New industrial era will impact safety

Speaking at Health and Safety North Southall said: “The interconnection between robots and technology with real people can influence what’s going on in a work environment. You can start to predict and learn the decisions you want to make.”

Citing inefficient and unsafe workplaces as a current workplace challenge, Southall suggested the use of artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, including adaptive manufacturing and predictive maintenance can help offset these. “Systems that keep monitoring live and reduces that downtime is a more sophisticated way of understanding the fine tuning of our equipment,” he said.

Technologies including AI and machine learning are now part of our world and showing videos of AI-based technology, including a self-driving pizza delivery vehicle, Southall told the audience: “This is now, this isn’t the future, it’s happening now. As we move forward, we’ve got to think about where we were. As a safety professional we need to be aware of the speed of change.”

As technology advances then how does health and safety to keep up and what will be the impact on legislation. “How are you going to risk-assess that? What are we thinking about in terms of RIDDOR?” Southall pondered. 

Concluding a presentation that posed many questions Southall said: “The one thing that's going to be certain, is the speed of change.”

You can watch a joint HSM and Southalls webinar on how to make your boss take health and safety seriously on demand for FREE by clicking HERE.