A global perspective on addressing occupational safety and health hazards in the future of work

The future of work is a topic of broad academic and public interest, as evidenced by the vast literature on the topic. The “future of work” is generally portrayed in terms of the impact of technology on jobs and labor markets (16). Numerous scenarios in the gray and peer-reviewed literature provide expansive future visions, but they rarely focus on task level scenarios or go beyond manual and cognitive descriptors of work. Moreover, there is a limited literature on the hazards, both traditional and nontraditional, accompanying future of work scenarios. Most common visions address two different views of the impact of technology: a dystopian one characterized by high rates of job displacement and work degradation, and; a more optimistic one in which numerous new and upgraded jobs are created, as has historically been the case with the advent of new technologies. It is important to appreciate the role of technology in the future of work, but other factors are also important and less often discussed (4). These include globalization, demographics, urbanization, sustainability, pandemics, and climate-related factors, to name a few.

Five major issues should be addressed when considering the future of work. One issue is that technological impact is not inevitable because technology’s impact is under social and political control (20). However, this control will be increasingly difficult to exercise as technological development increases exponentially and technologies become more “sentient” (12).

The second issue is that life-long learning will be needed to keep pace with technological advancements. One international report noted that children in school today may be working in jobs in the future that do not yet exist (8). The current workforce will need reskilling and upskilling. How this can happen will depend on how societies view who is responsible for training: the worker, the employer, or the government. Regardless, it is likely that many current workers will have difficulty upskilling. They will require high quality jobs in which they can develop skills and competencies, additional educational opportunities, and protection by a social safety net.

Third, although the future will hold many new jobs yet to be envisioned, it will also include many of the traditional tasks and well-known hazards (e.g. exposure chemicals and safety hazards) that will still require occupational safety and health expertise and control methods.

Fourth, the future of work will not occur everywhere in the world the same way or at the same time. Technology and globalization will have different impacts at different times. It is not useful or accurate to use only a “Western lens” through which to view the future of work. In the West, being employed means generating an income in the formal economy; but in the developing world, being employed typically represents a small fraction of those that are economically active “with the majority engaged in low productivity activities in the informal sector (1).” Thus, the impact of automation in rich and poor economies has different consequences and implications for skills development (2). In both types of economies, future of work scenarios do not address the growing gap between productivity and compensation (1). Labor’s share of income is increasingly less than the share that accrues to capital. As a result, tensions in industrial relations might increase, possibly hindering collaboration on critical occupational safety and health issues.

Finally, there is a need to consider the future of work because deleterious scenarios are not inevitable. The future can be shaped by an informed, empowered workforce, particularly the younger members (18). Social dialogue between workers, businesses, and governments based on multifaceted, transdisciplinary and transparent effort is needed if effective shaping of the future is to occur (6, 14). Thinking that technology is the main or only driver, ignores other significant contributors such as climate, social unrest and pandemics. The recent COVID-19 pandemic reminds us how the world is susceptible to forces hiding in plain sight but not addressed (5). This pandemic illustrates how work can be drastically changed. The pandemic also lays bare how the loss of employment due to a global disruption has ripple effects across all areas of economic and social life. These negative impacts are not evenly distributed among citizens, with the most vulnerable being disproportionately affected.

While it is important to consider other factors when exploring the future of work, the role of technology in imagining this future cannot be understated. It is increasingly clear that, over the next 5-10 years, Information and Communication Technologies and Enabling Technologies (ICT-ET) will change the equipment, tools and technical systems that can be used to organize, manage and deliver products and or services across most occupational sectors (17). ICT-ETs such as 3D and 4D printing and bioprinting, autonomous vehicles (including drones) robotics (including collaborative robotics, AI, VR and AR will be used in work (17). There is a general consensus that, in future work scenarios, psychosocial hazards will be more pervasive than traditional occupational safety and health hazards (3, 11, 16, 17), with profound effects on mental and physical health. Psychosocial hazards are those aspects of the design and management of work, and its social and organizational contexts, that have a potential for causing psychological and physical harm (7). These include but are not limited to risks related to: new forms of employment contracts and job insecurity, the aging workforce, work intensification, highly emotional demands at work, digital surveillance and poor work-life balance (17).

The role of occupational safety and health in the future of work will need to evolve to include a more holistic and public health-oriented approach to addressing worker health (9, 13, 15, 19). Based on a global survey of occupational safety and health professionals (19), it is anticipated that there will be an increase in complexity of health and safety requirements in the future. Four major global factors that the survey indicated will influence the practices of occupational health and safety are: the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainability Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); the Revised GRI 403: Occupational Health and Safety Global Reporting Initiative; the ISO 45001 International Occupational Health and Safety Standard; and International Labour Organization ILO Guidelines on Occupational Safety and Health Management Systems (10).

The realization that work will continue to change in the future requires that the field of occupational safety and health include but go beyond traditional concerns such as exposures to chemical, physical and biological agents and focus on an expanded paradigm that addresses the interaction occupational and individual risk factors, the work-life continuum and ultimately on operationalizing and implementing a concept for the well-being of workers. This holistic view will require new systems thinking and transdisciplinary approaches to occupational safety and health in the future (15).