Blue-collar workers are the unsung heroes of their industries. They provide essential services, day and night, often under dangerous work conditions. Yet too often, their safety isn’t prioritized. The results can be catastrophic.
Businesses have a responsibility to do everything within their power to ensure the safety of their workforce. Leaders can improve worker safety and eliminate workplace injuries by exploring new EHS processes, strategies and technologies, including artificial intelligence-backed solutions.
Danger: Hard Hats Required
Despite rising efforts of business leaders to improve workplace safety, our job is never done. We can always do better for our teams. In fact, we must.
According to US Bureau of Labor Statistics data, US employers reported more than 2.8 million illnesses and injuries in 2022—a 7.5% increase from 2021, reversing three years of decline. There were 5,486 workplace fatalities—a 5.7% increase, continuing an upward tick.
The National Safety Council (NSC) analyzed the data further and found that in 2022, among all industries, transportation and warehousing workers had the highest rate of injuries and illnesses causing sick days. Construction workers had the most work-related fatalities, while the agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting industries have had the highest combined workplace fatality rate since 2011. These industries will always be higher risk, but there are meaningful actions that employers can take to make them safer for workers.
It’s Time to Address Dangerous Gaps
According to a 2023 EHS Today survey, while 83% of EHS leaders and professionals believe that “top management in their organizations provide active and visible support for occupational health and safety,” only 68% say their organizations “prioritize safety over production and/or other business demands.” There seems to be a disconnect between support (a soft nod to what is viewed as important) and priority (what is treated as most important).
The same survey found that 65% of companies’ budgets for EHS stayed the same over the past year, while only 25% saw an increase. In some industries, workplaces are getting more dangerous, yet most companies aren’t allocating enough funding to counteract these trends.
As a result, some companies may not be hiring enough safety leaders, backfilling leadership and staff departures, or investing in safety training for their existing or replenished workforce. After all, companies fund programs they prioritize, so it’s easy to see how stagnant or reduced EHS budgets can lead to more accidents, illnesses, injuries and fatalities.
Another plausible pitfall: lack of investment in tech solutions that could improve the flow of EHS data and information. Without user-friendly systems that break down data silos between business units that effectively trap safety-incident data, it becomes difficult for front-line workers to report safety incidents. It’s also harder for EHS leaders to gain vital insight into working conditions and make policy or process changes to improve workplace safety and wellness.
EHS leaders also have to engage blue-collar or other front-line workers to understand from an operational perspective the factors and conditions that could either strengthen or weaken their safety. And they need to ensure any changes they implement will help, not hurt; otherwise they’re more likely to disregard them or break them outright.
What Workers Want: Strong Safety Culture and Communication
What do workers really want? The answers may (or may not!) surprise you.
According to recent survey data, 82% of all workers said a strong safety culture was a key contributor to job satisfaction. Nearly 80% said it was an important or very important factor when considering a new job. Just under half (48%) of workers would even take a pay cut in exchange for a stronger safety culture at work, while 39% said they’d reject a job offer over safety concerns.
Another survey found that 76% of employees want better communication from their employers on a range of safety actions and issues. They also said that 60% of their employers are making the same or even less effort on driving safety than in the past year, tracking closely with prior-year budgetary investment in EHS.
Between 40% and 44% of employees want to see progress with companies: better efforts to improve mental health, maintain a safe workplace, change safety protocols and procedures, test emergency communication channels, and more. Progress on these efforts can be made through modest investment in advanced EHS technologies, especially those integrated with AI features.
AI Applications Can Save Time and Create Efficiencies
Both workers and leaders alike can reap immediate benefits from deploying AI-backed or -enabled EHS applications. Failure to implement such tech can pose unnecessary risks, particularly when worker safety is at stake. Here are some easy use cases and resulting benefits:
Remote Incident Management with Computer Vision-based Monitoring: AI-enabled facility camera systems help leaders remotely monitor site operations and job tasks to identify risks and incidents for timely follow-up. They can automatically and intelligently identify risky situations, including potential safety incidents or full-blown accidents, capture video footage, and transmit to business leaders for reporting and remediation.
Enhanced Safety with Predictive Analysis: By analyzing troves of safety incident data, AI-driven analytics can identify potentially unsafe behavioral or operational patterns and help business leaders anticipate and prevent potential safety issues.
Predictive Scenario Simulation: Business leaders can also use generative AI to simulate operational scenarios to identify potential safety incidents. Using historical data and predictive models, generative AI-enabled EHS applications ultimately enable organizations to develop and implement focused risk elimination and mitigation plans.
Automated, Data-Driven Decision Support: Generative AI applications also provide fast, data-driven and accurate decision support to business leaders, which can not only improve workplace safety, but also optimize resource allocation and facilitate regulatory compliance. AI-fueled bots can automate routine tasks and streamline workflows to free up business leaders to focus on higher-value activities, such as driving innovation within the organization and market competitiveness.
Overall, AI and generative AI technologies can help EHS business leaders implement and drive safety practices that minimize hazards for their entire workforce, especially those on the front lines working day and night to deliver for us.
While no technology can replace a collective commitment to prioritize safety and environmental health, AI-enabled applications can certainly make workplaces safer and reduce risks to workers. Visualize AI-enabled EHS applications as a co-pilot with you on the journey to reduce friction between workflows and create a greater impact on safety. Don’t overlook these technologies—they can help you and your organization reach your operational safety and environmental sustainability goals quicker and more efficiently.