Science Observatory
In this space we select relevant scientific publications to keep up to date with technological advances and innovative technologies of interest to the Chair.
BOE: Official State Gazette’s Electronic Code related to “Prevention of Occupational Risks”
We share here the publication of the Official State Gazette (BOE) with the Electronic Code related to “Prevention of Occupational Risks”.
Policy Brief Article “Digital transformation in organizational health and safety to mitigate Burnout Syndrome”
The article “Digital transformation in organizational health and safety to mitigate Burnout Syndrome” has been published.
In 2000, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified Burnout Syndrome as an occupational risk factor, affecting an estimated 10% of workers, resulting in lost productivity and increased costs due to sick leave. Some claim that Burnout Syndrome has reached epidemic proportions in workplaces around the world. While signs of burnout are not difficult to identify and palliate, its real impact is not easy to measure, generating a number of risks for companies from possible loss of human talent to decreased productivity and diminished quality of life. Given the complexity of Burnout Syndrome, it must be addressed in a creative, innovative and systematic way; traditional approaches cannot be expected to deliver different results. This paper describes the experience where an innovation challenge was launched to collect creative ideas to identify, prevent or mitigate Burnout Syndrome through the use of technological tools and software. The challenge was endowed with an economic award and its guidelines stated that the proposals must be both creative and feasible from an economic and organizational point of view. A total of twelve creative projects were submitted, including each of them, the analysis, design and management plans, to envision an idea that is feasible and with the appropriate budget, implemented. In this paper, we present a summary of these creative projects and how the IRSST (Instituto Regional de Seguridad y Salud en el Trabajo) experts and leaders in OHS in the Madrid Region (Spain) envision their potential impact on improving the OHS landscape.
Scientific Paper: “Agile Delphi methodology: A case study on how technology impacts burnout syndrome in the post-pandemic era”
The article “Agile Delphi methodology: A case study on how technology impacts burnout syndrome in the post-pandemic era”, which we have published in collaboration with the Instituto regional de Seguridad y Salud en el Trabajo de la Comunidad de Madrid, is now available.
Introduction: In the post-pandemic era, many habits in different areas of our lives have changed. The exponential growth in the use of technology to perform work activities is one of them. At the same time, there has been a marked increase in burnout syndrome. Is this a coincidence? Could they be two interconnected developments? What if they were? Can we use technology to mitigate this syndrome? This article presents the agile Delphi methodology (MAD), an evolved version of the Delphi method, adapted to the needs of modern-day society.
Methods: To drive Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) experts to reach a consensus on what technological and non-technological factors could be causing the burnout syndrome experienced by workers in the post-pandemic era, MAD has been used in a specific case study. This study formally presents MAD and describes the stages enacted to run Delphi experiments agilely.
Results: MAD is more efficient than the traditional Delphi methodology, reducing the time taken to reach a consensus and increasing the quality of the resulting products.
Discussion: OHS experts identified factors that affect and cause an increase in burnout syndrome as well as mechanisms to mitigate their effects. The next step is to evaluate whether, as the experts predict, burnout syndrome decreases with the mechanisms identified in this case study.
Book: “La fatiga informática en el trabajo”, by Francisco Trujillo Pons.
Do you know the latest book by Professor Francisco Trujillo? Are you interested in knowing more about his latest publication? Join us to discover it!:
The professor and researcher at the University of Valencia stated in a recent interview that “Computer fatigue is seen in lack of attention, memory loss, even cardiovascular pain, heart attacks, weight gain… The worker is exploited and self-exploited, because he thinks he is performing or that he is going to be the heir of the company and he is also very pushed by this performance of the neoliberalist world we are living in”.
Thus, he recently launched his latest book where he addresses the complex issue of this emerging and new occupational risk, entitled “IT fatigue” faced by organizations. A very practical point of view from a legal and preventive treatment.
Publication: “Smart occupational health and safety for a digital era and its place in smart and sustainable cities”
A shift to a circular economy (CE) is key to the future sustainability of the EU. For an effective transition to a Circular Economy, digital technologies are essential. Both workplace digitalisation as well as the change to circularity present opportunities and challenges for occupational safety and health (OSH), that need to be incorporated in this transition. This policy brief examines the role of digitalisation in a Circular Economy and its potential OSH effects under four CE scenarios in 2040. It focuses on issues common to all four scenarios, including information provision and sharing, work flexibility, deskilling, and risks related to worker surveillance and monitoring. The article concludes by discussing the challenges of managing the role of digital technologies in the transition to a CE with good performance of OSH.
Publication: “Smart occupational health and safety for a digital era and its place in smart and sustainable cities”
Our IRSST-UC3M Chair team has recently published the article “Smart occupational health and safety for a digital era and its place in smart and sustainable cities”, a study on the relevance of considering Occupational Health and Safety in the context of the design and development of smart cities. We invite you to read and enjoy the article, which is available in open access.
SmartOSH: “2 time thieves in occupational safety and health: No real-time data and administrative burden”
Digital transformation came to stay years ago, but not to stay in a static way, just like our organizations, teams and projects, digital transformation is in constant movement. Read more.
App users to spend $270 billion on apps by 2025
Figures suggest that app spending in 2025 will be 2.5 times higher than in 2020. The increase is reinforced by the transition to apps that occurred during the pandemic, a trend that is expected to continue as it has paved the way for more consumers to use their mobile devices.
Psychological safety and the critical role of leadership development
While the benefits of psychological safety are well established, a new study suggests how leaders, by developing specific skills, can create a safer, higher-performing work environment.