Workers See Little Safety Impact from AI: Gallup Survey

• While a growing number of businesses are using AI to streamline tasks and make better decisions, workers don’t yet see the technology as improving safety practice, according to a recent Gallup survey.
• While the Gallup Q2 Workforce survey showed that about 33% of the 21,543 working adults polled believe their organizations are applying AI, only 6% view the technology as having improved employee safety.
• The takeaway from the latest quarterly web survey is that despite its hype, the application of AI in occupational health and safety remains underdeveloped.
  READ MORE

Bechtel, Turner, Fluor Lead Group Fighting Construction Worker Suicide

• Major U.S. contractors have formed a new CEO Advisory Council to spearhead an industrywide effort to address and reduce construction’s high rate of worker suicide.
• The group include Bechtel, Fluor, Turner Construction Co., North America’s Building Trades Unions, Kiewit, Clark Construction, DPR Construction, Skanska and Stanley Black & Decker make up the council.
• Bechtel, in March, pledged $7 million over five years to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention for new programs for the construction industry.
• “Just like with worksite safety, nothing is proprietary when it comes to saving lives,” Bechtel said in a press release last week. “The more we can engage a broad group of leaders and collaborate on solutions, the more effective we will be in providing our people the support they need.
  READ MORE

More-Complex Head Protection Confuses Safety Pros

• The development of more innovative head protection has made it harder for safety professionals to make informed decisions, according to a recent study from J. J. Keller and the International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA).
• The four biggest challenges revealed in the study are: ensuring employees wear head protection properly; enforcing compliance; finding comfortable head protection, and addressing heat-related concerns.
• The increasing complexity of standards and new technologies are cited as significant factors in the confusion. 
• “A lot’s changed over the last few years, and it’s made head protection go from a straightforward product category to really devilishly complex,” said Cam Mackey, CEO of ISEA.
• The study found that there’s a lot of misunderstanding about the different types of head protection, particularly the new Type II hard hats, which offer top and lateral protection.
  READ MORE