About us

WELCOME – If you have been searching for safety information on a modern technology, or an emerging workplace trend, you have arrived at the right place. Emerging Tech Safety is a risk based resource dedicated to the technologies and trends set to impact the 21st century workplace. This website is not about gaining page views and clicks, it is about presenting the reader with usable information on both the risks and the benefits of emergent technologies . Please subscribe and join us.

Emerging Tech Safety is a risk-based resource dedicated to the technologies and trends set to impact the 21st century workplace

Our Focus

1. Emergent technologies and their application at work
2. The risks and benefits of integrating new technologies
3. Interviews with leading tech industry experts
4. Review of technologies beneficial to worker safety and wellbeing
5. Workplace risk management strategies and tools

What is driving 21st century change?

Technologies such as artificial intelligence and trends such as climate change are disrupting traditional business models. Companies are rushing to disrupt their markets using innovative machines, systems and devices, and this is driving the speed of technological advancement. Not only are these technologies and trends changing the way we work they are dictating how we work and whether we work at all. Some are redefining what a workplace is. The main drivers behind 21st century change include:

Speed of technological advancement

The pace of technological advancement is unprecedented. It is estimated that the current rate of change is over 10 times that which occurred the industrial revolution. McKinsey & Company has stated that change is happening at “x300 the scale with roughly x3000 the impact”. The speed at which new and usable technology is being developed is both promising and scary in equal measure.

Businesses are in a race to harness new technology and gain an edge over competitors. In this headlong rush to innovate it is easy to forget about governance issues such as worker health and safety and environmental impacts. Companies are placing huge emphasis on staying lean, agile, and adaptive enough to remain relevant in their markets – however they must not overlook user safety and well-being. Human safety is the cornerstone of civilised society. And history tells us that innovations can quickly be resigned to the scrapheap if they pose a risk of injury or ill-health to the individual.

Where is the legislation?

The rapid rate of technological advancement in the 21st century has meant that national policy makers are struggling to provide timely health & safety regulation to the labour market

Over the last fifty years many of the hazardous technologies in to todays workplace were introduced over time and they evolved relatively slowly. These machines, materials and chemicals were introduced with the blessing of science, yet latent risks still revealed themselves over time. High profile examples include asbestos, lead paint, DDT, Thalidomide and tobacco.

The evolution of the automobile provides a useful exercise on why each technology requires time and data before enacting regulation. Car safety devices were introduced individually over 80 years. These were born out of necessity and on foot of injury and road deaths. The road regulations and machine standards usually followed soon after. The automobiles that took to the streets of New York and London in the 1920’s would not be considered roadworthy by todays legislation. Basic car safety features such as seatbelts, child seats and airbags were a technological response to injury and death. But these underwent rigorous testing over a long period of time, and the legislators were able to keep up.

The rapid rate of technological advancement in the 21st century has meant that policy makers are struggling to provide timely regulation to the labour market. New technologies and are not be regulated for and this situation is worsening. The onus is being placed on technology designers and the very end users to manage any associated risks. Timing issues relating to legislation formation are a particular dilemma for policy makers. These include:

We now know that crafting legislation carefully and it remaining in place without change is no longer viable. Regulators are faced with the unenviable task of protecting their citizens without stifling innovation and modern progress. Current governments are working within legacy frameworks and with outdated systems. It is here that the more progressive countries are currently focusing their attention and resources. They realise that the model for regulation itself must change to allow for the incoming technological explosion.

How do we help?

The Emerging Tech Safety website concerns itself with both the risks and the opportunities that new innovations bring to the workplace

The technologies and business disruptions of the next 5-10 years will both positively and negatively affect worker safety and well-being. This is not a new phenomenon however we have entered the 21st century without the benefit of clearcut regulation and risk guidance on a massive amount of new technologies. The Emerging Tech Safety website concerns itself with both the risks and the opportunities that these new innovations are bringing to the workplace. Our website is a valuable resource for employers, OHS managers, and researchers as well as industry stakeholders.

Note from the editor

Welcome to our website,

I think about the future daily in both my professional and personal life. As a Dad and as a global citizen I care about the next 20 years. Work as we know it is undergoing a seismic shift. Given the impending technology explosion a considerable task lays ahead for our governments, employers, and industry stakeholders in building healthy workplaces. Drawing on my professional experiences and insatiable desire to understand our changing world I have set on a path to discover the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead for ourselves and our children. Please subscribe and bookmark this site to join me on this journey.

Garry McGauran (Editor, Emerging Tech Safety)

January 2020

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