In an industry as old as construction, it can be difficult to innovate. Many of the tools we use haven’t changed in thousands of years – whilst others are constantly adapting and improving, allowing us to dive deeper, build higher, scale further.
At Smas, we don’t just provide expert risk management certification. We’re also responsible for helping our members stay at the forefront of changes – which is where Adam Annetts steps in.
Adam is the Director of Technical Services at Smas Worksafe. Since 2021, he’s been leading technical operations, as well as regulatory engagement and alignment, ensuring what we do is on par with what the market needs and requires.
“The most important role for me is being the voice of the customer inside Smas,” Adam says. “Every product decision, every process change, every assessment question – there has to be a member’s perspective driving it. Because of my background, I know what it feels like to sit on the industry side of the table.”
After more than a decade in highways maintenance, civil and national infrastructure, and large-scale facility management, Adam has essential knowledge from both sides of the fence that he uses to help inform Smas’s supply chain compliance schemes.
Within his position, Adam has three key areas of interest which he uses to help drive Smas’s systems in the right direction.
“Compliance has always been traditionally paper-based, heavy, reactive, slow, and I’m interested in what it looks like when you build it digital first,” says Adam. “This means redesigning workflows from the ground up around data automation, with real time assurances rather than boating digital tools onto paper processes.”
Over the past couple of decades, we’ve seen heavily regulated sectors such as the construction industry begin to digitalise more and more. Businesses are moving away from predominantly paper-based management to a mixture of paper and digital, or entirely digital – depending on the resources available.
This is the subject of Adam’s new research white paper, Digital Transformation in Construction.
His second area of interest is how Smas can make regulatory changes easier to swallow and digest for our members.
“Often, new legislation lands with a kind of panic and a thud. When faced with hundreds of very complex legal terms and laws, regulations, acts, and unclear obligations, we often find people saying, ‘What does this mean for me as a Smas member?’
Construction industry regulations can be vague and confusing, especially for new contractors or budding companies who don’t have the benefits of experience. One such recent example was the Building Safety Act (BSA) 2022, which set out new rules, regulations, and guidelines to help improve fire safety and the flow of information throughout a building’s lifecycle. But the new Gateway systems and the introduction of dutyholder roles caused a fair amount of confusion – who, exactly, would be responsible for which section?
“So,” Adam continues, “part of my role here is to translate all that kind of complexity into something more palatable, helping give people what they actually need, helping show the impact of these regulations for them on an everyday basis.”
To help contractors fulfil their new responsibilities under the BSA 2022, Smas Worksafe introduced Endorsement Modules as part of our Worksafe Plus certification, and as a core component within our Worksafe Pro (Common Assessment Standard) package. This allowed a wider range of contractors achieve BSA 2022 compliance, with clear descriptions throughout the certification assessments highlighting what evidence was needed for each section.
But Adam’s key interest lies in the “social value” in heavily regulated industries.
“Construction and heavily regulated industries are what we would call ‘precarious industries’. Very historical industries. There’s always a hesitancy to change, to adopt new ideas.
He explains that ‘hard requirements’, like technological breakthroughs, can only be achieved as a result of social adoption – for example, how people react to technology, and how they take on change in industries with rigid or traditional practices.
“The more historical an industry is, the slower it is to change because you’ve got embedded norms. In industries like construction, which are very risk averse, people stick to what they know because they know it works. In other words, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, as the saying goes.”
Compliance within the construction industry is mirrored within its conservative nature and resistance to adopt change. But, Adam thinks, this is all likely to change over the next decade – with digital transformation at the heart of it.
The Grenville Tower tragedy was a clear catalyst for change within the industry. It highlighted key issues that hadn’t been addressed, including the lack of power tenants had in their own homes regarding their own safety.
Adam believes that, moving forward, “all construction materials will have some sort of chain of custody with a list of dos and don’ts, and contractors will need to evidence their compliance to these dos and don’ts. I can only see that working if there’s a digital link – something that allows contractors to confirm what they’ve done in line with installation requirements.”
AI, he believes, will also be a crucial part of this change.
“I think AI workflows will be implemented – workflows that don’t compromise audit evidence and partiality, or trust. It’ll be AI to help people state and prove their compliance, rather than giving them the answers. Data will beat documents.”
Within the Building Safety Act, the Golden Thread of Information was introduced, creating a single source of truth for all building information – from its design, to its installation, to its future maintenance. Adam expects to see this continuous flow of data appear in other parts of the construction industry.
“It’s no longer about capturing data to produce a document that just ticks a box. It’s about how that data point is used, who can access it, how it connects to other points of data, and whether it stays accurate over time. I think the next ten years will be about real time data flows between main contractors, subcontractors, potentially even assessment bodies, product manufacturers, and clients, replacing current static documentation with a live, traceable assurance that actually serves the people making decisions on-site.”
The average age in the construction industry workforce is gradually increasing. In the Home Building Workforce Census 2023, the number of respondents who were over 50 increased from 20% to 24% – the most significant increase among all age brackets.
“The industry is losing a large proportion of younger people – Gen Z’s. These are digital natives, people who grew up with technology – that that’s important to consider, because it’s much easier to train digital natives who can contextualise digital processes better.”
The fear is that digital workflows will only widen the gap between each generation of contractors, potentially causing the industry to lose skilled workers before they have an opportunity to pass on their knowledge.
Across 2024/25, UK construction apprenticeship increased by 1.5%, from 24,230 apprentices to 24,590. However, this still isn’t as high as 2021/22 figures, which saw 26,060 apprentices enter the industry. An estimated 240,000 construction workers are needed by 2030 to keep up with construction targets, meaning more needs to be done to encourage young people into the industry.
“We want organisations to invest in accessible routes into the sector. Things like digital ways of working within apprenticeships or training. Those would be the best places to take advantage of this new digital shift and pave the way for the future.”
At Smas, we work with contractors across the country to support exceptional risk management solutions, building a safer industry for everyone. Whether you need a base level of Health & Safety support from our Worksafe SSIP package, or wish to tender for public sector contracts with our Worksafe Pro package (certifying you to the level of Common Assessment Standard), we’re here to help.
Check out our website, or get in touch today on 01752 697370 or by email at [email protected] to find out more.