Predictive Analytics and Workplace Safety

Can You Predict Workplace Injuries with Any Degree of Accuracy?

Research conducted by teams at Predictive Solutions, a leader in occupational safety software, and Carnegie Mellon University  has shown that workplace injuries can be predicted by computers with accuracy rates as high as 97%!

Outside the field of safety, there have been many studies that show, with conclusive evidence, that computers are better than humans at predicting events. According to Predictive Solutions, “This has been proven with regard to parole decisions, medical diagnoses and business supply chain optimization among other things.”

At a time when artificial intelligence and robotics is discussed as meaningful ways to improve productivity, if predictive analytics has a proven accuracy record with regard to safety, shouldn’t it be a part of safety performance?

Of course there are many questions that need to be asked when considering using predictive analytics as part of your overall safety culture.  Just few might be “What companies and industries have used it? Why are companies struggling to deploy predictive analytics programs on their own? How is predictive analytics applied in safety programs? How much would it cost?”

As data is the primary component of the analysis, some facts that may cause you to pause

in your decision to use predictive analytics might be:  “According to IBM, 2.5 Quintilian bytes of data are created daily and 90% of the data in the world was created in the last two years.”  The collection of safety data has similarly skyrocketed.  “In July 2015 alone, one company recorded more than 200,000 safety observations. At this rate, they will collect over 2.4 million in a single year!”

Obviously taking on a project of this magnitude is not for the faint of heart; just gathering the type of input data required would be a challenge.  But if the end result is being able to predict incidents and stop them before they happen, prevent serious injuries and death to you employees; it might be worth a look.

And maybe the first question to ask when considering predictive analytics might be “where and when will your next injury occur?”

For more information on AwardSafety products or services or other white papers please contact us at awardsafetyinfo@cox.net.