Futuristic safety to the masses and the importance of competency

For the second instalment of our futuristic safety blog series, we’re turning our attention to competency and what this means when rolling out safety processes across organisations.

According to the Health and Safety Executive, competence can be described as the combination of training, skills, experience and knowledge that a person has and their ability to apply them to perform a task safely. Other factors, such as attitude and physical ability, can also affect someone’s competence.

Karl Simons OBE, FYLD’s Chief Futurist, has experienced the impact a competent team can have on the operational safety of workforces first-hand, explaining: “The future in prevention of harm means machines will aid the competency levels of humans, both physically and psychologically.

“FYLD’s AI solution which is easy to learn, use and adopt, is thankfully already making the archaic ‘dumb digital forms’ that have been forced onto employees in every sector a thing of the past.”

These technological developments and personal qualities enable future-ready safety practices to be developed in the present day. We delve into the three main pillars of attitude, training and education below to discover the importance of knowledge, compliance and behaviours when implementing futuristic safety measures…

1. Positive attitude

Workplace attitudes towards health, safety and wellbeing need to be developed and nurtured to maintain a safe workplace for all. A mutual effort and commitment are vital from all to keep everyone safe, whether it’s for the benefit of colleagues, customers or the public.

This can affect personal and team behaviours by highlighting hazards and controls and a deeper understanding of surroundings onsite. This impacts the future standards and levels of engagement with technology and will enable workers to be trained on new issues which may arise in the workplace.

2. Continual training and learning

It’s important for companies of all sizes to evolve with the times and embrace technology as part of continual professional development (CPD) programmes. By undertaking this training ‘on the job’, there are real world benefits for workers – no loss in pay, no time outside of working hours needed, and enabling long-term productivity and safety benefits.

Users of FYLD’s platform have reported they are confident in its functionality after just 15 minutes of training due to its easy interface and accessibility.

The more people who are trained on the platform, the more informed the machine learning becomes. Machine learning depends on an accumulation of data. Volume is therefore a key driver in how quickly the AI-model will be enhanced and ready for the future. You can read more about how FYLD maximises machine learning capabilities for teams in our blog here.

3. Education, education, education

Continual innovation and advancements in technology is only useful if the workforce is educated in adopting it. Again, this is based in mindset and being prepared to change to new safety processes that are fit for the future.

Linda Harrison, Change Management Specialist at Morrison Water Services, said:

“FYLD has been the smoothest rollout I have ever experienced with a technology project.”

This is testament to FYLD’s commitment to deploying its platform to users at scale. Mutual education between FYLD and its customers ensures accurate and transparent reporting, which leads to positive customer feedback and results.

Learn more here about how FYLD can keep your team and organisation safe.