Workplace Injuries Cost Lives, Pain and Big Money

Can an app save a life? Or lives? Revolutionize industrial safety?

I’ve been amazed at how business has integrated artificial intelligence into operations. From supply chain to marketing to yes, industrial safety.

This is particularly important in warehousing, where I cut my logistics and supply chain teeth decades ago. Sometimes, it was difficult getting employees to engage in safe behaviors. Direct controls could prevent some unsafe behavior. Things like safety gates, fencing, automated shutdown systems, interlock systems and warning signs and lights helped.

All that stuff costs a lot of money. Beyond that, Liberty Mutual estimates that companies pay out $1 billion a week in direct workers’ compensation costs, according to OSHA.

So, I was pleased when companies started using AI-powered computer vision software to reduce serious injuries and fatalities. But some of that software has moved to an app. And the ability to put worker safety on each employee’s phone has me almost giddy.

The Safety Challenge We Haven’t Solved

Over the last couple of decades, we’ve made impressive strides in reducing low-severity workplace injuries. They’re now roughly one-tenth of what they were a decade ago. But here’s the sobering reality: Fatalities have remained stubbornly flat.

In 2022, the U.S. experienced 227,039 preventable deaths and 63 million preventable injuries, according to the National Safety Council. The cost? A whopping $1.283.5 billion.

Those numbers are more than stats to those of us who have been in the field. They are real people, real families and real tragedies. And AI-powered industrial safety could have prevented a lot, if not all, of the carnage.

AI-Powered Safety in Your Pocket

Now, companies can now test the waters of AI-powered industrial safety with a simple app. For those ready to dive deeper, adding SMS alerts and an analytics dashboard is available at a modest cost.

What makes this technology particularly exciting is its simplicity and power. Imagine being able to:

• Take a photo of a workplace situation and instantly get AI-powered analysis of potential hazards
• Receive real-time SMS alerts about dangerous conditions
• Access bite-sized, actionable safety information that doesn’t overwhelm your workforce
• Generate observation reports automatically
• Get predictive analytics that help educate leaders about potential risks

Real-World Impact

This technology is already making waves across various industries. Warehousing and logistics outfits worldwide have implemented it, and many more are undergoing test drives. Utility companies and construction sites are getting on board. So are consumer packaged goods manufacturers

The app simplifies serious injury and fatality training. Safety managers can identify and implement direct controls. (Those physical measures I talked about above, the ones that prevent dangerous behavior). They can develop alternative control strategies when direct controls aren’t feasible.

They can limit worker exposure to hazardous conditions. And they can transform field insights into actionable reports for leadership.

Why This Matters

Remember that safety belongs to leadership. Are you a leader? Well, you have access to the budget and the authority to make meaningful changes. This app gives you the data to help you and your teams effectively prioritize safety improvements.

Think about Doris — the employee I mentioned in a previous blog who lost her life in a workplace accident. She was fictional. But as you can see from the above stats, we have hundreds of thousands of real-life (or real-death) examples each year.

What if an AI-powered app had identified the hazard that led to those deaths? What if a simple alert could prevent thousands of tragedies?

Taking the First Step

You can start small. Try the free version of the app. Let your safety managers experiment with taking pictures and getting AI-powered hazard assessments. See how it could fit into your safety protocols.

If you’re interested in exploring this technology, please reach out to me at Tompkins Ventures. We can connect you with the right people — the kind of people who, with an app, can help save a life. Or twenty. Or hundreds. Maybe even more.

Because at the end of the day, that’s what this is all about: ensuring every worker goes home safely to their family.

Related Reading

• Safe Workplaces Rarely Make Headlines
• AI-Powered Innovations Transform Workplace Safety
• Hype Vs. Reality – AI Is Essential for Modern Warehouses