Last week, we hosted our fourth Safetytech event at Digital Realty’s head office in London, bringing together health and safety leaders from across construction and infrastructure to tackle one of the industry’s biggest opportunities and challenges.
At Irwin and Colton, our mission is to power positive impact across health and safety. One of the most effective ways to do that is by connecting people, sharing experiences, and helping organisations navigate challenges collectively rather than in silos. That is why our event series is such an important part of our mission.
Safetytech is evolving at phenomenal speed. From drones and sensors to AI-powered platforms and predictive analytics, the industry is no longer facing a lack of technology. For many organisations, particularly larger businesses, the challenge is no longer finding technology - it’s selecting the right technology, integrating it with existing systems, ensuring people have the digital capability to use it effectively, and embedding it successfully into day-to-day operations.
Some key takeaways from the event:
A Growing Digital Skills Gap
The event opened with a ‘Safety Moment’ from Mike McHale, Director of Health and Safety for Digital Realty across the EMEA region.
During the session, the audience participated in a live vote around the digital skillsets within their organisations. The outcome was clear: there is a growing digital capability gap across many teams, and for many organisations, that gap is widening faster than they can close it.
As technology accelerates, investing in digital skills is becoming just as important as investing in the technology itself. Without the right capability, even the best systems will fail to deliver their intended value.
Start With the Problem, Not the Technology
We then heard from Lawrence Jeep and Sofiya Ben, both from the Safetytech Accelerator, who delivered a brilliant presentation exploring the current Safetytech environment in construction.
The Safetytech Accelerator are currently involved in an HSE-funded project focused on understanding the construction Safetytech landscape, making them uniquely positioned to provide insight into the opportunities and challenges organisations are facing.
One of the strongest messages from the session was simple: start with the problem, not the technology. Too often, organisations begin by exploring technology first, rather than clearly defining the risk or operational challenge they are trying to solve.
Lawrence outlined a practical four-stage approach to selecting technology:
Diagnose
Design
Discover
Deploy
The message throughout was clear: focus on identifying the right problem before looking for the right tool; not every problem requires a tech solution. Organisations need to understand where technology genuinely adds value and where it doesn’t.
Another key insight was the importance of looking beyond the primary safety benefit of technology and considering the secondary benefits too.
Can it improve efficiency?
Can it improve communication?
Can it reduce waste or improve sustainability?
Can it improve engagement or productivity?
The organisations seeing the greatest success are often those identifying wider operational value, not just safety outcomes alone.
Start Small and Scale From There
A recurring theme throughout the event was the importance of avoiding overly broad or unfocused innovation programmes.
With so many solutions available, it can be tempting to attempt a large-scale transformation immediately. The advice from the speakers and panel was consistent:
Start focused. Start small. Learn quickly. Then scale.
Pilot technology on a single site or within one operational area first. Test it, understand the challenges, gather feedback, and refine the onboarding process, then expand. This approach reduces risk, improves adoption, and creates stronger internal advocates for the technology.
Importantly, speakers also highlighted that organisations should not automatically equate cost with quality. The most expensive solution is not always the best solution. Successful organisations are becoming better at scanning the market, filtering options carefully, and selecting technology based on operational fit rather than marketing noise.
Technology Is Only Successful If It’s Embedded Properly
The panel discussion brought together:
Mike McHale, Digital Realty
Charlotte Hutton, Head of Innovation and Programmes at the Safetytech Accelerator
Prakash Sangari, CEO of Navatech
One of the strongest points raised during the discussion was that many organisations underestimate the importance of the time and resource investment required to onboard and embed technology effectively.
Technology implementation is not simply a procurement exercise. It requires time, communication, engagement, training, and ongoing support.
Many organisations fail because they focus heavily on selecting technology but not enough on helping people adopt it successfully. The businesses seeing the strongest results are investing heavily in change management and embedding processes alongside the technology itself.
AI Is Already Changing the Industry
Prakash Sangari gave an engaging overview of how AI and freely available tools are already transforming the way safety professionals can work. He explained that his motivation for creating solutions came from seeing safety technology treated as an afterthought for too long. One of the lighter moments of the day came when he joked:
“Safety tech is not coming for your job - it’s coming for your paperwork.”
He demonstrated a range of free AI-powered tools, particularly Google NotebookLM, capable of:
Creating podcasts from documents
Producing training materials
Generating quizzes
Creating videos
Answering questions from uploaded information
One particularly impressive example involved generating a training video live during the session.
The broader message was clear: the next generation entering the workforce will be digital natives and AI natives. Organisations should start adapting how they engage, train, and communicate.
Curiosity Will Become One of the Most Valuable Skills in Safety
One of the strongest themes to emerge throughout the event was the importance of curiosity.
The pace of change across Safetytech and AI is accelerating so quickly that no one organisation or individual has all the answers. The businesses and leaders who will thrive in the years ahead are unlikely to be those with the largest budgets or the most sophisticated systems alone, but those prepared to experiment, learn, adapt, and stay open-minded.
That means building cultures where people feel encouraged to test new ideas, pilot emerging technologies, learn from setbacks, and continuously evolve.
In many ways, curiosity is becoming one of the most important capabilities for leaders and teams shaping the future of health and safety.
So, Where Should Organisations Start?
One of the questions raised during the panel discussion was: “With so many technologies available, where should organisations at the start of their journey actually begin?”
The answer wasn’t to just buy more technology; it was to become clearer on the problem they are solving.
The organisations succeeding with Safetytech are typically:
Starting with a clear operational challenge
Running small pilots
Investing in onboarding and engagement
Measuring outcomes properly
Scaling gradually
Developing the digital capability of their teams alongside the technology
The event reinforced that Safetytech has enormous potential across construction and the wider industry. But success doesn’t come from chasing every new tool. It comes from being focused, practical, and intentional.
Start with the problem. Start small. Embed properly. Stay curious. Then grow from there.
A huge thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to such an insightful discussion, and especially to Digital Realty for hosting us. We’re excited to continue building these conversations and helping the industry navigate the rapidly evolving Safetytech landscape together.
James Irwin is a Director at Irwin and Colton a specialist health, safety and sustainability recruitment company. For more information contact James on james.irwin@irwinandcolton.com.