Abstract
The world moves and advances very quickly. Production systems and jobs evolve with the world. Occupational risks change as jobs change: The occupational risks of jobs we found two hundred years ago are different from the risks inherent to today’s jobs. The influence of technology is evident in many of today’s companies and, as a consequence, in the work that takes place in them. The recent COVID-19 pandemic, which has so upset the world, has made possible the acceleration in the massive use of certain communication tools that has been linked to the home confinement of a significant part of the population. Lots of workers and companies have been forced to telecommute. In a lot of countries, legislation and regulations were not prepared for these new ways of working: the laws have had to adapt to this new operation. In this area techno-stress has emerged, a new variety of stress derived from the use of new technologies at work, with the consequent negative psychosocial effects for the worker and the people around him, which can, at the same time, be the prelude to many others pathological processes of various nature.
Highlights
When we talk about prevention of occupational risks, we are talking about the set of activities or measures adopted or planned in all phases of the company’s activity, in order to avoid or reduce the risks derived from work in order to guarantee safety and health of workers the possibility that a worker suffers a certain damage derived from work
There have been authors who have explained that workers, information and communications technology (ICT) users, experience techno-stress due to information overload, invasion of personal life, inability to deal with uncertainty, and the complexity generated by information systems and the feeling of insecurity due to their rapid advance (Tarafdar et al 2007)
For this reason, telecommuting and its occupational risks are new for a lot of people: employers and workers
Summary
The introduction of new information and communication technologies in all areas has generated different forms of communication, relationships, information, learning, and, work. These advancements have transformed the way many people go about their jobs The effects of these changes on occupational safety and health have been notable: in some cases more traditional hazards and risks have been reduced or eliminated, for example through industrial automation, but new technologies have created new risks or emerging risks. To know if an occupational risk is emerging, it is necessary to attend to the definition given by the European Risk Observatory (ERO), of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA 2014), an organization in charge of detecting new and emerging risks in the work environment, to increase the effectiveness and advance of preventive measures.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
