From Control to Management: How Safety Culture and Digital Technologies Improve the Eff ectiveness of Occupational Health and Safety Services

In today's environment, we are faced with the increased complexity of production and construction projects, changes in employee mentality due to generational change, and the growing importance of personal safety in people's value systems. In this changing world, the traditional model of occupational health and safety services, based primarily on control and compliance monitoring, is losing its effectiveness. It is becoming increasingly clear that safety must be integrated into an enterprise's management system, becoming one of its most important elements. This article examines the implementation of an occupational health and safety culture as a key management tool, ensuring sustainable risk reduction and employee engagement at all levels of the organization. The role of innovative technologies, including digital ones—from mobile solutions for recording unsafe actions to machine vision systems and virtual reality tools—in improving the effectiveness of safety management. We demonstrated that digitalization alone does not replace management processes, but when properly implemented, it significantly improves their effectiveness. Safe design (sustainable design) using VR is highlighted in a separate section.