Safety Wearables: Height of Safety or Hype?

This one isn't real, folks -- but someday it might be!

You may or may not be aware of one of the newer trends in safety: The rise of wearables. From monitoring-based devices that can tell you when an employee is at risk of suffering from heat illness, to exoskeletons that can support employees with lifting activities, applications of wearables are across the spectrum of risks. But they haven't been out there long yet, so you may have questions. Here's some general insight before you allocate budget to one of these devices.

1. Make the punishment fit the crime

Alright, that's a little bit clickbaity, but here's what I mean: There's lots of shiny new devices on the market, so make sure you've done the risk analysis to see if the wearable is really the best solution out there for the risk you're trying to control or limit. Many times, simpler is better. Also, find what research there is for the wearable you're considering. Does the research bear out that it does what it says it will do and is an effective control? This could go both ways: There's probably wearables out there that are a godsend for their specific use case, and others out there whose creators jumped on the wearable bandwagon to make a less-than-stellar product. Make sure you know which one you're working with.

2.  Don't put the cart before the horse

While you might think a wearable might be the greatest invention since sliced bread, make sure to put it into the ecosystem of your risk management profile. What I mean by that is: Do you have a risk management heat map that you've put together? 

For the risk you're trying to control for, is that risk a high priority to mitigate, or is it farther down the list? Don't be tempted to skip down to lower levels of risk priority to accommodate a fancy new wearable.

3. Make sure you have the resources to support the wearable's introduction

When you introduce a new piece of equipment for use in an organization, almost always you'll need to implement a 'program' to support the new device. If your new wearable is electronic, have you considered who will be charging it as needed or updating software? Who will be in charge of troubleshooting the device if something goes wrong? There's lots of things to consider, so make sure you have the resources needed to support the program's success in an ongoing way.

4. Do you have a phased-in plan for introduction?

In my experience, introducing new devices to an organization is usually much more successful if you have a planned introduction process. The first steps usually include researching different options and getting feedback from relevant team members on which options of a few they would be willing to try. Field testing a couple of alternatives is usually really helpful. And then once the best wearable is decided on, ordering a limited supply and having a longer-term pilot test (maybe over a few months) is the best way forward. The key here is continued feedback from the employees who will be using the device. If buy-in is not achieved before larger scale adoption, I've found the program is not usually as successful.

 

This article turned out to be a little more doom-and-gloom than expected, and companies should not be afraid to get their feet wet in the wearable world. There are some that are showing a lot of promise, and as technology continues to advance, it's not hard to imagine a future where safety wearables are an everyday thing. As long as you're following best practices in determining the right fit of wearables to the risk being controlled, introduce them with a good plan, and ensure you have the resources to make the program a success, they can be a valuable part of your safety program.