How is digitalization revolutionizing workplace safety and health?

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has just released its global report:"Revolutionizing Health and Safety: The Role of AI and Digitalization at Work"

This timely report explores how emerging technologies—AI, robotics, wearable tech, and algorithmic management—are reshaping occupational safety and health (OSH) worldwide.

Key insights from the report:

1. Automation & robotics are reducing workers’ exposure to physical and cognitive hazards—but raise new concerns about system reliability, ergonomic risks, and mental health.

2. AI-powered monitoring tools and wearables enable real-time hazard detection and predictive risk assessments—but must be implemented with careful attention to usability, privacy, and worker well-being.

3.Extended and virtual reality offer immersive training for emergency response and hazard recognition—but come with risks like visual strain, balance issues, and cognitive overload.

4. Algorithmic management can improve efficiency, task distribution, and work-life balance—but also intensifies surveillance and workload if unchecked.

5. Remote and platform-based work offers flexibility—but brings new physical and psychosocial OSH challenges that demand adaptive safeguards.

   
   

Digital innovation must enhance—not undermine—worker safety. To achieve this, we need proactive, participatory governance involving policymakers, employers, workers, and OSH professionals

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To maximize the benefits of digitalization in OSH while mitigating risks, a proactive, evidence-informed and participatory approach is essential. This requires the active involvement of governments, employers and workers, along with OSH professionals and other stakeholders to ensure that digital transformation strengthens, rather than compromises safety and health at work.