Technology

A look at the technologies set to change the way we work

Technology has shaped human evolution since the very beginning. It started with the discovery of fire and the “technology” of cooking. Cooking released more nutrients from raw food, enabling bigger and more nutrient-hungry brains. Agriculture was one of the greatest technological innovations in our history, and it accelerated the trend.

AI expert Danny Hillis famously stated that “technology is everything that doesn’t work yet”. When game changing technologies are figured out, commercialised, and mass produced, they just meld into our daily lives. The same applies to work. Each piece of technology has had a fundamental effect in terms of where work was done, how work was organised, the level of performance involved, and the impacts it had on workers.

Many will remember the release of the VHS recorder and how it changed the way we consumed media in our homes, schools and businesses. This was over a relatively long period of time.  In comparison the rate of technological advancement over the last 15 years has been so rapid that it has resulted in a “boiling frog syndrome”. The advances are so widespread and rapid that we have failed to fully realise how much technology has changed the world around us in a short period of time.  We have become acclimatised towards regular change which has resulted in widespread apathy – despite the fact that it is affecting our entire livelihoods.

Pace of change

Technology is being developed, commercialised, upgraded and replaced in a quarter of the time it was 20 years ago

It used to take decades for a world-changing technology to emerge, and now these technological shifts are happening every year. This technological “bullet train” is not slowing down. It is accelerating, exponentially. Technology is being developed, commercialised, upgraded and replaced in a fraction of the time it was 10 years ago. Technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics may seem like science fiction however early versions of these have been in our supermarkets, schools and workplaces for some years now.

Digitalisation

Our smart devices provide a practical lesson in how far modern technology has impacted our lives over the last 10 years. A quick search of our Apps reveals that many of the analogue and individual technologies we grew up with have been practically digitalised into obsoletion. Examples include the compass, the voice recorder, the calendar, the alarm clock, the games console, the newspaper, the FM radio, the e-reader, the camcorder, the digital camera … and the list goes on. An entire room full of individual electronics and analogue equipment can now be carried around in our pockets thanks to digitalisation.

And this makes perfect business sense considering the practicalities and savings. This is part of the new “digital economy”. The money and labour that flowed into traditional manufacturing now filters into technology, IT and software development.

Automation and artificial intelligence

Automation is already displacing sectors of the workforce as we transition into Industry 4.0. AI and robotics are a powerful combination. In basic terms, if the robot is the moving body then artificial intelligence is the brain.

Most of us have been utilising AI and robots for some time now without properly realising it. Common examples include Siri, Alexa, Amazon, Nest, Tesla, and Roomba. Within the next 10 years artificial intelligence and automation will be responsible for millions of job losses, and the obsoletion of entire industries. The occupations that survive the first 5 years will see large parts of their work automated. The parts of their job that are dull, simple, and repetitive. Automation and artificial intelligence will redefine work and will push the workforce into new ways of working.

For the short term it is expected that skilled people will still be in demand as machine learning takes off. Companies will still need people to introduce, train, and explain these systems to others, while keeping them working safely and efficiently alongside human workers.

Automation and layoffs

The types of stress that task automation and job obsoletion will create has been likened to the psychosocial stress faced by those who are unemployed

A manufacturing robot can perform the job of 4 people for a one off-cost. And these costs are coming down as uptake and mass manufacturing comes into play. The same robot will not get stuck in traffic, catch a common cold, need a lunch break, or require health insurance. Again, this is good for business. But the worry for employees becomes existential.

We must face the reality that the next 10 years will challenge governments, healthcare and employers in ways that may not have been experienced since the industrial revolution. The types of stress that task automation and job obsoletion will create has been likened to the psychosocial stress faced by those who are unemployed. The impending effects of layoffs, work organisation, and job obsoletion will present one of the greatest regulatory and management crisis since the 1900’s.

Occupational benefits of embracing technology

It goes without saying that there will be an upside to technological innovation in that there will be opportunities for OHS. Drones and autonomous vehicles have already begun substituting humans in performing dangerous tasks such as accessing heights, driving in mines, and entering confined spaces. Robotics and exoskeletons will assist humans in lifting/handling tasks thereby reducing the exposure to musculoskeletal injuries. And better data and supercomputing will help identify risk patterns and assist safety managers in allocating resources to the areas in most need of attention.

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