With the pandemic changing the way many Australian businesses operate, and staff health and wellness a key priority, the need for alternative employee safety training has rapidly increased. With work-related injuries costing Australian businesses upwards of $61.8 billion a year, it's no wonder many employers are increasingly looking for cost-effective technology solutions for workplace health and safety.

Taking advantage of technological innovation in workplace safety tools is a smart business move that can minimise risk exposure, and also promote employee wellbeing. And this is where wearable technology and AI-driven training comes into play - both are key areas reshaping how businesses can deliver workplace safety quickly and effectively with a more proactive and personalised approach. Along with providing a range of safety enhancements, wearables and AI technology can help employers set benchmarks for pre-employment screening, as well as standards for workers returning from injury.

Plus, preventative technology goes beyond just reducing the risk of accidents. It can also help minimise issues that arise from unhealthy work practices - such as bad posture and lack of exercise - by monitoring an individual’s posture and movement and alerting them if they’ve been sitting in an unhealthy position for too long, or if they haven’t been mobile enough throughout the course of the day.

Preventure’s smartphone app uses unique AI technology to automate the delivery of virtual face-to-face safety training. Using risk identification and a behavioural change loop, wearable sensors record worker movement patterns, providing valid and reliable live feedback around injury risk, helping to improve awareness among employees of the procedures they need to follow to remain safe in their workplace.

Businesses across all fields would do well to consider a new approach to workplace safety training. Here are just some of the benefits of wearable technology, to help to build preventative injury models:

Promotes fatigue prevention

Wearables can help prevent fatigue-related accidents from occurring, by monitoring and providing alerts when an individual has reached a level of fatigue that places them at greater risk of having an accident. The Preventure.live app provides suggested adjustments to how users are performing a task (such as lifting boxes) to reduce tiredness and prevent injury. This type of data can easily be collected through sensors, without interrupting the employee’s day in any way.

Provides tailored training

AI technology can easily be adapted to an individual's preferred style of learning, tailoring training delivery to suit each employee’s strengths and achieve the best results. AI-based tutoring can easily identify gaps in an individual’s knowledge, as well as provide a more accurate assessment of their current level of expertise, meaning employees can be trained up much more efficiently.

A cost-effective solution

Building training programs can be a costly process for organisations. An AI-based system automatically creates or sources the requisite course content from the internet, making it more efficient and cost-effective. An AI system can also locate and extrapolate complex information and present it in a format that is easier for humans to comprehend.

By using wearables and AI in the workplace, businesses can ensure accidents are prevented and policies are adhered to as much as possible, while also delivering an innovative, personalised approach to health and safety.

Scott Coleman is the CEO and Founder of Preventure.

 Source: SafeWork Australia, Costs of work-related injuries and diseases - Key WHS statistics Australia 2019