For the month of June The CPCU Society Interest Groups, supported by The Social Media Tribe, has focused on safety.  In that spirit, as part of the Information Technology Interest Group (IT IG), I wanted to participate in regard to safety and the impacts by IT.  Safety can be in various areas, from physical safety in order to prevent workplace injuries to virtual safety by preventing a cyber loss. Safety is something that is preached to children before they spread their wings to venture on their first solo journeys from home, but even in the adult realm there is a need for vigilance for safety.

I decided to take a broad approach and used the Google search engine entering the phrase “safety risk in the world today”.[i]    The first five items that appeared related to the safest countries in 2019, occupational safety news and best practices, global health risks, biggest risks for the world in 2019 and The Global Risks Report 2019.  It is safe to say there is plenty of work opportunity in regard to safety risk to plan and prevent loss or injury everywhere.  What could IT do for safety in the physical and virtual environments?  Because this topic is so broad, it may be more efficient to select one example from each area of safety risk; physical and virtual.

Defining Physical & Virtual Safety

First, let’s consider what physical and virtual risks mean.  Physical hazard: physical environment which could increase or decrease the probability or severity of a loss. It can be managed through risk-improvement, insurance policy terms, and premium rates.[ii]

Even with the increasing reference to virtual in our everyday living, the term virtual risk does not have an immediate definition.  In order to provide clarification on the difference between physical and virtual, the newer term of virtual risk officer could be utilized.  There are various references found through internet searches, one from KnowBe4 references insight and actionable metrics that allow an understanding of the attack surface of an organization; learn vulnerabilities and assess the effectiveness of security awareness in regard to phishing attacks.[iii]

So there it is, virtual could be anything from the vast array of technology that is utilized in our world today.  This broad based area of risk follows a business everywhere; from the desk to the company car, to the cellular phone that everyone carries with them EVERYWHERE.

Virtual Safety & IT

A recent publication from Virtual Strategy Magazine, discussed the opportunity for a global manufacturer to reduce cybersecurity risk.[iv]  Many organizations look to open up communication lines between global locations, but the more open something is the more vulnerable it may become to risk of loss.  In this article, ForeScout Technologies, Inc. worked with Haworth to protect the network from vulnerable connected devices.  Considering that a manufacturer is likely looking at devices for the production of goods & services and communication devices like cellular phones and computers for employees, there are many areas for gaps to appear.

In this virtual safety example, the IT relation is in the form of programs and firewalls created to continually monitor the devices and subsequent activity.  There is also a risk benefit for the manufacturer in using a third-party in this manner.  This type of third-party effort not only lowers the virtual risk loss for the company but reduces the risk of liability.  Protecting work product and consumer information are primary focus points in today’s world.

Physical Safety & IT

When someone says physical safety an initial thought is maintenance for a building to keep people safe or preventing injuries.  The IT items here could occur with devices tracking the operation of overhead doors in order to address new maintenance issues as they occur.  There is a slight twist to this concept for physical safety today; preventing risk of injury to an employee from fatigue is a real issue…and it is about physical safety.

In a recent publication from EHS Today, Stefanie Valentic presented this topic of fatigue and that the promotion of a work-life balance would be instrumental in lowering the risk of loss or injury.[v]  For many people, employers are offering wellness incentives and it is most relatable to health insurance benefits.  The concept of lower health insurance premiums may be the first thought, but these wellness objectives offer even broader support to prevent workplace injury. Better health habits or lifestyle decisions, including work-life balance and making rest a priority, will allow for lower risk of injury from fatigue.

But how does IT come into play to prevent fatigue?  Valentic’s article mentions the supervisor being vigilant to identify workers experiencing fatigue.  From the IT perspective, this is an area where fitness devices or artificial intelligence built into manufacturing equipment would provide benefit.  Being able to monitor changes in the physical activity of an employee or manufacturing equipment that notices a reduction in hand to eye coordination could provide feedback…or better yet shut a manufacturing machine down where risk factors reach a specified threshold.

Safety Risk & IT Impact

No matter the environment, physical or virtual, the realm of IT contains possibilities to reduce or remove risk of loss or injury in order to increase safety for people and environments. Insurance can provide security from these same risks by covering claims and the IT realm could assist in lower rates by building safety into everyday facets of our world.

Endnotes