Workplace safety and future and emerging ways of work: A systematic literature review

Abstract

Changes to work due to globalisation and technology can have profound effects for the management of health and safety now and into the future. This paper addresses 1) how has workplace safety been considered in the Future and Emerging Ways of Work (FEWW) literature; 2) what is the quality of the literature that considers workplace safety in the context of FEWW; and 3) what future research is needed to advance our knowledge of workplace safety in the context of FEWW. 29 articles, including grey literature were identified from an extensive search across four databases. The review highlighted there is limited literature in this research field and reliance on lower-level methodologies in FEWW studies, such as narrative review and stakeholder workshops. There is also concern with the current risk management process regarding whether it can accommodate the changing nature of work. The risk management processes can be refined for FEWW by adopting a multidisciplinary approach using a Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE) perspective that considers how dimensions of work change affect work design. We propose that future research is required to better understand how changes to work and organisational design can impact on workplace safety in FEWW, including safety processes, new ways of collecting data to monitor safety and health from a more dynamic workforce, enforcement activities by safety regulators, as well as the implications on workers’ health and wellbeing.