Safety and Health in the Workplace: Emerging Trends

Safety and Health in the Workplace: Emerging Trends
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Safety and Health in the Workplace: Emerging Trends
The workplace has undergone several changes in the last two decades. First, the integration of technology has helped to shape the way employees work and deliver tasks. Secondly, the composition of employees has shifted from mainly baby boomers and Generation Xers to millennials and Generation Zers. These two changes have greatly influenced workplaces in the world because of the demands posed. For example, technology brings about efficiency and enhances the abilities of the employees. On the other hand, the change in workers’ composition brings about new demands like remote working and an increased focus on health and safety. Today, any company that wishes to attract more millennials and Gen Zers must fully embrace technology and be willing to adapt to their needs. Currently, health and safety are considered key elements that influence the choice of the workplace for Gen Zers and millennials. Therefore, this has brought about emerging trends in the workplace that influence health and safety. Provided herein is an in-depth discussion of health and safety trends, including smart safety and PPE, retraining, adoption of a holistic view of health and safety, and predictive analytics. Other trends that will be discussed include the employment of safety professionals, the redesign of workstations, and the development of a health and safety culture.
Smart Safety and PPE
Technology has greatly influenced the workplace. Changes to the way employees work, how they deliver tasks, and the procedures they follow have rendered the workplace quite efficient. Currently, the world is coming to terms with the idea of smart safety. HIMA (2022) defines smart safety as the ability of companies to run their operations and plants more safely. In manufacturing companies, production processes are becoming increasingly complex, and it is crucial for safety mechanisms to be just as complex and smart. For example, in an organization that heavily deals with chemicals, it would be prudent for employees to have wearable technologies that help track their vitals. Health and safety should take a preventive approach through the adoption of such technologies. The PPE kits or the Personal Protection Equipment kits that were popularized by the COVID-19 pandemic can also be enhanced or upgraded. According to the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (2020), the traditional idea of PPE kits can be enhanced to make smart PPE kits. The agency says these can enhance workers’ protection through their ability to track vitals such as blood pressure, heart rate, and body temperature. Further, there are more advanced kits that can detect toxic gases, which can help keep employees safe. Therefore, smart safety and PPE kits are a major trend that is greatly shaping the safety features of manufacturing companies, healthcare organizations, and other organizations with a keenness on safety.
Retraining
Organizations invest a lot of money and time in training their employees on the latest technologies and equipment. Such training is crucial as it helps ensure that employees are well versed in their working environment and, therefore, less likely to have any injuries. These employees also post higher performance rates and happen to have fewer absenteeism issues. Further, HSE (2022) notes that training helps to develop a positive health and safety culture. However, as the workplace continues to change and new equipment and technologies are adopted, organizations must invest in retraining their employees.
Employee retraining on safety and health is crucial as it helps to reinforce the skills learned. Further, Wilmot-Simpson (2021) also indicates that retraining offers employees to get acquainted with new approaches and changes to safety and health. The introduction of newer and better techniques and skills can benefit employees, especially regarding handling a changing working environment. This is an emerging trend that ought to be considered in the years to come. Organizations should not invest in training and forget that learning ought to be continuous.
Holistic View of Health and Safety
The traditional view of health and safety mainly focused on the physical health of employees. However, with the changing workplace environment and the composition of employees, this view appears archaic and past its time. Therefore, the newest emerging trend that greatly influences health and safety is a holistic view of health and safety. The CDC (2020) notes that a holistic view of health and safety should seek to attain total worker health. As per the CDC, total worker health entails the integration of different elements that aim to enhance and address “worker safety, health, and well-being” (2020). A focus purely on the physical well-being of employees leaves a lot unattended. For example, Coe et al. (2022) note that Gen Zers happen to be heavily impacted by mental health challenges. In the past, such a statistic would not have raised eyebrows in the workplace. However, today, employers are wary of such statistics because the implication here is that their workers’ performance rates are negatively impacted. Therefore, it is becoming imperative that employers consider the adoption of holistic views with regard to health and safety. Measures ought to be in place to help all employees, including the ones that are showcasing psychological issues in the workplace.
Predictive Analytics
Predictive analytics is another crucial emerging trend that greatly impacts health and safety. Predictive analytics mainly entails the analysis of data with the goal of deriving c...