Work and Research Programme 2022-2025
Focus: Safety and Health in the Digital World of Work
The focus on Safety and Health in the Digital World of Work established under the previous Work and Research Programme is being continued during the 2022-2025 programme period.
The current programme period has seen the emphasis placed on AI technologies in the world of work, innovative forms of organisation, and their consequences for the individual, with questions about sustainable design being addressed.
Like other technological innovations, the application of AI has thrown up both opportunities and risks in the field of work design. Attention is being paid to the risks employees face, as well as the scope for personal initiative created by these new technologies.
Rapid data networks and mobile end user devices have made new forms of work organisation possible. Working times are becoming more flexible and there are many jobs in which employees have almost total freedom to choose when and where they do their work. This is opening up lots of opportunities, to balance work and family responsibilities for example.
At the same time employees' health and well-being not infrequently suffer as a result of these new forms of flexibilisation. The human-centred design of the digital world of work is consequently an important goal for the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin, BAuA).
The unifying theme is the differentiated analysis of stressors’ consequences, depending on technological developments and the demands technological change is forcing occupational safety and health practitioners to deal with.
Research projects