It’s difficult to imagine a sector or process or system that hasn’t been revolutionised by digital technology. From retail and hospitality to transportation, manufacturing, education, and just about everything in between, digitisation has touched and improved nearly every aspect of organisational communication, collaboration, and productivity. Technology is, in fact, so entrenched throughout our professional ecosystems that it’s difficult to imagine a workplace where modern platforms and ways of working aren't standard. And in workplaces where such tools aren’t yet the default, the adoption of more modern digital technology isn’t just accepted, it’s encouraged. And that’s because the benefits of digitalisation are widely understood, and difficult to overstate.
Businesses that embrace digitalisation generally experience several key benefits, including increased efficiency and productivity, reduction in overall business costs, improved pace of innovation and ability to scale, demonstrably better decision-making ability, enhanced agility, increased sales and revenue, better workplace culture, improved corporate governance, and better resource management, just to name a few. Notably, with a clear strategic roadmap in place, the impact of these improvements can be felt almost immediately.
For these reasons, among others, it’s rare to encounter a business - or entire industries - that have failed to meaningfully adopt and scale digital solutions that have the potential to deliver known benefits to their employees, customers, partners, and ultimately, their bottom line.
But they do exist.
Today, across the UK, there are major employers and businesses of every shape and size who operate without modern health and safety solutions. These organisations still broadly rely upon an approach to risk assessment which was developed in the 1970s. It goes without saying that in virtually any other space, regulations or processes which were codified before the advent of the personal computer would be considered outdated, to say the very least. And while progress has been made in the health and safety space to update regulations and ensure the wellbeing of workers, the reality is that current legislation and widely accepted approaches to risk management simply haven’t evolved to reflect the universe of information and technology that is available today.
The current approach to risk management for HAV is outdated and error-prone
When it comes to monitoring and managing risk from exposure to vibration at work, the need for a more accurate and more reliable approach is clear. For decades, employers have relied on imperfect sources of information which have, unsurprisingly, produced imperfect results that continue to leave them guessing: guessing as to how much vibration an individual worker is actually exposed to during a given shift, and guessing as to how they can move the needle with regard to workplace safety and productivity.
Periodic risk assessments and manufacturer’s guidelines (‘vibration values’) can only go so far towards formulating an action plan with regards to Hand-Arm Vibration (HAV). It’s critical to supplement such efforts with action and information that provides accurate, reliable insight into your workers’ exposure to risk from vibration. For many employers across the UK, this has long-meant manual record keeping, including self-reporting of exposure. But manual record keeping for activities like tool use and rotation is vulnerable to manipulation, damage, and human error. In fact, when workers self-report occupational exposure to HAV, they tend to get it wrong: An HSE contract report found that workers tend to “systematically” misjudge their own exposure. This finding led the authors to conclude that such estimates of exposure cannot be regarded as definitive. These findings were affirmed in subsequent reports.
Digital solutions streamline everything and facilitate improved outcomes for workers and organisations
Despite regulations designed to better protect workers, Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome continues to pose a major threat to the UK’s workforce. Over two million workers are at risk of developing HAVS, and an estimated 300,000 working days are lost annually to the debilitating effects of the condition, which comes at a colossal cost to employers. Given that the condition is preventable with the right approach in place, it’s clear that more needs to be done to well and truly protect workers.
But doing more doesn’t mean adding processes or spending more time, money, and energy on monitoring and managing your workers’ risk from exposure to HAV. On the contrary, the right approach should streamline everything. The best tool for the job is one that creates less friction, and drives results faster.
With purpose-built, modern technology, organisations can remove guesswork from the risk management equation. Through digitalisation, employers can all-but eliminate errors in their record keeping and analytical processes, which translates to exponentially increased confidencein their data. Down the line, this propels better decision-making that ultimately facilitates increased efficiency, productivity, and of course, safety. This improved organisational landscape supports a more solid foundation for the future of your business, facilitating cost savings and ultimately accelerating the pace at which you can move and grow.
Regulatory compliance is the bare minimum: solutions that actually improve workplace safety should be the standard
Approaching digitalisation as an option and not as a necessity isn’t just an outdated way of thinking, it’s a clear way to ensure that your organisation falls behind the competition in key areas including productivity, efficiency, data-driven decision making, cost savings, agility, and innovation (among others).
HAVS is a potentially debilitating condition, but it’s completely preventable with the right action plan and tools in place. Today, employers must look beyond bare regulatory compliance and consider the reality of their workplace risk environment. They must ask themselves what is really required to keep employees protected. The answer clearly lies in modern digital solutions that have been purpose-built to support more reliable, more accurate monitoring and management of occupational risk.
Reactec has pioneered workplace wearable technology that’s changed how organisations around the UK and the world approach workplace risk management. Cloud-powered and built to scale, R-Link is third generation technology that’s proven to help businesses take control of their occupational risk environment, keeping workers safer and driving better business outcomes by demonstrably improving efficiency, productivity, and resource management, and by empowering truly data-driven decision making.
