Lloyd’s-led Research Highlights Both Promise, Risk of New Tech on Workplace Safety

• Augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) training may improve engagement and motivation, but there is mixed evidence on whether they improve safety knowledge alone, according to a new report from the Lloyd’s Register Foundation Global Safety Evidence Centre.
• The report urges coordinated, science-based efforts to ensure that the rapid adoption of digital technologies—including AI, wearables, and collaborative robots—improves, rather than undermines, occupational safety and health.
• Produced in partnership with RAND Europe, the report highlights both the promise and the risks of new technologies, including:
  Occupational safety and health-focused smartphone apps can encourage managers to prioritize safety and promote healthy habits, but evidence for their impact on performance or sickness rates is mixed.
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South Florida School Offers Prep Consultations on OSHA Inspections

• USF SafetyFlorida said it is offering free, confidential consultations to help Florida employers prepare for OSHA inspections, enhance their safety and health programs, and reduce injury and illness rates.
• The school said that since OSHA has updated its Site-Specific Targeting (SST) inspection program, there’s been an increase in letters concerning high Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred (DART) rate.
• “Receiving this letter means your establishment has been flagged for potential inspection,” said Brian Warrick, SafetyFlorida program director. “While it doesn’t imply wrongdoing, it does indicate that your injury and illness data is above the national average or trending upward.”
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Study Examines Occupational Health Disparities Across Groups

• Disparities in workplace safety are a significant contributor to racial and ethnic health disparities,according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
• The cross-sectional study,by academics at the University of Southern California and RAND, analyzed 15 years (2005-2019) of California workers’ compensation data.
• Addressing both occupational concentration and within-occupation disparities is essential for improving workplace safety and reducing health inequities among workers, according to the study’s authors.
• “The fact that risk differences persist even when comparing workers in the same jobs, particularly for Black and women workers, suggests that Black and Hispanic workers systematically face worse working conditions and riskier environments,” the study concluded.
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