Analysis
Even before the pandemic, manufacturing companies viewed wearables--hands-free electronic devices embedded into clothing, bands, rings, or even implanted in the skin, with the ability to send and receive data--as some of the must-have tools to help evaluate risk and improve productivity. Growth of wearables is only expected to continue, especially with the increased need to monitor and improve employee working conditions and safety in light of COVID-19. As companies draft plans for phased workforce reentry and puzzle over how to effectively maintain social distancing requirements, wearables technology can help companies address one of their biggest challenges: employee concerns around safety.
The bar for employee safety is higher
Since the late nineteenth century’s labor movement, companies have increasingly more protocols to ensure their employees return home at the end of the workday in the same condition as they arrived. This usually includes tracking recordable injuries.
COVID-19 changed the dynamic for employees. Ted Smith, co-founder & CEO at Corvex Connected Worker, a provider of an IoT-enabled employee safety and engagement platform, explains “it’s not just about the worker anymore but also about their family. Never before has a worker gone to work and had to confront the reality that not only could s/he may get hurt but also their family.” The burden on employers to keep the workplace safe has never been higher.
To get back to work, Smith says companies across the globe have to tackle five critical success factors:
- worker health
- social distancing
- hygiene
- communication
- and tracking and tracing potential COVID-19 cases at company locations.
Smith is one leader among many across the industry today who is introducing new technologies as part of their strategies to improve employee safety. In responding to COVID-19, companies have implemented policies and guidelines for these factors: temperature checks to monitor worker health, signs to mark off 6 feet of space, and reminders for handwashing.
The inclusion of wearables helps companies make the leap from reacting to being more proactive. Ford Motor Company, for example, is testing a watch-like wearable worn by volunteers at its Plymouth, Michigan factory. The device is set to vibrate to signal when employees are within six feet of each other.
Two studies currently underway, one by Scripps Research Translational Institute and another by Stanford Medicine, explore how wearables data can help detect the start of an infectious disease before symptoms strike. Although these uses may present HIPPA and privacy hurdles, advancements such as these could potentially help companies track flu and other illnesses to keep their workers safer and healthier. These are promising possibilities for wearables in the future. But why wait? There are also technology companies to help with employee safety now.
Technology to mitigate risks and exposure
Social distancing is critical to reducing transmission of COVID-19. However, as Smith clarifies, “companies have two main challenges when it comes to social distancing: 1) the behavior side, and 2) then applying the hierarchy of controls to the data.”
Employing a wearable can support the behavior side by providing a notification that a particular action is occurring. Importantly, the wearable also provides data that can be examined to better understand what is driving the behavior so companies can develop safer environments. The data can assist in identifying risk areas so companies can implement mitigation measures that are part of the hierarchy of controls, such as engineering controls, administrative controls, or decisions around personal protective equipment (PPE). Some tasks by their very nature cannot be completed with the required distancing. In those situations, teams can review the data to implement controls to mitigate the risk of exposure, such as adding extra PPE.
In addition to mitigation, these platforms can help provide data around exposure. Dashboards convert notifications into categories that can be studied to understand exposure risks to different populations in the workforce. Furthermore, if a case is reported, companies can go back to the data to conduct contact tracing by looking at the number of unique contacts between the ill employee and others in the company. This makes contact tracing much less difficult for companies because the data can recall the contacts within the exposure window with greater accuracy than any person’s memory.
Empower workers and enable communication
Wearables can help companies maintain clear and consistent communication with employees, another key to social distancing efforts. Push alerts that promote situational awareness and recommend ways to improve safety occur in real-time so the employee does not have to guess or wander around to find an answer. The technology can allow employees to record an observation and log unsafe conditions. The two-way communication allows companies to quickly gather feedback and act on it. This has the effect of not only engaging workers but empowering them as well to drive results now and into the future.
This is important, as Smith observes, “the engagement level and expectation from workers has changed. Simply installing sensors will not help with engagement. But the sensors can create an environment where employees feel they can use their voice, that their voice will be heard, and will be acted upon.”
Another bonus is control. The prolonged uncertainty stemming from COVID-19 has everyone trying to regain some small measure of control. With the use of wearables, Smith notes frontline workers are armed with data to help keep them safe and work alongside the employer to troubleshoot the challenges that arise from the pandemic. This makes workers feel more in control during a very uncertain time.
Boost employee confidence to return to work
COVID-19 has caused employees to reexamine how they approach safety at work and how they view their employers’ efforts. Smith confirms, “the emotional side for the workers cannot be underestimated. Companies have to give employees enough confidence to come back to work and the confidence that they won’t harm their families if they do.”
Companies have to respond to the raised safety bar to ensure employee safety and assuage concerns stemming from the pandemic. It is the right thing to do, and is also the next right step for companies to take in their near century-and-a-half advancement of protocols to create safer environments. Wearables can play an important role in back-to-work efforts underway. They are far more than gadgets and their value is beyond keeping people the required distance apart from one another. These are tools that can be leveraged to identify risks, mitigate exposures, bridge communication between employees and employers, and empower employees to feel safe at work.
When employees see their safety and wellbeing is prioritized by their employer, it boosts morale and buoys confidence to report to work. Wearables can help companies go beyond their traditional tools, which Smith counsels companies to do, “You can leverage traditional safety aspects to help resolve the problems caused by COVID-19, but this is the time to go above and beyond since workers will hold companies accountable because of their families.”