The key trends improving workplace safety

Several emerging trends that will help to improve workplace health and safety have been identified by Bodycare Workplace Solutions.

The top four trends include big data, virtual reality, mental health and proactive injury prevention.

Big data

The term ‘big data’ is commonly discussed. Today’s generation is facing the challenges associated with the relentless pace of digital innovation, with digital technology and advanced analytics disrupting and transforming how companies work and understand the health status of their workforce.

Companies are now looking to get ahead of the curve and create sustainable changes through the use of data and analytics. With this in mind, technology is driving positive injury prevention outcomes. Whether it is tracking the latest megatrends of manual handling injuries across a whole business unit or identifying new areas of injury risk within one cohort of the workforce, data-driven analytic platforms are helping companies to improve safety for their workers.

Virtual reality

Workplace safety training is imperative across all organisations and industry verticals. The challenge most businesses face is that often the training is a non-specific, dull presentation that needs to be viewed every 6–12 months for compliance purposes. For example, manual handling training is often delivered in a boardroom through a series of presentation slides that focus on bending the knees and correctly positioning the load, with little interaction between participants throughout the presentation.

However, businesses are now turning to virtual reality specialists to simulate real-life situations within a controlled, safe environment as a means of providing education. Employees are now being immersed in a 360-degree training experience that mirrors their work environment.

Proactive injury prevention

Gone are the days where healthcare practitioners were confined to the four walls of their treatment room. On-site healthcare practitioners are now interacting with employees at the frontline. A dedicated occupational on-site physiotherapist will proactively go and observe the way that the workforce manoeuvre their MHE, lift those boxes, reach for those cartons and undertake that stretching program, to help them fully understand the workforce occupational health needs.

Taking the time to transition out of the treatment room accomplishes two vital things:

• It sets the tone for any new staff member that this is ‘how we do things here at our workplace’.
• It creates an opportunity for the on-site physiotherapist to become a valuable avenue for management to gain insightful feedback from employees about how a new piece of plant is working or what the general feel of the workplace is.

Most importantly, any observations and insights gained from this kind of proactive roaming should lead to immediate action.

Mental health

It is estimated that in any given year, one in five working-age people will be suffering from a mental health condition and 45% of Australians will experience a mental health or substance use disorder in their lifetime.

It is also estimated that mental health conditions cost Australian businesses $11 billion per year. Given these alarming statistics, this is an issue that workplaces can no longer afford to ignore. A recent study conducted by PwC estimates that every dollar spent on creating a mentally healthy workplace will create a return on investment of $2.30.

Businesses need to be proactive around both mental and physical health and embrace technology to help them get ahead of the curve.

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