Canadian province sees pay-off in safety software programming (7/1) Demand for companies to invest in software and safety engineering is growing at a rapid pace in the Canadian province of Alberta, reports the Calgary Herald.

Technology is now playing a larger role in protecting workers from injury and death. Software has been designed to compensate for human behavior, such as lack of judgment, bad habits, or insufficient training, according to the article

"Because of the tight labor market, employers want to make sure their employees stay healthy and return to work the next day," said Barrie Harris, spokesman for Occupational Health and Safety in Edmonton, in the article. "Employees also have a responsibility to be operating safely. Everyone is demanding more training and technology to do a better job."

Injury rates in the province of Alberta have dropped significantly since 1992. Harris said the reason for this decrease is two-fold.

"First, technology has helped to keep workplaces safe," he told a reporter. "Second, through ongoing education and awareness, the mentality of the Alberta worker has changed over the last 20 years. It's no longer a renegade mentality of making a dollar at any cost."

Roger Hallett, director of automation and power for Siemens Canada, cited another factor: the influence of European manufacturing and regulatory safety standards, which are slowly infiltrating into North American companies and governments.

Hallett explains that software, not just the mechanics of a plant, is a key component to safety. The company has 33,500 researchers on staff, of which, 17,500 are software engineers.

"These systems will either slow down or shut down, depending on the technology and the safest thing for the machine to do," he says. "We have required training and processes that take you through stages of testing, even before you enter a plant. If an employee finds there is a way to increase safety and makes a suggestion, we will monetarily reward them."