Health & Prevention Innovation Lab in the Construction Industry: a new collective dynamic to better meet the needs on the ground through innovation

Its ambition: to help industry stakeholders move beyond their usual practices and explore new ways to improve health and safety on construction sites through innovation. Today, the program is evolving to better meet the sector's needs by involving volunteer companies and training organizations eager to tackle new topics and engage in an innovative approach to prevention, for the benefit of the entire industry. The new method is structured around four key phases throughout the year: listening to needs, identifying solutions, testing them, and sharing them. A first working session brought together around twenty companies and training organizations to discuss their challenges and identify the industry's priorities for identifying innovation. This initial work will guide the search for innovative solutions, which will be presented by the end of the year, before their potential field testing. Finally, a collective sharing of solutions and feedback with the entire sector is planned for spring 2026.

A system redesigned to meet the real needs of construction industry stakeholders

Launched in 2018, the Health & Prevention Innovation Lab for the Construction Industry aims to boost innovation in prevention through solutions based on new technologies, in order to address occupational health and safety issues. By facilitating connections between companies in the sector, training organizations, and innovative startups or SMEs, the Innovation Lab acts as a prevention accelerator, helping companies to adopt innovations and find new ways to implement greater safety on construction sites and improve the health of construction professionals.

Today, the initiative enters a new phase by relying on direct feedback from the field: businesses and training organizations are now expressing their needs, sharing their challenges, and guiding the search for new solutions to inspire the entire sector. This participatory approach makes it possible to identify the real challenges facing businesses, explore new topics, and co-create an annual roadmap that closely aligns with real-world expectations.

A first working session led by volunteer companies and training organizations, paving the way for innovation in prevention

On Tuesday, October 14, the first working session of the Health & Prevention Innovation Lab brought together 24 companies and training organizations of all sizes and from all professions – structural work, public works, climate engineering, telecom networks, civil engineering... – including: BTP CFA Hauts-de-France, BTP CFA Île-de-France Noisy-le-Grand, BTP CFA Occitanie, BTP CFA Roubaix, CFA BTP 47, GRETA CFA Lyon Métropole, Éco-Campus du Bâtiment Grand Paris, Coretel, Cornec, Groupe Balas, Groupe Fareneït (SEEM, SN Koch), Pinto, Firalp TP, GCC, Groupe Angevin, Groupe SMAC, Bouygues Construction, Fayat Fondations, SNEF, Sogea Environnement, SPIE, VINCI Autoroutes and VINCI TP.

As true pioneers of the sector, they shared their on-the-ground challenges, compared their experiences, and defined health and prevention priorities to identify the key topics that will form the annual roadmap of the Innovation Lab. These discussions led to the emergence of four main categories of needs and some thirty associated themes, reflecting the diversity of the sector's challenges:

• Mental health and well-being (employees, learners)
• Culture of prevention and risk awareness
• Construction/site safety alert
• Companion assistance

Concrete solutions will soon be presented to the industry.

Building on this initial success, the Innovation Lab team and Impulse Partners are now working to identify the most promising solutions to meet the expressed needs. To this end, Impulse Partners is actively monitoring and sourcing within its ecosystem of startups and innovative companies to identify the most relevant responses. The selected solutions will be presented on November 27th at an event open to all, where companies, training organizations, and startups can meet, establish concrete collaborations, and launch initial pilot projects. OPPBTP, CCCA-BTP, and the EXCELLENCE SMA Foundation will support several of these projects to evaluate their results and share the lessons learned with the entire industry in spring 2026.

According to Thiébault Clément, Technical Director of OPPBTP: “When it comes to innovation, the ideal is to question the situation on the ground, to enrich ideas through collective reflection and experimentation in order to provide concrete solutions. This is the whole point of our new approach, to transform operational needs into tangible, efficient and immediately applicable advances and thus strengthen the safety of construction site teams.”

According to Franck Le Nuellec, Director of Marketing, Development and Strategic Innovation at CCCA-BTP: “As a leading player in strategic innovation, the CCCA-BTP’s WinLab explores innovative approaches to transform buildings, their operation, and training within apprenticeship training organizations, identifying common good solutions with a focus on robustness and profitability. Health, prevention, and safety—key aspects of a responsible approach central to the concerns of training organizations—are priority topics in supporting the CSR approach we are implementing.”

For Fabienne Tiercelin, General Delegate of the EXCELLENCE SMA Foundation: "The Lab's partners wanted to renew the themes and approach to better reflect developments in the sector and the needs of construction stakeholders. This new dynamic will allow us to address prevention issues with a fresh perspective, in line with the realities on the ground."

According to Stéphanie Bigeon-Bienvenu, Associate Director of Impulse Partners: “The new impetus for the Innovation Lab is based on listening to a panel of companies and training organizations who share their need for innovation to advance the sector. Whether it concerns culture, behavior, organization, or equipment, all levers of innovation can be activated to improve the safety of men and women on construction sites. The Lab's mission is to create a virtuous and operational bridge between construction industry stakeholders and startups offering solutions.”