The fourth industrial revolution and social innovation in the workplace
Keywords:When we talk about the future of work, mostly the technical developments are the core elements of the discussion. In this discussion paper we focus on Social innovation in the context of digitalisation, and its impact on future jobs, on future workers and on future workplaces, and the challenges that these bring for occupational safety and health (OSH) regulations and governance.
The paper describes the new innovative society and new business models, in which more work is done online and in non-office environments, by workers who are often self-employed. The need for resilience and adaptability in individuals, the resulting new classes of workers, and the specific challenges facing newcomers and older workers are discussed, along with the need for OSH organisations to shift their focus towards supporting individual workers.