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News

OSH controls could be eroded by digital future, EU-OSHA report warns

Open-access content Friday 30th November 2018
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

OSH controls could be eroded by digital future, EU-OSHA report warns

The study published on 29 November by the European safety agency EU-OSHA suggests the growth in information and communications technology (ICT)-enabled applications could see workers having more autonomy and control over their work. However, it warns that these workers may not have the skills to manage their workloads in a safe and healthy way.

The findings of a two-year project to anticipate the effects of digitalisation on OSH in the European Union, Foresight of new and emerging risks to occupational safety and health associated with digitalisation by 2025 notes that the loss of supervision by and support from middle managers could have a negative impact on OSH in companies because the same individuals are responsible for managing workloads, schedules, OSH and workers' wellbeing.

The study argues that workers could have more autonomy and control over their work by the mid-2020s unless middle managers are replaced with algorithms to improve production. However, if this were the case, it could result in workers being under more pressure to perform.

This loss of control over work content, pace and scheduling is associated with work-related stress, poor health and wellbeing, lower productivity and increased sickness absence, according to an HSE report cited in the study.

The EU-OSHA report identifies the potential positive and negative impacts of technologies such as collaborative robots, artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), autonomous vehicles, virtual and augmented reality, wearable technologies, 3D and 4D printing, and online printing.

Drawing on information gathered through a literature review, telephone interviews, web surveys and workshops, the study includes four scenarios named "evolution", "transformation", "exploitation" and "fragmentation", which outline how the future might look depending on the attitudes of governments and the public to digital developments and hence the pace of change. The scenarios, outlined in the report's annex, also reflect the different possible levels of economic growth and application of new technologies.

However, it also notes that, although each scenario presents different challenges and opportunities for OSH, a common theme is that growing take-up of ICT-enabled applications will lead to rapid changes not only in what technologies are used in the workplace but also the nature of work, business structures, employment status, hierarchies and relationships. The combined impact of these changes, it adds, could challenge how OSH is currently managed and regulated.

One notable area of concern, the report says, is the potential for OSH risks during the transition from old to new technology when both are in service.

"If workers need to interact differently with old and new technology, they may make incorrect and unsafe assumptions about how the technology will behave", the report says.

"There is also the potential for confusion and accidental use of the wrong procedures if old and new versions are both current. Clear communication will, therefore, be essential."

EU-OSHA also identifies many positive developments. It argues that ICT-enabled applications could change the way OSH surveillance is organised and allow record keeping that better reflects the new business models and structures.

"The IoT, sensors in surrounding devices and robots, and wearable monitoring devices could allow the recording (automatically or manually) of real-time observations or incidents, including OSH exposures, directly into an OSH management system and online OSH records and provide access to 'moment of need' information," says the report.

"AI could be used to analyse this information alongside historical data and provide advice directly to the worker and/or employer."

The report's conclusion outlines examples of OSH strategies to mitigate OSH challenges, which include developing advanced workplace risk assessments to reflect the opportunities offered by ICT-enabled applications as well as the potential impacts identified in the report, and a regulatory framework to clarify OSH liabilities and responsibilities that relate to the introduction of new systems and ways of working.

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 Bakery handed £159k fine for exposing workers to flour dust

Tuesday 11th December 2018
Coopland & Son (Scarborough) failed to suppress airborne dust at its Eastfield bakery in Scarborough between April 2002 and April 2016. Two employees were diagnosed with occupational asthma while a third had developed symptoms. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found multiple failings in the company's management system for controlling dust, which consisted of three elements: a risk assessment document, air sampling to measure flour levels and a health surveillance regime.
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 Stress cases hit 17-year high

Thursday 1st November 2018
Cases of work-related stress, depression or anxiety rose by 13% to 1,800 per 100,000 workers in the 12 months to April 2018 compared with 2016-17 when the condition became the most common work-related illness for the first time, overtaking musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). While the rate of MSDs continued a long-term downward trend in the most recent period, dropping to a low of 1,420 cases per 100,000 workers, work-related stress has shown signs of increasing in recent years.
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 Salvage firm’s £60k fine for worker’s fatal steel ring crush injuries

Wednesday 28th November 2018
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 130 km/h component strike brings plastics maker £293k fine

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 Just six months to register for Building Safety Regulator, HSE warns

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