual production capacities. The study provides direct evidence of this imbalance and stresses that safety practitioners need to use evidence-based approaches in their work. It develops a base of knowledge for conducting future safety communication research in an evolving construction industry.