Back to Basics is a weekly feature that highlights important but possibly overlooked information that any EHS professional should know. This week, we examine the latest workplace safety research.
We recently examined how safety training and a strong corporate safety culture can help protect your workers from injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. Professional safety organizations have also investigated how systems and technology can enhance workplace health and safety.
The National Safety Council (NSC), a not-for-profit organization focused on preventing deaths in the home, in the workplace, and on roadways, has two research efforts that have produced guidance and resources for safety professionals. The “Work to Zero” initiative aimed at eliminating fatal occupational injuries has produced reports on new and emerging safety technologies.
The NSC’s MSD Solutions Lab, supported by contributions from Amazon, conducts research and engages with workplace health and safety stakeholders to address musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) risks. It identifies new technologies, innovative solutions, and ways to scale the research results for the benefit of all workplaces.
In Work to Zero’s first report, “Safety Technology 2020: Mapping Technology Solutions for Reducing Serious Injuries and Fatalities in the Workplace,” researchers suggested that existing technologies could reduce worker fatalities. The report examined hazardous workplace situations that often lead to fatalities; contributing risk factors; and environment, health, and safety (EHS) technologies that professionals see as potentially effective.
The first Work to Zero report looked at 18 non-roadway hazardous situations in which workers are most likely to die and provided anywhere from five to eight potential technology solutions for each situation.
The three most hazardous situations, resulting in the most significant number of worker deaths in 2017, were being entangled in or struck by machinery, working at heights, and workplace violence, which can include deaths resulting from intentional physical violence caused by a colleague, the use of weapons, and robbery.
The most promising technology solutions for working at heights included:
- Mobile anchor points that can allow workers to attach fall arrest systems to a roof with weighted anchors that don’t require structural penetration;
- Aerial lifts and platforms that can give workers more stability and flexibility in their movement without having to traverse a structure; and
- Self-retracting lines that can be connected to anchors to automatically stop a fall, reducing injuries caused by dangerous amounts of slack in a lifeline during abrupt falls.
The top technology solutions for mitigating workplace violence risks include:
- Real-time response management mobile apps that use a mobile phone’s location tracking and communication functionality to give responders better visibility of who is at risk and where they’re located without relying on the workers to report their status;
- Video cameras, both body-worn and fixed-mount, which can monitor and detect patterns of movement and physical behavior that could indicate physical violence without workers needing to identify aggressive behaviors directly; and
- Wearable or mobile app-based panic buttons that allow workers to immediately alert emergency personnel when a dangerous or life-threatening situation arises.
Technology solutions for lowering fatal injury risks while maintaining and repairing machinery include:
- Machinery-cutoff light curtains that safeguard personnel near moving machinery at the point of operation and in the perimeter of a machine, automatically stopping a machine when a light field is interrupted;
- Power-management systems that can control electrical functions and manage capacity and load shedding to ensure electrical and arc-flash safety; and
- “Permit to work” technologies that can centralize authorization and clearance of tasks to be carried out by frontline workers.
Barriers to using the identified technologies included technology that’s not easily adaptable to an organization’s specific needs, limited research on successful technology uses, worker resistance to using new technologies, and limited knowledge of available technologies.
EHS software and mobile applications
In 2022, the Work to Zero initiative issued a white paper looking at using EHS software and mobile applications to enhance employers’ safety operations in preventing serious injuries and fatalities.
The 2022 report, “Managing Risks with EHS Software and Mobile Applications,” built on the initiative’s 2020 report.
The subsequent report examined the advantages of software and mobile applications, which include:
- Generating deeper safety insights: Data in a centralized EHS management system gathered from a variety of sources across an enterprise can make it easier for employers to track, monitor, and evolve their safety practices.
- Ensuring compliance with regulations: Cloud-based EHS platforms can help employers stay updated with regulatory changes, providing custom self-inspection checklists to ensure workplaces are safe and compliant.
- Providing cost savings: EHS software and mobile applications can mitigate the costs associated with recruitment, employee absence due to illness, and workers’ compensation.
- Streamlining reporting through mobile technology: EHS software systems deployed and accessed on remote devices like smartphones and tablets can provide employers and supervisors with access to audits, incident reports, and real-time safety alerts.
While larger operations often undertake longer, more expensive implementation projects, taking advantage of custom features that meet their complex EHS software needs, smaller organizations typically choose modular products with prebuilt functionality for common EHS workflows, offering quick deployment and lower costs.
In 2022, Work to Zero also released a white paper looking at ways that “computer vision,” using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze video, could help mitigate the risks of fatal workplace injuries.
“Using Computer Vision as a Risk Mitigation Tool” evaluated findings from academic and professional journals on the capabilities of computer vision. The white paper also collected case studies and interview data from reports that may point to the most promising trends and resources employers could leverage to prevent worker injury and death.
Computer vision is best suited to industries involving heavy machinery and extensive movement, such as construction, logistics, manufacturing, and warehousing, because it can track and log data and instantly deploy information to predict when incidents may occur.
Computer vision is also especially effective in determining whether personal protective equipment (PPE) is properly worn, including employee compliance with the use of hard hats and high-visibility vests. It can also help monitor fatigue and other impairments during driving.
Computer vision can help prevent workplace violence by detecting anomalies in the workplace, such as unwanted guests, unusual behaviors, and the presence of weapons.
The team at the Work to Zero initiative acknowledged the limitations of current computer vision technology, such as image quality on closed-circuit televisions and AI software’s limited ability to operate in unfamiliar settings.
MSD Solutions Lab
Employers pay a high cost for MSDs. In insurer Liberty Mutual’s 2024 Workplace Safety Index, which examined the leading causes of workplace injuries behind U.S. employers’ $58 billion in annual workers’ compensation costs, MSD-related causes topped the list: awkward postures, overexertion, and repetitive motions.
Employers have struggled to control MSD risks. A 2022 white paper from the NSC’s MSD Solutions Lab noted that “there is no silver bullet to mitigate this workplace concern.”
The MSD Solutions Lab created an employers’ MSD Pledge to help employers address these nonfatal but common and costly injuries.
Earlier this year, the MSD Solutions Lab released an employers’ guide to the surveillance of MSDs. The guide, “The Importance of Musculoskeletal Disorder and Related Injury Surveillance: An Organizational Approach,” examined 50 academic sources to guide employers on prevention through the use of effective injury surveillance systems.
Features of effective MSD injury surveillance include the following:
- Standardized recordkeeping—having guidelines for consistent injury classification and data collection.
- System implementation—designing and maintaining effective injury surveillance frameworks that adapt to an employer’s size and capabilities.
- Technology integration—leveraging Internet of Things (IoT) devices, AI analytics, and automated systems to enhance workplace monitoring and early intervention.
- Real-world application, with use cases and interactive exercises to help employers effectively implement strategies in their own workplaces.
Safety technology 2024
Last year, Work to Zero released “Safety Technology 2024: Examining Trends in Technology Solutions Used to Reduce Serious Injuries and Fatalities in the Workplace,” an updated report on emerging safety technologies that examined safety technologies and trends in workplace hazards since 2020.
Key findings in the updated report included the following:
- Increased exposure to risks: Both employers and employees reported an increased likelihood of exposure to all workplace risks included in the survey, such as fatigue, heavy equipment operation, and working at heights, with the most significant increase in risk reported by employees.
- Fatigue remains the top risk across industries: Fatigue is the largest contributor to injuries in the workplace.
- Enhanced technology applicability and consideration: Eighty-three percent of employees agreed they were open to trying and using new safety technologies in the workplace.
- Growing use of technology: The most notable increases in technology use reported were for risk management software, proximity sensors, and drones. The use of other technologies has remained relatively similar between surveys.
Barriers to the widespread adoption of safety technologies include resource constraints, privacy concerns, and a lack of understanding of the technologies’ benefits.
Last year, the Work to Zero initiative also released a white paper about using location geofencing and other technologies like proximity sensors, wearables, and vehicle monitoring systems to reduce serious incidents and fatalities (SIF). The white paper, “Advancing Workplace Safety with Location Geofencing,” shed light on location geofencing’s potential to reduce the risk of SIFs in work activities that include construction, vehicle-pedestrian interaction, and heavy equipment operation.
Location geofencing can alert workers and supervisors of potential hazards, improve situational awareness, and support two-way communications with workers.
Geofencing increases worksite visibility, enabling data-informed decisions for site planning and safety measures.
Heat safety technologies
Earlier this year, Work to Zero showcased finalists of a safety challenge to address workers’ heat illness risks. The NSC chose Apex Cool Labs, whose winning technological solution is a palm-cooling device engineered to combat heat stress and improve worker performance.
The other five companies and their submitted technologies are:
- Bodytrak and its geofencing technology to alert workers and supervisors to high-heat areas in real time;
- Critical Ops and its remote sensing devices, such as drones and thermal imaging, collecting detailed, actionable data to reduce risks;
- Cryogenx and its portable body-cooling technology for the treatment of heat-related illnesses;
- MakuSafe Wearable Tech and its wearable sensor technology with data analytics to monitor and mitigate heat risks in real time; and
- Wright Brothers Institute and its footwear technology for passive core temperature thermal management.
The NSC’s research may begin yielding practical applications for new systems and technology. You may soon be able to add injury surveillance, sensors, software and mobile applications, AI, and machine learning to your safety tools.