BIG DATA AND THE BIG CHANGE IT BRINGS TO EHS MANAGERS

Source: Enablon Insights. Translated by: Laragon.

Does this phrase sound familiar?

“Technology will change this profession and will make people focus on more valuable tasks.” Surely have heard any variation of this phrase or a similar one. Replace “technology” for “Big Data” or “automation” or. any other thing; and substitute “profession” for any function and there will be heard this type of phrase several times.

It would be easy to react with skepticism about the idea, one could even interpret the phrase This is indicated as a way of saying that jobs will change or, worse yet, will be will be lost with the advance of technology. In many cases the sentence is correct.

For many jobs, technology does not eliminate positions or lead to a negative work environment. Rather, job descriptions will change, and people will simply will have to adapt.

What role will EHS managers play?

Let’s focus on the media issue environment, health and safety.

The industry 4.0, also known as the fourth revolution industrial, is facing a boom in the emergence of “industrial factories”. intelligent” in which cyber-physical systems control processes of factories through the Internet of Things, known by the acronym (IoT), by “Internet of Things”. Physical assets and systems communicate with each other. and with humans in real time. Other technologies that are part of of ‘Industry 4.0’, Big Data, information analysis, Cloud Computing, drones, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, machine learning, robotic robotics, etc.

Big Data, the analysis of information and artificial intelligence will have an impact on the performance of EHS managers. Imagine a world in which an intelligent EHS software platform could analyze an incident and recommending action plans and controls based on past incidents similar. Imagine that the data are entered into the system by sensors and drones, and by thousands of field workers through mobile devices.

All of this is happening right now. There is no need to imagine it. Yes you are an EHS manager, you may ask yourself: “What am I here for? The answer is “For something much more important”.

More psychological management, less logistics

The answer I gave above is based on something I read in Safety + Health magazine about technology, Big Data and worker safety. In the article, Keith Bowers, founder of Bowers Management Analytics, says:

“Big Data won’t replace the professionals of the security, but will free them to do what they do best…. Tailor-made as Big Data becomes more important, soft skills become indispensable. for security professionals. Security professionals do not need to become technicians. They need to be better at what they accepted that work: Developing culture, keep people safe, and to develop an appropriate environment and the type appropriate organization to minimize incidents”.

Highlighting the most important part of the bold text. Big Data, analytics and artificial intelligence will not convert the EHS manager’s job into obsolete, neither will they make them have to become technicians, as Bowers points out. Rather, EHS managers will focus more on safety culture and the EHS manager’s role will be more psychological and less logistical . More human and agile.

Humans are not perfect. Nor do the algorithms

Thanks to technology, managers EHS managers will spend much less time processing incident data, near misses and accidents and observations. Technology will do it for them. Big Data and the artificial intelligence (which use algorithms), can help to predict and prevent incidents and eliminate many administrative tasks, but they cannot help improve the safety culture themselves.

Algorithms may be able to incidents and identify the recurring conditions that are causing most of the risks. But algorithms cannot motivate humans, modify their attitudes, and behaviors, or promote values so that they are adopted in their hearts and minds. minds. Only EHS managers and other professionals can do this.

If you’re an EHS manager, the Big Data and technology will finally free you to spend more time on security culture. You will be able to focus on promoting a set of beliefs, values, attitudes, and customs shared concerns regarding safety in the workplace.

Technology will help the role of the EHS director to be more humane.

Access the recording of the seminar LNS Research” website to learn how advanced analytics capabilities can be used to can enable a more proactive and predictive approach to EHS and EHS management. risks to achieve operational excellence. https://enablon.com/webinars/from-data-to-insight-harness-advanced-analytics-for-operational-excellence-in-an-iiot-world?landing_page=1&Del=WEBS&Source=BLOGCTA.

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