Complex and dramatic global patterns of growth by age, immigration policies, outsourcing, retirement, diverse working populations, and new technologies are rapidly reshaping the global market, workforce and workers of the future.

This keynote address examines what we have learned from the past about a safe and healthy workforce and the key trends and technologies that will bring new problems and opportunities for an improved occupational safety and health climate. Will a demographically older population in many developed countries adjust to the digital convergence of needed skills? Will nations adapt policies to encourage or discourage the increasing internationalization of the global workforce? Will the dramatically different patterns of employment such as contingent work presage new highly unstructured patterns of work culture? Will a distributed workforce be a safer one? Will new advances in personal health care influenced by nano-biology, super-computers and communication technology create a more manageable global safety and healthy work environment?

We as occupational safety and health care professionals will need to influence and respond to these challenges and the demands of the future global landscape by creating impactful global partnerships to plan today to prepare for tomorrow. In the United States, we are adjusting to four generations in the workforce for the first time, each with its own common experiences and shared values. Both public and private organizations are struggling with how to enhance their relevance and impact in an era of resource scarcity and diverse worker and employer expectations. The convergence of advanced technology, next generation Internet and smart-agent networks, and a new science of work, will provide us the opportunity to develop, implement and sustain partnerships in real time that are relevant and impactful for maintaining a healthy, safe and productive workforce.

Are we ready for what’s coming?

John Howard, USA, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health