What does digitalisation mean for occupational safety and health?

New digital tools and processes have enormously changed the way we work. This
is not without implications for occupational safety and health. Two essential
questions that arise from this: How does digitalisation affect occupational safety
and health (OSH), and what are the requirements for protecting employees in a
digital working world? This much is certain: old ideas, regulations and laws need
to be adapted.

Whether home office, remote work, online team meetings or online conferences: In
many places, work or collaboration is increasingly taking place in virtual spaces or on
digital platforms. But digitalisation is not only taking hold in the service sector, but also
in the manufacturing sector - for example in the form of machine automation or AR and
VR applications. It is therefore all the more important that companies always understand
all these changes with their effects on employees and their work.

In Germany, the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) analyses

these changes on behalf of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and develops
contributions for preventive design. In a study paper from 2019, the Institute identified
seven phenomena for occupational safety and health in a digitalised world of work.
They all point to the need for awareness of problems and action so that occupational
safety and digitisation are not mutually exclusive. For companies, this means that they
must provide appropriate concepts. In any case, the documentation of occupational
safety and health for companies is regulated by law in the Occupational Safety and
Health Act. The challenge for SMEs is likely to be particularly great. Foresight and long-
term planning are difficult in this area. Many companies have not yet really arrived in the
digital world of work and are already facing the next challenge: occupational safety and
health under these new conditions. Needless to say, the next far-reaching impact awaits
with the topic of "artificial intelligence" (AI) - also in technical occupational safety and
health.
Typical risks of digitalisation for occupational safety and
health

Digital tools and technologies are replacing work formerly carried out by people, and
exchanges with colleagues are increasingly taking place online. If, as a result, there is
no or only limited human contact and the interaction between man and machine is in the
foreground, this leads to the isolation of workers. The Corona pandemic has clearly
shown us that not everyone can counteract this situation. According to a Forsa survey
from 2022 commissioned by the TÜV Association, one in eight feels that working from
home is a psychological burden, and 30 per cent feel alone. The feeling of constant
availability caused by digital communication tools also puts a strain on the mental health
of many people. Checking emails quickly in the evening or replying to a colleague - the
more often employees act in this way, the more natural the expectation becomes.

A study recently published by BITKOM e.V. (link in German) shows that "[...] seven out of
ten employees who are planning a summer holiday (70 percent) can be reached by text
message or messenger. Two out of three (64 percent) are willing to make phone calls.
A good quarter read and answered emails (27 percent) and would participate in video
conferences, for example via Zoom, Skype or FaceTime (27 percent). One-sixth (16 per
cent) are responsive via collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams or Slack." The
main reason cited for this willingness is the expectations of the professional
environment. Bitkom CEO Dr Bernhard Rohleder has clear words for this: "Employers
are responsible for establishing functioning substitution solutions so that employees can
relax during the holidays." 

At the end of the long-term mental and physical stress

caused by an increasingly digital world of work, typical
widespread diseases such as burnout, heart attacks,
strokes and degenerative diseases of the musculoskeletal
system are becoming more and more common.

In addition to the socio-psychological components, there are also physical ones: the
aforementioned survey by the TÜV Association also showed that more than one in three
had gained weight in the home office. Only one in two had an ergonomically designed
workplace. The DKV Report 2021 proves: Our sitting times due to screen work are
getting longer and longer since the pandemic. If our level of movement decreases, our
stress level generally increases. Long and undynamic sitting leads to muscular and
back problems. Our eyes can be damaged by the constant concentration on screens.
Tendons become inflamed due to monotonous movement sequences. Add to this an
overall high workload, while physical activity continues to decline, and the stress
hormones released by the body can only be reduced to a limited extent.
The permanent mental and physical stress caused by an increasingly digital world of
work is increasingly leading to typical widespread diseases such as burnout, heart
attacks, strokes and degenerative diseases of the musculoskeletal system. In addition,
some workers have the frightening feeling that their own job could be done by a
machine in the near future. Yet digital tools and technologies are supposed to disburden
us humans, not burden us, aren't they?

Organise and design occupational safety via digital tools

Hazards, deficiencies or measures to protect work: today, all this can be documented
with the help of suitable software or an app. The digitally managed data and information
can then be used to automatically generate risk assessments and reports - also with the
help of AI. This is practical and also the only practical way to record the potential of
individual measures, evaluate them and scale them accordingly if necessary in a
maximally flexible working world in which people no longer necessarily work in one and
the same place. Time- and location-sovereign access options must be guaranteed.
However, this type of training software also means that a company must have the
appropriate specialist staff to handle these tools and that the appropriate support is
provided at the level of those responsible.

Wearables and AI in use for occupational health and safety

Mini-computers and sensor systems worn on the body are already widely used in
private life. But their potential is also being discovered in the area of occupational
safety. For several years, the Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (IFA) has
been researching how wearables can be used for this purpose. For example,
the CUELA measuring system developed by the Institute records and analyses stresses
on the musculoskeletal system under real conditions. The monitoring system is worn
directly over the work clothing. The subsequent evaluation of the measured data is
automated and carried out according to occupational science and biomechanical
evaluation criteria. This allows measures to be derived to avoid occupational health
hazards.
The Fraunhofer Institute Magdeburg is working on not only improving occupational health
and safety and thus occupational safety in everyday industrial work with the help of
virtual realities, but also making it more interesting if possible - using VR glasses and
AR applications instead of PowerPoint karaoke, with gamification character instead of
frontal teaching.

Technology is one thing. Another is how it is used in

occupational safety and health - whether it enriches it
instead of burdening it. Questions about sufficient
protection of personal data through digital tools must also
be adequately clarified in order to strengthen trust and
thus acceptance in wearables or AI, for example.

The British company Moodbeam has developed a wristband with which employers can
assess the current well-being of their employees. No physical parameters such as heart
rate, pulse or the like are tracked. The wristband, which is connected to a mobile phone
app and a web interface, only has two buttons that employees can press: If the yellow
button is selected, this expresses general well-being; if the blue button is pressed, the
opposite is the case. This way, according to Moodbeam, the mood of employees in the
home office is to be captured so that employers can react to possible problems.
ISA, an AI system from German high-tech start-up Deep Care, aims to act as a
personal digital health coach to help employees capture unhealthy behaviours and
develop countermeasures. It is a small device that stands on the desk and regularly
checks the body posture via 3-D sensor and detects unhealthy behaviours at the
workplace via algorithms. The special feature: The system does not record any data, it
works without a camera and offline.
The possibilities of wearables and artificial intelligence in occupational safety and health
are certainly diverse, as the examples given show. However, two things must be
explicitly observed when implementing them: The applications themselves must not
burden occupational health and safety and the sensitive areas of "data protection" and
"privacy" must remain guaranteed.

"New Normal" needs new concepts - also in occupational

safety and health

Digitisation itself is - and this is important - only ever the trigger for change. Shaping this
change in such a way that it does not leave behind any physical or physical damage to
workers in the world of work must be and remain a joint effort by all relevant actors.
Strategies, concepts and concrete action aids on how digital technology can be used
safely and in a way that is beneficial to health should therefore become an
indispensable part of occupational safety and health.

Technology is one thing. Another is how it is used in occupational safety and health -
whether it enriches it instead of burdening it. Questions about adequate protection of
personal data through digital tools must also be adequately clarified in order to
strengthen trust and thus acceptance in wearables or AI, for example.

Despite all the changes brought about by digitalisation, it would be wrong to assume
that new occupational safety and health regulations are solely due to digital tools and
technology. Our working world as a whole seems to demand more occupational safety
and health.
General approaches and solutions to the challenges of digitalization for
occupational safety

Make clear rules for the use of mobile end devices, take responsibility,
delegate tasks and clarify working conditions and expectations.

 Analyze and assess all aspects of the target and actual conditions in the
workplace.
 Arrange ongoing training for employees on operating digitally controlled
machines, systems and software and introduce new processes
transparently and well in advance.
 Ensure transparency for all involved parties.
 Create control mechanisms that employees can use to get involved in
and stop automated processes.
 Offer flexible working hours with well-defined break regulations and
make necessary resources available.
 Set up sensors to detect risks and hazards.
 Foster an ongoing culture of prevention.
At a time when the pace of work is accelerating fast, it’s essential to stay on
top of all occupational safety processes. A comprehensive EHS solution can
help you approach and overcome the new challenges of the digitalized
working world.
Opportunities and challenges of
digitalization for occupational safety and
health

© ifaa 2016

Digitalization presents a range of new options for the shaping of work, and thus
also new opportunities for occupational safety and health. This extends to all
forms of work, whether primarily mental or physical. The challenge lies in
exploiting the range of possibilities and in finding solutions that satisfy the needs
of the company concerned.

Digitalization means that information of all kinds is handled and networked

electronically, thereby permitting powerful management of the information. This
enables, for example, work schedules and instructions to be prepared for specific
situations in consideration of the progress of work, the product configuration, and the
workers' experience. Information can be presented not only on conventional monitors,
but also on smart glasses, or can be projected into the working area. These new forms
of presenting information link it directly to the work object. The overhead of searching
for relevant information and the corresponding workload for the workers can thereby be
reduced considerably. It is important here for the actual form taken by digitalization –
such as the selection of relevant information and the form in which it is presented – to
meet the specific needs of the company and thus to be accepted by all parties involved.

Computer-based handling of large volumes of information permits better planning of

personnel deployment. Workers' individual stress/strain situation can be considered, in
addition to their availability and qualifications, when they are assigned to specific tasks.
The stress/strain situation can be determined and considered in the planning process
with computer support by means of worker, workplace and task profiles in accordance
with established procedures, such as the key indicator methods. A system of this kind
can also be used to assign certain tasks to each person at least once within a defined
period, in order for a sufficient level of practice with the task and thus also familiarity
with the OSH information related to it to be retained. This includes strategies for
systematic rotation that ensure that regular changes occur in the stress/strain situation
and that stresses are consequently better distributed among the workforce.

Digitalization enables monotonous transport tasks to be performed by driverless

transport systems and tasks associated with high levels of strain by collaborative robots.
The respective strengths of human beings and robots can thereby be combined
selectively, and the human musculoskeletal system better protected against excessive
strain and its consequences. In order for these benefits to be exploitable, collaboration
must be structured such that workers regard and accept the robot as an active tool.
Collisions between human beings and robots must be prevented by sensor systems and
suitable control software. Design strategies such as the use of lightweight robots with
low moving mass limit the forces that can arise.

The examples show that digitalization opens up numerous new possibilities (Further
information: ifaa brochure, "Digitalisierung & Industrie 4.0" (pdf, in german)". Of decisive
importance is that the companies recognize the opportunities and exploit the potential
intelligently in the interests of occupational safety and health.
 How Digital Transformation
Reduces Safety Risks on
Jobsites
While safety has always been the top priority in construction, it is often
compartmentalized.
 By David Brian Ward
 Mar 01, 2022
Digital transformation is changing how safety is managed on jobsites. If the term digital
transformation is familiar, but not clear, here is a refresher. Digital transformation is about using
technology to improve business processes, company culture and customer experiences. Extending
this to safety, digital transformation also reduces risks and compliance costs and improves
productivity. It does this by streamlining and/or eliminating time-consuming processes and
administrative tasks, identifying potential safety risks at the office or jobsite and providing the data
and insight necessary for general contractors to make more strategic decisions about their business
and each construction project.

While safety has always been the top priority in construction, it is often compartmentalized. It is
common to see the safety officer conduct routine inspections and audits to identify and address
potential risks and observe workers to ensure they are following protocols. However, safety is only
practiced by workers not imposed by consulting engineers. Separating out safety can create an
uncomfortable environment for the safety officer and colleagues, potentially impacting productivity
as workers feel they are being monitored. In turn, this can foster adversarial relationships. Yet to be
effective, safety is everyone’s job and requires continuous learning and collaboration.

Digital transformation can help if safety practices are no longer a drag on productivity and if digital
transformation empowers everybody on the jobsite to play a more active role in ensuring safety.
Digital does not eliminate the need for a safety officer, although it will reduce the overall workload.
Rather, it highlights how technology can make it easier to prioritize and follow safety guidelines,
especially onsite, further reducing risks while raising profits.

Four Obstacles Holding Back Digital Transformation

The benefits of digital transformation have been proven across many industries, yet construction is
among the last to adopt it. That is not to say the industry is not aware of the proliferation of new
technology on jobsites. Just look at the rise in innovative solutions such as digital apps, jobsite
management platforms, virtual reality, robots, sensors and drones all contributing to the creation of
the connected jobsite. Yet, not every new technology leads to a company's digital transformation.

While digital transformation holds a lot of promise for construction, here are some of the most
common obstacles and how to address them.

Cultural. Digital transformation is not just about the use of technology. Its success hinges on a
cultural shift in the company, led by the CEO or construction business owner and embraced by the
entire organization, including the trades and subcontractors. Lately, while headquarters increasingly
relies on software, little other than timecard entry occurs at the site, where safety data is almost
entirely paper based. When digital transformation and its emphasis on improving safety is led by
the company, it has a higher likelihood of success.

Lack of strategy. Any investment in technology must map to the company’s larger goals. Most
contractors acquired software to solve particular, narrow, point-wise problems. The result is a large
portfolio of technology solutions that don’t talk to each other, don’t share data, or duplicate each
other. This makes more work, increases costs and is counter to achieving the benefits of digital
transformation. Some frustrated GCs are even exploring scrapping their entire IT portfolio and
starting from scratch. Contractors need a plan that builds to a digital platform and eliminates
duplication. Don’t purchase any technology that doesn’t support the plan or obfuscates your view
into the business.

Cost. Along with the upfront cost of the technology, you also need to factor in hidden costs
including employee training and ongoing maintenance. Before you buy, find out if you’ll have to
hire additional staff or add more work to your IT resource. When determining the actual cost, you
also need to analyze the savings gained through more efficient processes, greater productivity and
fewer risks, all resulting in more profitable construction projects.

Ease of use. While every technology vendor touts ease of use, employees need to be able to quickly
master the solution and actually enjoy using it. If workers find the technology difficult to use, they
will abandon it. If management doesn’t see an immediate ROI, they will drop the technology. The
standard should be “consumer usable,” not like complex back-office enterprise apps requiring
weeks of training. Ease of use means you’ll realize value faster. Complexity and insistence on rarely
used features that will cost you in the long run.

The technologies driving digital transformation should be easy to use, affordable, deliver a quick
ROI and work with other technologies in your company. Make sure they present a big picture view
of the business and allow managers to drill down into the details of every jobsite.

How Safety Apps Accelerate Digital Transformation

Safety apps are an emerging subcategory in digital transformation and BIM. As a critical part of
jobsite safety, these apps can provide actionable insights that increase efficiencies, reduce risks and
drive profitability.

Many of the original safety solutions were developed to address common documentation-driven
worksite and jobsite issues related to compliance and OSHA regulations. They make auditing easier
but often don’t offer additional value across the company.

Recently, a new generation of jobsite safety apps have emerged as a result of the pandemic. Digital
check in was introduced as a way to streamline health screenings while keeping worker data
private. Along with providing a faster way to mitigate the risk from the potential spread of COVID-
19 on jobsites, these apps made it clear that it was time to retire the dated and time consuming
paper-based process for workers and subcontractors to sign into jobsites, and it saves money
immediately.

By digitizing the check-in process, GCs get additional insight into their businesses that would have
otherwise been overlooked. They can more easily reconcile timesheets, reduce admin previously
spent rekeying handwritten daily log data and reduce idle time on jobsites as clipboards are no
longer passed around for workers and subcontractors to sign in (usually illegibly). Project
management software actual vs plan can even be updated automatically.

Other digital safety examples include: Safe equipment handling, hazardous materials handling, tool
talk presentation and attendance, safe onboarding of new hires, crew communications and alerts,
unsafe condition observations, incident reports, etc. All these processes can be performed more
efficiently and with better recordkeeping when digital.

When these safety apps are easy to use, they become part of the everyday jobsite protocol. This is a
subtle yet important example of how to introduce a new digitally-driven safety process in a non-
threatening way.

As part of a connected jobsite, safety apps have evolved to offer many additional features beyond
pandemic risk mitigation. Most basic, they provide real-time insight into who is on site and what
they are doing. The transparency and automated data collection provides greater visibility into the
jobsite and worker activity. The related data offers insight into worker trends, inefficient processes
and potential safety risks. This makes it easier for GCs to manage workers and subcontractors and
document their skills, projects and progress.

Going a step further, when safety app data is integrated into a company’s project management
platform, it provides an additional level of insight that informs critical decisions. Ultimately, safety
integrates into the “big data” that will leverage AI and machine learning to raise construction
productivity.

According to Rod Courtney, health, safety and environment (HSE) manager at Ampirical Solutions,
“Using a site safety app helps us manage the employee and visitor sign-in process, document
vaccination status, and streamline the daily log and weekly reports. This allows us to identify
potential productivity or profitability issues well in advance of their impact on the project’s
success.” Ampirical, an electrical infrastructure, engineering, design and construction firm was
named America’s safest company in 2021 by EHS.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Digital Technology

Digital transformation is an iterative process and one that does not have a set end date because it’s
helping to continuously improve how a company is managed. However, the commitment to it does
need to be measured. Here is how to evaluate the effectiveness of digital technology and its impact
on critical roles across the organization and on the jobsite.

Executives. Look for the ways it minimizes risks and maximizes profit. For example, does it provide
executives with data and insight that helps them spot trends and potential risks before they cut into
a project’s profitability? How has the adoption of digital technology contributed to more profitable
projects, lower insurance rates and lower jobsite incidents.

Site superintendent. Can it decrease or replace time consuming or administrative intensive tasks

such as handwriting sign-in sheets and completing daily logs that are later rekeyed back at the
office? Does it make it easier to manage workers and especially subcontractors by knowing when
they arrived, where they’re assigned and how much time a project required to complete.

Safety manager. How does the technology make it easier to spot and address potential jobsite risks.
These risks include workers and subcontractors not being sufficiently trained, not complying with
employer, state or federal guidelines or mandates and proper digital documentation of the jobsite
and project. One of the most important innovations to emerge from digital technology is the ability
to always know who is or was on a jobsite.

Project Manager. In what ways does the technology align with the project plan? For example, does
it make it easy to get a bigger picture view into the status of the project, to know it is on track
and/or can the technology uncover insights that will impact the project’s profitability.

Human Resources. Can the technology securely and privately address the often unreported or
under-reported issues on a jobsite. These can include ensuring workers and subcontractors are
properly onboard by showing training videos, for example. Also, does it make it easier to document
hours worked, capture digital signatures to ensure workers read and understand compliance
 documents and be able to upload images and text from the jobsite to create digital records that
may be vital in the future (compliance, legal record keeping, etc).

Digital transformation holds a lot of promise and opportunity for GCs to boost safety and drive
more profitable projects. When each function of the organization has insight into what is happening
on the jobsite, they can improve the performance of their team and make more strategic decisions.
The transparency also makes for a stronger organization and creates better relationships with
clients and other critical third parties, such as insurance brokers, property managers, compliance
officers, attorneys and local municipalities. 

What are the Key Challenges of Digitalization for

Occupational Health Management?
 Posted on 16/10/2020

 /Under Occupational Health Software

 /With 0 Comments
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Digital transformation provides important opportunities for industries who can drastically improve the way
they approach to manual processes by transforming to Digital work culture. It affects every level of the modern
business and will remain to have a ripple effect through the decades to come. But with all of the differences,
it’s becoming tough to tell which challenges truly present growth possibilities.
The digital transformation of the occupational health centres has the potential to radically improve the
productivity for doctors, paramedic staff, and other OHC staff. The digitalization of the health management
system helps to improve the efficiency of its process, consistency, and quality. It can: Integrate with Medical
equipment, SAP, Various kinds of medical reports into a digitalized form.

Occupational health centres have been a little bit slow to adopt new technologies unlike other sectors like
manufacturing, retail- the good part is that Occupational health management is now seeing the value in
embracing digital transformation. Digitized employee health records are in great demand among industries.

However, the digital transformation of occupational health management is quite challenging for organizations.
Let’s see the top challenges that organizations need to tackle for digital transformation:

1. Employees at Occupational health centre struggle to get familiar with the high technology software it takes
time to get managed with the health management software as there are a paramedic and other hospital staff in
the organization who have limited knowledge on using computers.

2. Health Management software is overloaded with modern technology and to understand it, employees must
know how to use the software, in this case, employees can be trained on using health management software
and about the functionalities present in the software.

3. Many Industries are adjourning to adopt health management software as they are facing a challenge that
transforming their manual operation to Digital operation as they are afraid of their employees and medical data
being stolen from hackers, in this case they can be assured from their software providers that their employees
data are secured in the software due to high level security present in the software which protects the data being
hacked.

4. One of the key challenges for an organization to adopt health management software is to protect the medical
examination data of their employees but the organization needs to understand that they can protect their
employee’s data by not giving access to their employee’s data to the software provider. IT professional
suggests that there are several ways for industries to make sure that their employees medical examination data
is safe in the digital environment.

5. Integrating medical equipment with software is a challenge that an organization may face however there are
many companies that integrate the medical equipment with the health management software to record the data
on software.

6. Sometimes important data is to be uploaded in the software and if the server is not responsive then it’s a
trouble for a particular department, in this case, an organization can ask their software provider to inform in
advance if maintenance work is scheduled for the software so that work is planned accordingly.

7. Digital transformation of occupational health management sometimes leads to mental stress for employees
working at occupational health centres as there are lots of data present in the software and it’s not an easy task
to find the appropriate data from the software as health management software is vast. In this case, the software
provider can provide the module videos which contains all the functionality of the modules and navigation of
modules in the software.
The global ransomware outbreak WannaCry was the largest cyber-attack to have hit our country. We could
have blocked the attack with fundamental IT security. The increasing of ransomware attacks is a threat for all
enterprises with increasing dependency on and use of technology. Historically, cybersecurity has not been at
the top of many industries agenda, that needs to improve. To protect the health care management system is the
biggest challenge for any organization and to tackle it organization can train their employees on how to protect
software being hacked or attacked. Finding employees with the proper skill set, training employees on safety
norms, modernizing software vulnerabilities, and ensuring that software design is secured.

To end with

The Occupational health centres can no longer afford to be slow on the innovation uptake. Given the pace of
digital interruption across organizations, Occupational health centres need to essentially transform in order to
remain connected. Digital transformation continues the commitment of personalized and preventative
healthcare to employees. It has the ability to not only transform employee care but also to enable the health of
organizations to decrease the amount of time spent on documentation and data insertion.

However, to gain digital success, organizations will have to undertake the above-mentioned challenges
seriously and look at digital transformation as the act of investing in employees, technology, software, and
operations to upgrade how OHC works in the digital environment.