Page 46 - OHS, September 2021

INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE
The Connected Safety Inflection Point: Where the Industry Stands Now
Safety products are born out of recent incidents and a need for compliance.
MBY KYLE KRUEGER
any people view the world of “connected safety,” or the concept of connecting safety devices to cloud- based software for real-time data, as a system of tools that enable the noble goal of drastically reducing
injuries and death on the job. While that is a significant part of the potential, the standard view has a blind spot.
Safety products are born out of recent incidents and a need for compliance. However, when those safety tools are working as intended and preventing incidents, users tend to forget their importance and the perceived value of the products decreases dramatically. This phenomenon is known as recency bias and it is part of our human nature. Thus begins the cycle of devaluing tools and products until an accident happens.
The safety industry is roughly four years into the emergence of Industry 4.0, where data and automation are the established cornerstones. We would all be naïve to think that these efforts will not suffer the same fates as previous generations of improvements. However, unlike the past generations, this new generation of products has an untapped reservoir of potential. Simply defining this potential as the insight you gain into acute life-threating situations is a shallow interpretation. Within the depth of this reservoir are workflow optimizations, productivity increases and predictive analytics. If we fail to assess the depth then the cycle will repeat.
These unrealized resources enable the new wave of connected safety products to influence everyday business operations. To extract value, we need to be honest about the change in mindset, current functionality and potential additional resources.
Let’s start with the mindset change. To frame our discussion, consider an example outside of the safety world. In 2007, Apple launched the first iPhone. Before the iPhone, many people carried simple mobile phones for basic communication. Until a computer manufacturer from California began offering devices with the potential for something greater, everyone was content with their simple devices. At first, many balked at the cost until they realized the potential. That potential is today’s bare minimum, resulting in higher market expectations. We can now reflect on the tremendous change we have all experienced in a little more than a decade.
The safety industry is at a similar inflection point, on the cusp of realizing the enormous potential of connected safety
What plagues the connected
safety movement isn’t a lack of imagination, rather a lack of routine.
42 Occupational Health & Safety | SEPTEMBER 2021
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