HEALTH & SAFETY MARCH 2019
SAFETY 4.0
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is having an impact not just on the
way shopfloors operate, but also on the safety of those working on them
BY DAVID HUGHES, DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR FOR THE UK, IRELAND AND NORDICS, SAFESTART
Multi-skilled
workers are
likely to be more
loyal to your
company The impact that technology and Industry
It is possible as well that many
of the most hazardous jobs
will simply disappear. But, as
we shall see below, this does
not mean that we can lessen
our efforts to increase safety;
in fact, with new technology
comes new challenges that
require a renewed focus on
human factors.
Speedy evolution –
not true revolution
When it comes to job numbers,
experts are divided on the longterm
impact of automation. In
the past, technological advances
have ultimately increased the
aggregate number of jobs in the
economy, but with different
kinds of jobs coming on-stream.
As Industry 4.0 comes to
pass, people will clearly still be
needed to design, build, install,
run and maintain the new
technologies; new industries
will also appear that we have
yet to imagine.
However, most experts agree
that, despite the faster rate of
change over the next ten years
or so, we will not see a
radical, overnight shift
in the employment
landscape. We will
still need people to
negotiate existing
hazards and deal
with the coming
changes and hazards
that the workplace of
the future will bring.
So, what will cause injuries
in the future? The same things
that cause injuries now. There
are only three possible reasons
why people get hurt. Either you
do something that leads to your
own injury (the most common),
another person does something
that leads to you getting hurt,
or a non-human event (e.g.
equipment breaks, or an Act
of God) occurs that leads to
an incident.
Most often, when people
get hurt in the workplace, it
is during everyday activities
such as walking, using the
stairs, encountering objects,
other people or moving
equipment/vehicles. These are
eventualities that one cannot
engineer out of existence or
easily guard against.
Companies typically reach a
plateau at which doing more of
what they have done in the past,
the things that significantly
reduced injuries over the
longer term lose effectiveness.
Technology may eventually
move us beyond that plateau,
4.0 is having on workplace safety is both
fascinating and exciting. In the field of
human factors and safety performance,
what must we do to meet the inevitable
challenges to come?
Without a doubt, there are major positives
for safety as better engineering tech helps keep
workers out of harm’s way. Already there is
smart PPE that actively identifies hazards such
as temperature changes, sudden movement
or potentially concerning inactivity. Smart
surveillance systems also already exist that use
CCTV and PPE recognition software to ensure
people are wearing what they should, where
they should. Such “better, cheaper, safer, more
reliable” logic will also eventually apply to less
hazardous manual tasks for which automation has
traditionally been unaffordable. There are clear
long-term health benefits to be had here too, with
fewer incidents of harm due to repetitive work.
Number of workers needing to find new jobs due to automation
China
US
India
Japan
Germany
Mexico
Workers (millions) % 0f 2030 workforce
102 13
32
6
54
38
27 46
33
10
12
7
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
Rate of fatal injury per 100,000 workers
Long term downward trend
Broadly flat in
recent years
1981 2012/13 2017/18
Rate of fatal injury per
100,000 workers
38 www.manufacturingmanagement.co.uk
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