Injury Prevention Technologies in Construction: Field-Validated, Human-Centered, and Data-Driven Approaches
DETAILS
CALL FOR PAPERS
Injury Prevention Technologies in Construction: Field-Validated, Human-Centered, and Data-Driven Approaches
Journal: Journal of Safety Research
Publisher: Elsevier
Submission Deadline: 15 June 2026
Introduction
Construction remains one of the most hazardous industries — demanding solutions that measurably prevent injuries and fatalities. This Virtual Special Issue invites rigorous studies that advance worker safety through field-validated or quasi-field technologies and methods. It seeks contributions that translate sensing, analytics, and human-centered design into actionable safety outcomes — with transparent reporting that supports replication and adoption.
Scope & Significance
Priority will be given to empirical work that documents safety impacts — such as incident reduction, near-miss trends, exposure indices, or risk scores. The Special Issue bridges human factors, safety science, robotics, computer vision, sensing, and construction management — seeking interdisciplinary contributions that move beyond theoretical frameworks to demonstrate measurable real-world safety improvements.
Note: Methodology papers are suitable when they demonstrate clear safety relevance on realistic data and report sufficient detail for replication. Conceptual pieces that lack a safety evaluation will not be considered.
List of Topic Areas
Manuscripts are invited on themes including, but not limited to:
AR/VR for construction safety — hazard recognition, procedure rehearsal, spatial planning, and transfer to practice
Wearables and biosensing — exposure and fatigue monitoring, biomechanical load, comfort and adherence, and thresholds for intervention
Computer vision and site analytics — hazard and near-miss detection, trajectory and proximity risk, explainable models, and uncertainty reporting
Worker-assist systems — exoskeletons and collaborative robotics, human-robot task design, proximity, and fail-safe controls
Human factors and neuroergonomics — attention, workload, situational awareness, acceptance, and usability in dynamic construction sites
Integrated safety frameworks — linking behavior, technology, and organization to controls, training, and policy
Reproducible protocols and open datasets for construction safety research
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of construction injury prevention technologies
Near-miss detection systems and real-time safety monitoring
Field-validated case studies of safety technology implementation
Article Types Accepted
Original research articles
Field or quasi-field case studies
Methodological advances with safety evaluation
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses
Brief communications reporting timely, high-impact safety findings
Submission Requirements
Authors are expected to meet the following reporting standards:
Outcome Reporting — Quantify safety impact where possible, including effect sizes or uncertainty
Methods Transparency — Describe sensors, protocols, sampling, inclusion/exclusion criteria, preprocessing, models, and validation procedures
Reproducibility — Provide data and code where feasible. Where data are sensitive, share de-identified, synthetic, or controlled-access resources with clear documentation
Ethics and Safety — Include statements on participant consent, site permissions, and risk controls for human or field work
Guest Editors
Dr. Tanyel Bulbul Myers-Lawson School of Construction, Virginia Tech, USA Email: tanyel@vt.edu
Dr. Jeremy Withers Myers-Lawson School of Construction, Virginia Tech, USA Email: jeremyw7@vt.edu
Hanwen Ju Myers-Lawson School of Construction, Virginia Tech, USA Email: hanwen@vt.edu
Xiaoying Yang Myers-Lawson School of Construction, Virginia Tech, USA Email: xiaoyingy@vt.edu
Key Deadlines
Submission Portal Opens: 15 January 2026
Manuscript Submission Deadline: 15 June 2026
Submission Guidelines
Submit your manuscript via the Journal of Safety Research online submission system:
https://www.editorialmanager.com/jsr
During submission, select Article Type:
"VSI Construct Safety"
to route your paper to this Virtual Special Issue. Pre-submission inquiries are welcome — contact the guest editors directly.
All submissions will undergo desk screening for scope, methodological transparency, and ethics compliance — followed by double-blind peer review with expert reviewers across human factors, safety science, robotics, computer vision, sensing, and construction management.
All submissions must be original and must not be under review elsewhere at the time of submission.
About the Journal
The Journal of Safety Research, published by Elsevier, is a leading international peer-reviewed journal with a CiteScore of 6.9 and Impact Factor of 4.4. It supports open access publishing and is dedicated to advancing research on injury prevention and safety across occupational, transportation, and community settings — providing a global platform for interdisciplinary scholarship exploring how evidence-based approaches can reduce harm and protect human wellbeing in diverse work and life environments.
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