GeneralImproving Workplace Safety with Predictive Analysis

In any industry – whether banking and finance, retail, manufacturing, or oil, gas, and utilities – health and safety has gradually become a more prominent aspect of business management, requiring companies of all sizes to put in place robust policies, actions plans, and systems to ensure the safety of their employees, suppliers, and customers, where necessary. However, the expansion of various industries and an ever-increasing workforce requires a much more comprehensive system to monitor, assess, and prevent dangers in the workplace – this is where predictive analytics comes in.

What is Predictive Analysis?

Although it has existed for many years now, the technology for predictive analysis is finally having its day, so to speak, leading to a plethora of organizations incorporating this technology in order to gain a competitive advantage over their rivals. This method of analyzing and assessing incidents and risk factors utilizes data-mining software with cutting-edge algorithms, helping to reduce the volume of incidents, optimize procedures, and boost returns.

With interactive and easy-to-use software helping to make incident reporting easier, predictive analysis not only allows for the identification of the exact chain of events and why they occurred but also allows for the discovery of insights regarding the potential of future incidents.

Using a variety of descriptive or diagnostic models to assess known results, new data can be input to create fresh statistics that are based on the earlier examples. In short, it predicts the probability of future incidents based on the available data and input variables, thus allowing organizations to put in place systems to prevent further incidents. Organizations can use an incident rate calculator with predictive analysis software to accurately measure and track workplace safety, enabling them to identify potential risks and implement preventive measures before incidents occur.

From Data to Analytics – Prediction and Prevention

The ability to predict, and therefore prevent, the occurrence of incidents within a variety of sectors and industries can be incredibly beneficial in terms of boosting both reputation and revenue. The types of incidents and issues that it can help avoid are not, however, limited to just health and safety – it can be used to detect fraud, reduce risks, optimize  operations, and improve marketing campaigns, rendering predictive analysis essential in a variety of ways.

In terms of improving workplace safety, there is much evidence to suggest the multitude of benefits in employing predictive analysis: fatalities have been reduced – demonstrated by 4.2 fatalities per 100,000 in 2006, decreasing to 3.6 per 100,000 employees in 2016 – and workplace injuries resulting in medical treatment, loss of income, or restricted work activity have reduced from 4.2 per 100 employees in 2006, to 2.9 per 100 in 2016.

The ability to pre-empt and predict potential dangers based on prior statistics is essential for businesses, as it allows them to spend money putting in place preventions or safety measures, thus saving money in the long run by reducing medical costs and insurance pay-outs, lessening the volume of employees requiring sick leave and the necessity of temporarily employing someone to complete the work.

Improving Safety at All Levels

Predictive analysis software enables improved incident visibility and creates efficient and effective measures for investigating and reviewing incidents, to assess the likelihood of similar incidences occurring in the future. Whilst this is crucial for the safety of employees, it also helps to maintain the safety of vital equipment and reduce the impact of the environment on safety.

With regards to equipment, data relating to maintenance history is input into software, helping to identify when servicing is required, whilst also listing incidents related to this item of equipment. This is particularly useful in factories or in construction when large pieces of machinery are required and both efficiency and safety are of the utmost importance. Additionally, predictive analysis software helps to evaluate risks in the immediate working environment – including those relating to weather, low-hanging cables, trip hazards – by identifying environmental attributes in the area that pose a risk and creating a safety heatmap to identify the riskiest areas. Measures can then be put in place to warn of potential danger, protect against injury, or amend immediate dangers, establishing via the heatmap a scoring and ranking system of the most urgent issues to combat.

For Health and Safety officers in various organizations, the primary aim of incorporating predictive analysis software is to improve employee safety, reducing injuries and fatalities in and around the workplace. It does, however, offer the additional benefits of business continuity, helping to achieve desired business aims with minimal interruption, and improving community relations, and offers a bright future to companies choosing to incorporate it into their business.

This post has been sponsored by Evolution Visions