Reducing workplace accidents is one of the main challenges that companies currently face, and is an unattainable goal without the help of two essential tools: artificial intelligence, robotics or immersive technologies.
This was concluded by the experts gathered at the Observatory ‘New technologies for safety and health at work’, organized by elEconomista.es with the support of Acciona.
One of the greatest success stories in this sense is virtual, mixed or augmented reality, which allows training on risks and training employees as if it were the real world. It is a method that Acciona already applies, as explained by its Immersive Technologies Manager, Raúl Boldú: “Being able to carry out training virtually simulating an environment as similar as possible to what the worker is going to face, makes the activity stay engraved. Then, when it comes to doing the task, it is much easier because it has already been done before.
But immersive technologies can not only be used for training, but also to help in the execution of complex tasks, through augmented reality systems. To do this, mixed reality glasses are used to display a guide to the steps to follow in each task that involves risks. If it is detected that a dangerous activity is going to be carried out incorrectly, the device warns, avoiding accidents and operational errors.
Likewise, during the meeting, a novelty in occupational risk prevention that comes from virtual reality, known as ’embodiment’, was also mentioned. “It is an advance that we are implementing and studying, and we are seeing that it can improve the virtual reality experience,” said Acciona’s Immersive Technologies Manager.
Another notable milestone in the use of new technologies in occupational risk prevention (ORP) is robotics. “There are risky tasks such as the construction of tunnels, where quadruped robots can already be used, which ‘get ahead’ of humans to make measurements with thermography and scanners and check that everything is correct before anyone enters,” explains Boldú.
In addition to the above, a disruptive technology that is also changing the course in terms of occupational risk prevention is artificial intelligence (AI). In this regard, Mercedes Sanchís, director of Innovation, Wellbeing and Occupational Health at the Institute of Biomechanics of Valencia (IBV), explained that her organization uses this tool to evaluate the ergonomic risks of workers.
The objective, as Sanchís points out, is not to replace occupational health and safety professionals, but rather to “reduce tasks that involve less added value.” “We study what people are like from an anthropometric point of view, also evaluating their physical and cognitive abilities, their needs and preferences. From there, we help companies generate occupational risk prevention plans adapted to their workers,” he explained. .
Start from design
However, the great pending issue for companies is precisely to implement these technologies from the design of the jobs and not when incidents have already been recorded. That is, a more preventative rather than reactive approach is necessary in ORP. “That problem that is solved under the plan costs one; what is solved in a prototype costs 10; and what is solved when it is already in operation sometimes has no solution, because the cost is so high that it cannot be solved” Sanchís warned.
Specifically, its organization develops workplace virtualization systems through the use of 3D avatars of people of different anthropometric percentiles. These perform the movements associated with certain work tasks, being able to simulate the ergonomic risk to which different people are exposed. All of this allows us to imitate abilities such as shoulder, elbow or wrist mobility.
“We can limit this movement in the avatars, and from there make a simulation of how people with a decrease in movement interact with those jobs. Depending on whether it is suitable or not, a redesign would have to be done,” he noted. With these types of measures, sick leave related to musculoskeletal injuries could be avoided.
AI is precisely also a tool widely used by Halotech. The company defends an application of new technologies to the prevention of these occupational hazards that is economical and easy to implement. This company proposes solutions that combine sensorization, Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence to measure parameters such as air quality, thermal stress and noise. “Our technology allows different uses, depending on the needs of our clients and the legislation in force in each country. But, in a generic way, we give early warnings in risk situations and analyze variables to create heat maps with the risks detected to build better plans of PRL,” said Marín.
But it is not only companies that are using this technology, as public administrations are also valuing its advantages. “We are trying to apply AI so that evaluation methods are faster, more effective and more comfortable to use,” said Aitana Garí, director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
It is a scientific-technical organization that depends on the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy. Its main mission is to promote and advise different administrations, companies and organizations to improve working conditions in terms of health and safety. However, Garí also emphasized that all this innovation needs regulation.
“Technology is fantastic when used well, but it also comes with a number of risks or heightened risks,” he said. At this point, he highlighted the Spanish Health at Work Strategy of 2023, in whose objective two, focused on the field of digital transition, there are lines that explain how to intervene from the different organizations to use new technologies “in a safe and healthy.” Manu Marín expressed himself in these same terms, who encouraged “finding the balance between betting on innovation for the good of the operator and what may be an intrusion on his person.”
And, to implement all these predictive tools, it is necessary to have a multitude of worker data, since the more information, the more accurate the predictive model will be. As Mercedes Sanchís summarized, “data is gold today.” For all these reasons, Marín opted to create a “culture of innovation” among employees.
In this sense, Raúl Boldú advocated increasing training and also creating a safety culture in companies. “It is necessary that safety be in the DNA of workers. We must provide technological solutions that facilitate this task and obtain tools that mitigate these occupational risks,” he said.
This culture of safety and innovation would also help employees better assimilate the arrival of this technology, avoiding possible reluctance that may occur at the beginning. “Employees almost always take the arrival of technologies badly at first, because they don’t know it. They are doing their job and think that it is going to take up their time,” said Raúl Boldú, adding that, as workers try it out, , they become “very collaborative” and recommend it, especially in areas of virtual reality. “All this greatly reduces stress, because the worker sees what happens if he presses a button or a lever,” he added.
Paradigm shift
In this sense, all the speakers agreed on the change of mentality that has occurred in society with respect to ORP. For example, if the IBV is now mainly dedicated to innovation projects, ten years ago companies went to this institution a posteriori, that is, after a labor inspection.
Manu Marín specified that he has been noticing the shift in the cultural paradigm related to ORP for two years. “Increasingly we see how these measures, which were reviewable once a year in sectors such as mining, are being monitored more. In high-risk companies we are generating a monthly report and measures are implemented for the following month. It is very continuous,” he explained. To this end, he reinforced the idea that “any investment in prevention is never enough.”
Until now, this technological revolution in ORP is being carried out essentially by large companies, although it is necessary for these technologies to be democratized and reach everyone, including the smallest ones. Precisely this is one of the objectives of the IBV.
“Our job is to provide ourselves with both the pull of large companies and public financing to develop innovations with these new technologies that can, at a lower cost, reach smaller companies that are already highly developed, and at an affordable cost for smaller companies. “, stressed Mercedes Sanchís.
Psychological prevention
Thus, despite the rapid evolution of new technologies, there is still an issue to be resolved that cuts across many areas and transcends occupational risks. It’s about mental and emotional health. “The great innovation we must make is learning to manage psychosocial risks,” proclaimed Aitana Garí, who clarified that there are companies with great resources that do carry out evaluations and adopt preventive psychological measures, although it is not usual.
In fact, normally, actions in this sense are never anticipatory. “Normally there are no risk assessments and action is taken when an inspection has already come,” said the representative of the National Institute of Safety and Health at Work.
Psychosocial risk factors are related to negative conditions that revolve around the organization of work – overload, time pressure, lack of autonomy over how to carry out one’s work and lack of social support – according to Garí. This situation, sustained over time, leads people to suffer stress. The combination of all these factors can lead to anxiety-depression, cardiovascular problems and heart attacks.
Thus, the director of the National Institute of Safety and Health at Work highlighted the problem of hyperconnectivity as a new occupational risk. Precisely, he referred to the blurred line that separates work life from personal life, which also affects mental health. “We have to pay attention to digital disconnection and that companies have clear policies and instructions on how to carry out the disconnection,” he defended.
More technologies in the future
The experts agreed that there is still much to innovate in occupational risk prevention. “Technology will continue to increase and we will increasingly have more powerful solutions to solve risks,” said Raúl Boldú. One of these areas that need a greater degree of development are the wearables and biometric sensors to detect heart rate, as long as regulation allows it.
These devices may, among other features, help predict a stroke or heart attack. “This is very interesting because half of the people who die during the work day do so due to cardiovascular or cerebrovascular problems. Anything related to early detection is very interesting,” said Mercedes Sanchís.
For his part, Manu Marín pointed out that the field of neurotechnology is very advanced and that it is already being applied to ORP in other countries, although it has not yet reached Spain. “It is about bringing the knowledge of a neurologist, who identifies brain waves and, based on that, the prevention of a heart attack or stroke is very evident. We will increasingly move towards that,” he commented, to remember that this technology It would also allow us to measure fatigue, “which is behind 90% of accidents.” Finally, Marín, who develops projects around the world, celebrated that “Spain is doing a good job in preventing these risks, both in public administration and in the private sector.”
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