Emerging technologies will predict risks of worker injuries

An employer’s ability to capture data surrounding their workers is being transformed by an ever-increasing number of connected devices. These include wearables that track employee motions, warn of unsafe conditions and trigger behavioural change, to sensors embedded in machines and buildings to emerging “smart clothes”.

Leslie Chacko, Managing Director of Digital, Technology and Innovation at Marsh & McLennan Solutions, says the market for workplace wearable technology is undergoing rapid growth.

‘’These devices can detect workers’ motions and provide instantaneous haptic feedback in case the worker’s actions are detrimental to their health, representing a step-change in the cost and speed of communications’’, said Chacko.

As bandwidth improves and the cost of connectivity falls to zero, employers and insurers will have unprecedented opportunities to collect and make sense of data that surrounds workers.

‘’We are seeing early signs of this with some startups using electronic messaging and gamification, based on actual worker data, to create safety incentives and friendly competition that enforce a company’s safety culture,’’ added Chacko.