One thing we can always count on in life is change. And with change comes transformation. Consider how the safety profession started in earnest with the Triangle Shirtwaist factory disaster back in 1911. At that point there were no laws or standards or safety professionals. Then in the ‘70s all the regulations and bureaucracies of OSHA caused another huge change in what safety was and how it is practiced. In the mean time we have seen the rise and fall of behavior based safety (BBS) and then the initiation of safety accountabilities and safety culture. Through it all we’ve transformed the way we work to protect others.
And now our future seems to include changes with many tech innovations – robotics; drones; automation; smart factories with multiple sensors; machine sensors and machine learning; employees using smart phones to capture hazards and send in near miss reports, incidents; wearable devices that monitor a worker’s health conditions and even posture and physical exertion, etc. This brings to mind Moore’s Law; named after a ‘60s – ‘70s tech wonder person who projected that technology doubles every 2 – 2 ½ years. As technology advances, our needs are significantly changing in all kinds of fields. Although we are no longer making near as many (of what some would consider) obsolete technology products, there is always the need for the fundamentals in safety such as regulations, PPE and the like. However, there may not be as much of a focus on the fundamentals moving forward.