Implementing safety features of Industry 4.0 without compromising safety culture

The provision of a safe and healthy workplace is one of the highest responsibilities of both employers and employees. Alongside the ethical aspects, a safe workplace also has a strong correlation to the financial aspects of business performance. In general the journey towards safer workplaces has been neither rapid nor without challenges. However improvements in standards, processes, education, regulations and technology have collectively resulted in strong progress over time. Industry 4.0 promises a significant step-change in industrial operations including improvements to productivity, efficiency, quality and cost. This imminent industrial revolution also has the potential to automate and simplify many aspects of safety and risk management. To date the safety related research and work within Industry 4.0 has largely been developed/proposed in isolated functions and from a ‘technical solution’ perspective with a heavy emphasis on automated monitoring. However safety performance is related to things like human behaviour, psychology and safety culture. This paper highlights the potential of this trajectory to undermine existing safety culture. Key recommendations around a more coherent anthropocentric approach are included. Contemporary estimates for projected market spend on Industry 4.0 vary but are typically in excess of US$150 billion by around 2026. This is all in pursuit of improved performance. If the safety components are not implemented in a manner that retains and supports safety culture then a consequential impact on safety performance could likely impact on other performance measures, which would be the opposite intent of Industry 4.0.