Health and Safety Reimagined

The COVID-19 situation has accelerated the adoption of digital transformation across governments, businesses and societies. Safety and security concerns, specifically cyber, on the evolving use of digital tools are at the forefront as a consequence of this rapid technological adoption.

New data protection regulations have recently been adopted by governments to safeguard the privacy of individuals and companies, however identifying a balance between access to individual data and data privacy remains a major challenge.

In parallel, the combination of more remote-work environment coupled with increasing momentum of digital information raises security concerns, as people working from home often have fewer cyber protection tools than they would have in their workplaces.

• With the increased awareness about health and safety in the workplace, will this catalyse a technological and regulatory transformation in the industrial safety and security arena?
• Are current cybersecurity standards and regulations adequate for the growing needs of a manufacturing sector dealing with increased remote work and data management requirements?
• Can evolving safety technologies, like mobile apps, wearables and PPE tracking with embedded sensors, enable an “intelligent” industrial safety management in the post-pandemic future?
• How can multi-stakeholder collaboration be promoted in the development of better know-how of safety and security risks across the 4IR technology spectrum?