Overcoming barriers of BIM adoption for safety planning in the Malaysian construction industry by using PLS-SEM analysis

Abstract

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a powerful tool that digitally represents a facility's physical and functional characteristics. This technology helps with better understanding and communication through visualization and simulation, making it useful for safety management. This BIM technology is recognized as a central point in technology for construction site safety related to planning and scheduling, enabling visualization of safety arrangements in construction projects, connecting the safety viewpoint more closely to construction planning, and providing more illustrative site plans for communication between the stakeholders. However, there are barriers to implementing BIM safety planning. This research aims to establish a model of the significant barriers to adopting BIM and the implications of those barriers for safety planning in the Malaysian construction industry. Questionnaires were distributed to construction players to gather data for the study. Referring to the sample size from Krejci and Morgan's table, the target sample size is about 250 respondents. A total of 254 questionnaires were distributed to the respondents of construction workers in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. The collected data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) to test the research hypotheses. There are four categories of barriers in this research, which are people, clients, government, and technology-related tasks. The results revealed that only barriers related to people and government significantly impact construction safety regarding BIM adoption. It shows that these two main barriers will impact construction in terms of safety planning with this BIM implementation. Hence, this research indicates that these barriers need to be overcome to implement safety in BIM. Their roles are very important in helping construction player with the benefit from BIM in safety planning and their project. By aligning organizational strategies with the insights from this study, firms can reduce accident risks, improve compliance with safety standards, and enhance their overall project performance.