As 2022 draws to a rapid close, we begin to look towards what 2023 holds and how we can prepare our business for the year to come.
Every year, HSE Executives and business leaders contemplate what trends will make headlines in the next year and how they can set up their businesses for continued success.
1 – Mental health and well-being of employees – Psychological Risk mitigation
One of the most significant factors to come out of the pandemic was the ongoing effect of COVID-19 on mental health and well-being. While COVID-19 was one of the worst disrupters most of us have seen in our lifetime, it has shone a light on an overlooked area of mental well-being and psychological safety.
Fast forward to 2022, the recent ISO 45003 Occupational health and safety management — Psychological health and safety at work standard is now top of mind for many businesses.
In Australia alone, state Government bodies are piloting this ISO standard and intending to make it mandatory for most businesses. As a result, large enterprises are looking to understand exactly what psychological risks are in the workplace, identifying what is relevant to their workers and implementing relevant controls to reduce psychological hazards.
2 – Continued Investment in Digital Transformation
Most businesses quickly learned from the pandemic that real-time access to crucial data and information is key to operating in disruptive circumstances.
As paper and pen become increasingly redundant and businesses migrate away from spreadsheets and disparate software systems that cannot handle the ever-growing need for real-time data processing, EHS executives are investing more and more in EHS Software.
The EHS Software market is projected to grow to a $2.80 billion market size within the next few years as businesses around the globe continue to undertake digital transformation.
3 – Increasing awareness and the need to tackle environmental impact
The effects of climate change and how organisations address their impact on the environment is becoming more and more of a concern for consumers. As a result, it is becoming increasingly important for large companies to show their efforts and highlight changes they have made to minimise impact and that ESG is incorporated into their future strategy.
As a result, businesses are implementing a team to tackle the need to report and track environmental and social impacts and provide comprehensive reporting to enable good governance.
This includes reporting on the workplace impact on workers’ physical, but also their mental well-being and mitigating risks associated with psychological risk in the workplace. Along with measuring carbon emissions and other environmental impacts related to the way the business operates.
4 – Talent shortages:
According to a Korn Ferry study called Global Talent Crunch, the current talent shortage could create 85 million unfilled jobs (source). While some industries are exempt from these pressures, high-risk sectors face some of the most significant global challenges.
What are the causes of this talent shortage? Fewer babies, lower high school and college enrollment, rapid wage inflation, near-record unemployment, a skills shortage, the Great Resignation and the remnants of Covid-19 are all conspiring to hinder future business growth.
What does this mean for 2023? While some industries won’t feel the pressure as much as others, there will still be an ongoing need to showcase your HSE strategy, culture of safety and business values to attract and retain the best talent.
5 – Data from everywhere
Every year we hear more and more about advancements in technology, integrated systems and how data is king. 2023 will be no exception. As technology continues to improve rapidly, it becomes more affordable. The ability to collect and utilise data from various smart technologies like IoT devices, wearables, and mobile EHS software is driving continuous improvement.
With these technological advancements, data is no longer siloed by manually recording events on paper and disconnected spreadsheets and systems or manually processing them into legacy systems.
Integrated mobile solutions like Lucidity are leading the visibility of real-time data access from on-the-ground workers to head office, board rooms and everywhere in between.
Other IoT devices, like wearables, are also transforming how we mitigate risk. The global wearables market is projected to exceed US$ 2.78bn by 2024, expanding at a CAGR of 9.2%. In WHS, wearables and Smart PPE vary depending on the type of work and environment – but they could include watches, smart glasses, hard hat sensors, protective glasses, monitoring devices, IoT devices and much more.
Our safety software was created by health and safety specialists – for health and safety specialists.
Lucidity’s modular platform creates a perfectly tailored solution to streamline the health and safety compliance your business needs.
Connect all employees at every level with a single source of cloud-based Health and Safety software truth on a platform they will want to use.
Simple. Connected. Customised.
