Warehouse AI Runs Ahead of Safety Practices

While spending on warehouse automation is expected to increase in the next five years, frontline workers are concerned about safety on the increasingly busy warehouse floor, with more than two-thirds of those surveyed specifically worried about injuries.
That’s according to a warehousing vision study by Zebra Technologies Corp., which found that 63% of warehouse leaders plan to implement artificial intelligence software and augmented reality solutions within five years.
In addition to those safety concerns, 69% of associates reported there is a lack of qualified staff on the warehouse floor and have concerns about fatigue and physical exhaustion.
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A South Dakota federal judge has ordered Stone Hill Excavation to court after it ignored an OSHA whistleblower investigation.
The investigation into Stone Hill started in July after the agency received a complaint from a former employee who alleged the company fired him after he was hurt while on the job.
On July 30, an OSHA whistleblower investigator, Sara Penney, notified the company that it was investigating the former employee’s complaints. Penney asked the company to respond to the allegations, which it allegedly ignored.
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Workplace bullying could be disrupting the sleep of workers and their partners, according to two recent research studies.
Researchers followed 147 workers for five days in one of the studies and, for the other, followed 139 couples for two months.
Participants logged their exposures to workplace bullying, stressful thoughts stemming from work-related anger and indicators of insomnia.
Findings show that on-the-job bullying contributed to multiple negative sleep outcomes for the affected workers and their partners, including trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, as well as waking too early.
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