Latest news with #frontlineWorkers
Harvard Business Review
2 hours ago
- Business
- Harvard Business Review
How Physical Operations Organizations Are Using AI to Protect Workers and Increase Efficiency
The world of physical operations forms the bedrock of our global economy, contributing to more than 40% of the world's gross domestic product (GDP). Manufacturing, construction, energy utilities, transportation, essential public services—these and other industries are the ones that build our cities, power our homes, and deliver the goods we rely on daily. I spend a lot of time with customers in these industries, and over the past few years, I've noticed a fundamental shift in how they operate. By and large, these blue-collar industries were late to adopt technological waves like smartphones, cloud computing, and big data. But they're on the forefront of adopting AI. Why? Why Physical Operations Is Embracing AI The foundation, both technological and demographic, of these industries' adoption of AI was laid over the past decade, and the impact is profound. Several critical factors are creating a fertile ground for this rapid AI adoption in physical operations. First, changing demographics are playing a key role. While workers still join operations industries because they don't want to work behind a desk, a new generation of frontline workers grew up with smartphones for their personal lives, and they expect their workplace technology to similarly make their jobs easier, safer, and more efficient. Second, operations digitized over the past decade. While operations lagged behind industries like finance, retail, and healthcare, it's now largely brought its data and processes into the cloud—just in time for AI. Third and most important, the physics of operations make the potential for impact truly massive. These remain the most dangerous jobs, and AI measurably saves lives (and insurance premiums). And operations are cost-intensive. Between capital expenses, fuel and energy costs, intensive labor demands, and fierce competition, margins are notoriously thin—and even a few percentage points of efficiency gains translates to a significant bottom-line impact. AI on the Frontlines The most compelling AI transformation I'm witnessing falls into two categories: enhancing worker safety and boosting operational efficiency. Safety On the safety front, AI is proving to be a powerful ally in protecting workers. While we marvel at the robotaxis now driving passengers in a handful of cities, similar technology powers AI dash cams in millions of commercial vehicles, acting as copilots to drivers and keeping them safe on the road—reducing accident rates by as much as 50% across tens of thousands of organizations. The City of New Orleans recently deployed AI dash cams in its ambulance fleet to support the thousands of EMTs, paramedics, and other drivers who respond to nearly 70,000 emergency calls annually. The results over 12 months were remarkable: a 37% reduction in speeding and a 46% decrease in mobile phone usage. The newest generation of AI tech can also recognize defensive driving maneuvers, and AI-captured footage can help exonerate drivers in disputed incidents. That tends to turn drivers into enthusiastic adopters of—and even ambassadors for—the technology. Building on the success of driver safety, organizations are beginning to deploy AI to keep workers safe across more and more diverse environments. AI can now detect hazards from a smartphone photo and provide proactive training or tailored safety checklists. And a new generation of wearable technology, enabled by the network of millions of internet-connected operations assets, creates new lifelines for lone workers. Efficiency Safety remains the top priority in operations, and efficiency follows closely behind. AI in the form of applications like predictive maintenance, route optimization, and specialized chatbots for back-office teams is enabling efficient use of labor, fuel and energy savings, and higher utilization of capital assets. By implementing AI-powered route optimization, Mohawk Industries, the largest flooring manufacturer in the world, achieved state-of-the-art efficiency in shuttling raw materials between sites and delivering products to retail partners. Across its three North American fleets, Mohawk's AI-driven efficiency translated into more than $7 million in savings from route optimizations and an improved experience for drivers, who no longer face long waits for dispatch assignments and are paid promptly upon shift completion. Similarly, Sterling Crane, one of Canada's largest mobile crane rental companies, used AI for preventive maintenance, saving over $3 million. For Sterling, an in-shop repair is vastly more cost-effective than dealing with a crane breakdown in a remote location where temperatures can plummet to -81°F. The Start of the AI Era A key observation here: In none of these examples does AI substitute for human labor. Instead, it is acting as a partner on safety and efficiency, and it even helps with team engagement and retention. In a climate where the competition for skilled workers remains intense, forward-thinking organizations are now putting AI to work to attract and retain talent through programs like driver recognition and digital reward systems. Increasingly, the gap between technological leaders and those lagging behind is growing in this era of swift AI advancements. For those organizations that haven't fully embraced AI, the good news is: it's still early days. Operations leaders everywhere still have time to jump aboard this rocket ship. I can't wait to see all the amazing new worlds we're just beginning to explore.
National Post
6 days ago
- Business
- National Post
OCEU/CUPE 1750 Calls on WSIB Leadership to Finalize Fair Deal Before Canada Day
Article content TORONTO — With Canada Day fast approaching, the Ontario Compensation Employees Union (OCEU/CUPE 1750) is calling on WSIB leadership to take immediate action and deliver a fair deal for the more than 3,600 frontline staff who are still on strike. Article content These workers — who process injury claims, support safe return-to-work plans, and ensure critical services for injured Ontarians — have made repeated efforts to reach a resolution. The union's bargaining team remains ready 24/7. What's missing is a mandate from WSIB leadership to get the deal done. Article content 'We want to be back at work serving injured workers and protecting Ontario's compensation system,' said Harry Goslin, President of OCEU/CUPE 1750. 'But we can't do that without a fair offer—and we can't get one unless decision-makers like the CEO are at the table.' Article content Unlike the employer's bargaining team, which requires direction from senior leadership, the union's team is a fully empowered decision-making body. That imbalance has stalled negotiations and prolonged a strike that has disrupted services and placed added pressure on injured workers and frontline staff alike. Article content 'The WSIB has a choice: keep dragging this out, or pull out all the stops to get a deal done before Canada Day,' said Goslin. 'Our message is simple — WSIB leadership must come to the table with full authority and finalize a fair deal before Canada Day. Injured workers and the people they serve cannot wait any longer.' Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content Contacts Article content Bill Chalupiak Article content Article content Article content
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
OCEU/CUPE 1750 Calls on WSIB Leadership to Finalize Fair Deal Before Canada Day
TORONTO, June 25, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With Canada Day fast approaching, the Ontario Compensation Employees Union (OCEU/CUPE 1750) is calling on WSIB leadership to take immediate action and deliver a fair deal for the more than 3,600 frontline staff who are still on strike. These workers — who process injury claims, support safe return-to-work plans, and ensure critical services for injured Ontarians — have made repeated efforts to reach a resolution. The union's bargaining team remains ready 24/7. What's missing is a mandate from WSIB leadership to get the deal done. "We want to be back at work serving injured workers and protecting Ontario's compensation system," said Harry Goslin, President of OCEU/CUPE 1750. "But we can't do that without a fair offer—and we can't get one unless decision-makers like the CEO are at the table." Unlike the employer's bargaining team, which requires direction from senior leadership, the union's team is a fully empowered decision-making body. That imbalance has stalled negotiations and prolonged a strike that has disrupted services and placed added pressure on injured workers and frontline staff alike. "The WSIB has a choice: keep dragging this out, or pull out all the stops to get a deal done before Canada Day," said Goslin. "Our message is simple — WSIB leadership must come to the table with full authority and finalize a fair deal before Canada Day. Injured workers and the people they serve cannot wait any longer." OCEU is calling on WSIB's CEO and board of directors to act now and get this done before Canada Day to restore stability, end this disruption, and reach a respectful settlement that reflects the essential work these employees do every day. mb/cope491 View source version on Contacts For more information, please contact:Bill ChalupiakCUPE Communications Representativewchalupiak@ 416-707-1401
Arab News
20-06-2025
- Health
- Arab News
Pakistan reports new polio case in northwest, raising 2025 tally to 12
KARACHI: Pakistan's polio eradication program on Friday said a new wild poliovirus case had been detected in the country's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, bringing the total tally of 2025 cases to 12. Polio is a paralyzing disease with no cure, making prevention through vaccination critical. Multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine, along with the completion of the routine immunization schedule for all children, are essential to build strong immunity against the virus. The country conducted three nationwide vaccination campaigns in February, April and May, aiming to immunize around 45 million children across Pakistan with the support of over 400,000 frontline workers including 225,000 women vaccinators. 'The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health, Islamabad, has confirmed a new case of wild poliovirus in District Bannu, South Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,' the body said in a statement. 'The 33-month-old male child from Union Council Shamsikhel, District Bannu is the sixth case of polio reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa this year.' Pakistan has reported 12 polio cases so far this year, including six from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, four from the southern Sindh province and one each from the populous Punjab province and the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region. Pakistan, one of the last two countries where polio remains endemic along with Afghanistan, has made significant progress in curbing the virus, with annual cases dropping from around 20,000 in the early 1990s to just eight in 2018. However, the country reported an alarmingly high number of 74 cases in 2024, after six in 2023 and only one in 2021. Health Minister Mustafa Kamal on Thursday claimed that Pakistan has recorded a 99 percent decline in polio cases, as he urged global vaccine organization Gavi to invest more in efforts to 'train and retain' vaccinators. Pakistan launched its polio eradication program in 1994, but its efforts have repeatedly been hindered by widespread vaccine misinformation and resistance from hard-line religious groups who claim immunization campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize Muslim children or a front for espionage. Militant groups have also targeted polio workers and police officials providing them security, often with deadly attacks that have hampered vaccination drives, particularly in the country's remote and conflict-prone regions.
Irish Times
20-06-2025
- Health
- Irish Times
Nurses risked everything for us during the pandemic. Now many are abandoned to its awful legacy
It's not a question of if, but when. Scientists are warning that a new pandemic is lurking over the horizon poised to pounce on us. 'It's an epidemiological certainty,' says WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. 'Are we ready for the next one?' asks everyone from Boston College and Johns Hopkins University to the Economist and the United Nations. 'No,' is the straight answer for this country. READ MORE Ireland's grubby treatment of its Covid-19 heroes will cause some frontline workers to think twice the next time before they risk their lives for the greater good. Specifically, the nurses – those people who did not have the luxury of working from home, who imperilled themselves by caring for the infected, who self-isolated while off duty and eschewed public transport to avoid transmitting the virus, who hesitated to touch their own children but held the hands of the dying when their families could not be with them in the final days of their lives and who then zipped them inside body bags and phoned their kin to inform them the one they loved had gone. They did it in terrifying circumstances under the claustrophobic weight of protective gowns, hairnets, shoe covers, gloves, face shields and masks. In the early days, the masks were the standard surgical type and sorely inadequate. There were no vaccines for the first 10 months. Nurses and other hospital workers saw colleagues fall ill and be taken away to ICU to be put on ventilators. More than 20 healthcare workers died from Covid. What thanks have they got for all that? A €1,000 crisis bonus that their union representatives had to beg for before it was eventually paid. [ My battle with long Covid: I was in disbelief. Was I making it up? How could I not stand up while the kettle boiled? Opens in new window ] To this day, there is a cohort of forgotten heroes whose abandonment brings shame on us all. They are the ones who went out and defended the barriers for the rest of us and now they are living with that awful legacy called long Covid. While normal life of honking traffic, construction sites, children in school uniforms, packed restaurants and pubs and big weddings has resumed outside their front door, they remain trapped in a post-pandemic freeze frame. Extreme fatigue, brain fog, weakened immunity, headaches, muscular pain, palpitations and shortness of breath have left them unable to go back to work. Some days, they cannot even get out of bed. One young nurse who was assigned to a Covid ward in a big Dublin hospital told me she has cardiac complications and has been on antibiotics four times in the past seven months. Another said she contracted Covid in January 2021, that zero hour following the Government's 'meaningful Christmas'. Four and a half years later, she is attending a long Covid clinic and is being treated by an infectious diseases consultant, a cardiac consultant, a GP and an occupational therapist. She is on daily medication for tachycardia (fast heart rate) as well as low-dose naltrexone (LDN), aspirin for micro-clots, painkillers and numerous supplements. [ The healthcare workers with long Covid: 'I'm living with the consequences of a 'meaningful Christmas'' Opens in new window ] She is one of 20 nurses with long Covid who are suing the HSE, the Department of Health and their employer hospitals for compensation. They issued the High Court proceedings two years ago. The State is fighting them. Simultaneously, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) was in the Labour Court last week seeking to extend a long Covid special payment scheme for public health workers who are still suffering the consequences. The scheme, which has been extended three times already following public controversy, is scheduled to expire on June 30th. Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has told the Dáil it will definitely be terminated this time. The departments of Social Protection and Public Expenditure maintain it is not possible to definitively identify the source of infection for each of the 120 nurses affected. The last time the State was so ruthlessly parsimonious was when Charlie Haughey precipitated the 1989 general election rather than sanction £400,000 compensation for 106 individuals who had been infected with the Aids virus by State-supplied blood. It's an attitude that brings to mind Oscar Wilde's definition of a fool as one who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. An asinine State is one willing to pay €335,000 for a politicians' bike shelter but repays its true champions with the threat of impoverishment. Ireland and Greece are the only EU countries that do not recognise Covid and long Covid as an occupational illness for patient-facing workers If the special long Covid payment scheme ends in two weeks, its current recipients will be switched to the normal public service sick leave scheme. It means that for the first three months they will receive their basic wage – with no allowance made for the night-duty premiums and overtime many nurses rely on. They will get half their wage for the subsequent three months. With rents or mortgages to pay, their worry amid a national homelessness crisis raises the stress levels long Covid thrives on. During the pandemic, our cocooned communities gathered outside our homes in the grim lockdown evenings to applaud the country's frontline workers for caring for us. Even TDs stood in the Dáil chamber to clap. How would we have reacted had we known then that this would be the thanks they would get? 'It's gone from a round of applause to a middle finger from the Government,' said a nurse identified as Siobhán on RTÉ radio last year. Ireland and Greece are the only EU countries that do not recognise Covid and, ergo, long Covid as an occupational illness for patient-facing workers. That anomaly means nurses, doctors, porters, caterers, paramedics, fire fighters, gardaí and everyone else who contracted long Covid while protecting the rest of us are ineligible for occupational injury benefit payments. A Department of Social Protection report in November 2023 suggested that uncertainty about the condition's longevity in individual cases was a prohibitive factor. What a callous calculation that must be to ponder if you cannot get out of bed and don't know when you ever will. Our culture takes nurses for granted. We'll pat them on the head and call them our angels of mercy, because tokenism works when you are dealing with people motivated by a vocational duty to the greater good. They deserve better.
