Digital Transformation in Organizations:the Impact on Working Life Quality and Newrisk Factors

Abstract

The subject of the study is to analyse any critical factors related to the use and abuse of digital tools in the workplace, to assess their impact on work in terms of health and safety and to identify appropriate prevention and protection measures. This work aims to improve well-being and the performance of workers and organizations in relation to ongoing changes and challenges. For this purpose, a systematic international literature review was carried out with a special attention to the analysis of the validated questionnaires used in European and international contexts related to the evaluation of the impact of digital on working life quality and new risk factors. In this context, the digital transformation in the organizations, due also to the increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICT), determines changes in the workforce and management practices, with important effects, in terms of risks and benefits, on job characteristics and on the working life's quality too.

New and Emerging Hazards for Health and Safety within Digitalized Manufacturing Systems

“…In this context, the main technologies considered were cobots [11,15,16], autonomous vehicles [17], and virtual reality [18]. The possible risks resulting from the use of these technologies concern both physical and psychological aspects, namely anxiety, excessive workload, depression, possible sense of isolation, fatigue and always-on feeling [8], i.e., the feeling of being always connected.…”

“…The negative effects of inappropriate use of the internet include technological dependence, lack of work-life balance, and inappropriate behavior in the workplace [28]. Other hazards may include the development of the always-on feeling, technostress episodes-a phenomenon that occurs in strictly technological environments-, and possible hazards for the workers connected to privacy violation, i.e., cyberbullying and molesting [8]. Finally, concerning the Additive Manufacturing context, employees working without the necessary protections are exposed to toxic substances that can cause abrasion or eye irritation [29].…”

“…Furthermore, operators employing such technologies are exposed to hazardous chemicals, i.e., ultra-fine powders, monomers, organic compounds, or inert gases. This exposure may cause eye damage [29,35,[37][38][39][40]42], eye fatigue [1,4,6], skin damage, skin sensitization, contact dermatitis [37,[39][40][41], nasal mucosa injuries [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43], central nervous system damage [1,[4][5][6], reproductive system damage [43], asthma, allergic rhinitis or other consequences of respiratory and lung damages [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44], metal poisoning [1,3,[5][6][7][8], loss of coordination, headache and nausea [38], cardiovascular diseases [1,3,…”

“…In this way, the EU-OSHA stressed the need for an integrated and proactive approach for the identification of emerging hazards related to the changing workplace. In particular, the above-mentioned approach should ensure the definition of appropriate prevention measures in connection with new applications [8]. Furthermore, EU-OSHA clarifies that the OSH hazards associated with digitalization include increased ergonomic risks, mainly deriving from the different operating procedures.…”

Occupational Safety and Health 5.0—A Model for Multilevel Strategic Deployment Aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals of Agenda 2030

“…Such contributions include the digitalisation of OSH, the incorporation of new and emerging scientific and technical knowledge, the implementation of preventive culture, and the integration of OSH under excellence concepts which are broader than the classic idea of quality, such as sustainability, and community health due to the great impact that the community health has on productive activity [7]. In addition, the implementation and development of OSH strategies and processes, in terms of incorporating Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) and the conceptual and working frameworks of complexity science into OSH, have a significant impact with the way in which these are incorporated into other processes and departments at the company level [8].…”