Maintaining a safe work environment is of the utmost importance for your business. It protects your workers against injuries and your company against liability claims. But if you work in a notoriously hazardous industry like construction, manufacturing, or healthcare, you may feel that your best efforts to prevent injuries still aren’t enough.
What if there was an even more effective way to mitigate risk in your company? Wearable technology for workplace safety may do just that. Explore more about this concept below, then turn to WorkSafe for assistance with occupational health in Wichita, KS.
What Is Wearable Tech in the Workplace?
Wearable technology for workplace safety consists of a range of devices that contain sensors to monitor an employee’s activities and alert them to potential injuries. Such devices include diverse features such as location tracking, fall detection, environmental hazard sensing, and more.
Examples of this type of tech include:
- Smart helmets: These do more than just protect workers from head injuries. They offer impact detection and real-time health monitoring, allowing workers and employers to stay in tune with workplace safety.
- Exoskeleton suits: These take smart helmets a step further, supporting a worker’s entire body. They allow employees to perform physically demanding tasks more safely by reducing strain on muscles, encouraging better posture while lifting or performing other repetitive movements, and providing a small amount of protection against impact.
- GPS-tracking wearables: Watches and other wearables that include GPS trackers can improve the safety of workers who need to travel into caves, tunnels, mines, or similarly remote structures. They help managers keep track of employees’ whereabouts and instantly locate those who have called for help after an accident.
- Biometric sensors: Many companies have begun implementing biometric sensors to track employees’ health data. Wearables can provide insights into a worker’s heart rate, temperature, and stress levels while working, alerting managers when breaks may be necessary. These devices can also help track employee time clocks and verify their identities.
- Fatigue monitoring devices: Fatigue monitors track an employee’s heart rate, brain activity, and eye movement to assess their fatigue or impairment levels. They can alert managers when employees are too impaired to work safely, preventing accidents.
- Fall detection wearables: Some wearables can provide alerts when they detect that an employee has fallen. This allows managers to instantly assess an employee’s condition and provide an emergency response.
Wearable technology can prevent workplace injuries and instantly alert managers to injuries when they do occur. This can allow for faster response times and potentially shorter recovery periods for injured workers.
How Wearable Tech Can Prevent Workplace Injuries
The benefits of wearable technology for workplace safety are considerable. These devices can:
- Provide real-time monitoring: Time is crucial when workplace accidents occur. Wearables offer real-time monitoring, allowing managers to instantly learn when a hazardous event has occurred and take steps to mitigate injuries quickly.
- Alert employees to environmental hazards: For jobs that expose employees to environmental hazards, wearable tech can continually monitor their exposure to these chemicals and notify them when environments become unsafe.
- Reduce workplace accidents: Ultimately, wearable tech can reduce workplace accidents by alerting employees to potential hazards before they turn into major injuries.
- Remind workers of potential risks: When employees don smart helmets, GPS-tracking watches, and other wearable technology, they gain a visual reminder of the potential hazards of their jobs. The presence of these pieces alone may be enough to encourage workers to behave more safely.
- Enhance worker confidence: Workers feel more confident performing inherently risky jobs when they have the safety net of a wearable device. Acting with confidence may help workers prevent injuries, as accidents may be more likely to occur when workers are timid or nervous to perform their jobs.
- Give employers valuable data: Many wearable pieces can provide data about a worker’s health and activity on the job. Employers can compile this data to gain insights about the overall safety of their workforce, alerting them to the need for improvements.
Altogether, wearable technology can go a long way toward improving workplace safety and protecting your company against liability issues.
WorkSafe Is Your Partner in Workplace Injury Protection
Adopting wearable technology for workplace safety can help you reduce accidents and promote employee confidence. These devices can reduce repetitive strain injuries, keep employees vigilant to potential hazards, and immediately alert managers to accidents.
WorkSafe can help you incorporate this technology and other best practices for preventing workplace injuries. Contact us today at 316-262-8800 to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation.