Safety technology from the employers’ perspective: new report

Boca Raton, FL — When implementing safety technologies, the relationship between employers and technology providers and workers’ compensation insurers “is critical to success,” the National Council on Compensation Insurance says.

NCCI recently published the third installment of its series on workplace safety technologies. The report is based on interviews with three employers who have adopted innovative safety technology such as wearables or artificial intelligence-aided cameras/computer vision.

Employee buy-in on the use of the technology can be achieved through education and transparency, the report says. Other findings:

• The employers’ use of safety technologies resulted in increased productivity and efficiencies.
• Safety technologies can be an effective tool for monitoring, in real time, multiple locations remotely.
• Use of a single safety technology may not address all workplace hazards or unsafe practices but can be another tool for creating a culture of safety.
• At least one of the employers cited knowing how to interpret and use data collected from the safety technology as a potential obstacle.
• The cost of the product wasn’t necessarily an obstacle to implementation.

“It remains to be seen whether safety technologies are ‘game-changers’ for workers’ compensation, but as one employer noted, ‘People who care about themselves and care about the culture are the game-changers,’” the report states.