Session Summary
The biggest challenge is that many of the worker characteristics have changed (older, higher BMIs, etc.) well the assessment methods have remained the same. Current insurance, government, and international data suggest that musculoskeletal type injuries are still on the rise impacting everything from work comp costs, staffing, absenteeism, and productivity. What is need is a shift from observing what employees are doing at work to understanding the employee's internal physiological and biomechanical response to work. Using advanced wearables and dynamic biomechanical modeling can greatly affect the accuracy of assessments and the speed in which assessments are performed across multiple joints and planes of movement. Objective data can also be used to better predict the impact of changes on risk and productivity improvements.
As the world around us becomes more and more connected and data-driven, companies have the potential to harness valuable information to benefit their businesses and workers. This session will discuss how wearable safety technology, machine learning, AI, and cloud computing are helping safety leaders gain valuable insight into understanding workplace risks, keeping workers safe, and mitigating hazards before incidents and claims occur. Case studies from deployments of wearables in a variety of industrial environments will be examined and examples provided of how the data gathered from wearables has led to work changes and process improvements, environmental hazards detected, uncovering harmful human motion, and positively impacting safety culture while respecting employee privacy.
Speakers
Scott Smith
Casualty Risk Consulting Ergonomics Team Leader
Aon Global Risk Consulting
Tom West
VP
MākuSafe
Presentation slides can be downloaded here.