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NSC report addresses how existing technologies can save lives and reduce serious injuries


Although workplace injuries are trending down, workplace fatalities are rising. While a fatality may seem like an impossibility at your workplace, 5,250 workers died on the job in 2018 - on average, more than 100 a week or more than 14 deaths every day. The worst part is that most of these deaths were preventable. Not only is a fatality a tragedy, but it also can have a long-lasting effect on the emotional health, productivity, and attitude of the workforce.

In its first Work to Zero research report, Safety Technology 2020: Mapping Technology Solutions for Reducing Serious Injuries and Fatalities in the Workplace, the National Safety Council (NSC) looks at 18 different non-roadway, hazardous situations in which workers are most likely to die and provides anywhere from five to eight potential technology solutions for each situation.

The top four hazardous situations and corresponding technologies identified in the report include:

Other hazardous situations addressed in the report are logging equipment operation, tending a retail establishment, electrical work, emergency response, vehicle-pedestrian interactions, process safety operations, cleaning, loading and unloading, confined space entry, inspections, heavy equipment operation, excavation, machinery operation, and hot work.

Download report.