Safety at Work: What’s Powering Workplace Safety Technology

• September 22, 2025

By Damian England, Yuchen Su, and Raji H. Chadarevian

The evolving workplace and the role of workers are key concerns in the workers compensation line of business. Safety technology is a fast-evolving, dynamic field with advanced use of data analytic tools and artificial intelligence (AI) powering its evolution. Realizing the full potential of workplace safety includes industry involvement from employers, technology providers, insurers, independent insurance agents, and more.

The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) engaged with insurers, safety technology providers and employers to explore usage of and challenges with safety technologies. The conversations explored a range of advanced safety technologies—including wearables, AI, computer vision, the Internet of Things (IoT) and software applications—all at various stages of implementation.

Here are four common factors that emerged from discussions related to using safety technologies in the workplace:

1) Culture and change management. Insurers, safety technology providers and employers all noted that a culture of safety and trust is critical to successfully implementing the sustainable use of safety technologies. Implementation of these technologies in the workplace requires support and buy-in from both employers and employees.

As one technology provider noted, “The most challenging part is to get everyone aligned in order to make the change.”

Additionally, employee privacy concerns were mentioned as a significant obstacle to implementation, particularly in cases where workers distrust how employers use the collected data or fail to fully understand the product’s purpose. Education and transparency about data usage and the “why” behind the technology may help to alleviate employee concerns.  

2) Cost concerns. Workers comp insurers and safety technology providers noted that the affordability of a product was a potential obstacle to widespread implementation. The data provided by the new technologies is vast and analyzing it thoroughly can be challenging. However, some safety technology vendors provide free trials, license packages and other utilization incentives.

However, of the three employers NCCI interviewed, two did not believe cost was an important obstacle. One employer shared that if a safety program could prevent one back strain, then the technology “paid for itself.”

Another employer mentioned several potential benefits that may help offset costs, including eliminating the need for a safety manager at every location. Additionally, it was anticipated that the cost of safety technology could decrease in the future due to increased usage and improved system learning of individual operations.

3) Identifying risk minimization. According to NCCI’s “Injury Characteristics and Insights” report, arm/shoulder injuries account for the largest share of claim counts and losses—representing more than 20% of all loss dollars . Head/Central Nervous System claims have an average cost of around $75,000, which is the highest average cost of all body part types. These costly injuries are often the result of falls/slips or being struck by something. The second most costly claims, on average, are those that correspond to multiple body parts being injured; the average cost for these types of claims has been increasing over time and is nearing $75,000. Claims which include injuries to multiple body parts are more likely than average to become a fast-emerging large claim. 

Several safety technology providers noted that ergonomic-related injuries tend to be a primary focus, especially musculoskeletal injuries for the lower back and wrist, with the potential to broaden the applications to the shoulder and other body systems.

Industries such as manufacturing, logistics and warehousing were identified as prime candidates to benefit from safety technologies. While currently more prevalent in traditional four-walled environments, technological advancements are spreading and growing to other workspaces and industries. In the healthcare industry, for example, wearables and robotic assisted surgeries are helping to reduce risk, while retail industries use slip and fall detection services or robots for inventory-related tasks.

4) Leveraging data. Data from technologies such as wearables, AI cameras and software applications were observed as having the potential to help identify issues and opportunities. They may provide employers with visibility over which work processes are causing unnecessary strain on the body and to help identify improvements.

One employer interviewed had indicated concern about not knowing how to interpret or use the data collected. To make the safety program effective, the employer said it would meet regularly with the technology provider and workers comp insurer to review the data.

Another employer reported promising results, including over 335 “good catches”—a more positive term than “near misses”—mitigating 82% of potential accidents. From 2021 to 2023, this same employer saw workers comp costs reduce by 60%.

Workplace safety technologies and usage continue to grow in the workplace. While questions continue to emerge about their impact on workers comp risks, one thing is clear: The best outcome for an injury is for it never to occur.

Damian England is division executive of affiliate services, NCCI Holdings Inc, Yuchen Su, actuary II, NCCI, and Raji H. Chadarevian, executive director of Actuarial Research, NCCI.

This article is based on NCCI’s three-part series, “The Future of Workplace Safety Technology Is Now.”