Connected workers are those wearing technology that gathers useful data for better decision-making by companies. Wearables collect many types of information that provide context surrounding time on the jobsite and worker health, often using biometric and physiological data. Managers assess and analyze the information to make informed actions and improve productivity and safety on the jobsite.

While companies are increasingly interested in adopting wearable technology to enhance their operations to compete more effectively, the decision to apply such technology should be methodical. Likely the most important consideration when choosing and deploying wearable technology systems is workers’ rights, specifically to the protection of their personal information. When technology collects health information it is necessary that both employers and employees understand and have confidence in the data protection integrity of the system. The collection and control of the data is not only a legal imperative, it’s an ethical business practice.

The Evolution of Wearables: From Consumer to Commercial

According to a survey by Statista, more than 60 million Americans owned at least one personal wearable device in 2020. This is an increase from 25 million in 2014. Health and fitness trackers, for counting steps or monitoring heart rate, were the first wearables to become popular. Smartphones moved to the wearable category when smart watches were invented. History-recording devices, such as Google Glass, which captures what a person sees, are gaining traction. Wearables have become mainstream consumer items.

Health-focused monitors entered into the business world with their use on professional athletes to measure biometric data which was then used to optimize player performance. These wearables quickly proved valuable for customizing the ideal recovery strategy for each player being monitored, to fight off fatigue and stave off injury. Yet, when used to monitor the potential of a players’ body and thus improve the monetary gain of the teams’ owners, a new conflict emerged: If the organizations would ever use the information collected to predict future performance, or detect deficiencies undetectable to the human eye alone, a player’s negotiation power during contract discussions would be at risk.

The conflict in sports has yet to be resolved. In the meantime, professional associations such as the NBA have formed data privacy committees that fine owners for using information collected by wearable technology to discriminate against a player.

Industrial workers are similar to professional athletes in that their physical endurance equates to profitability for their employers. Wearable technology is used in industrial applications to keep workers safe, first and foremost, yet the information gathered is health-related and therefore must be safeguarded in order to protect workers’ rights to fair and equitable employment, free of discrimination based on their physical capacities to conduct the work.

Companies looking to adopt smart PPE on their worksites face a similar concept to those sports team owners who must find a balance between improvements in efficiency and user privacy. How do they safely collect health information to reap the benefits of wearable technology with peace of mind they aren’t putting their company at risk? Risks posed by the compromise of workers personal information include damage to the company’s reputation and worker morale.

Best Practices for Wearable Monitoring Solutions

Involve Human Resources, Compliance, Legal and IT

Each of these departments (or outside resources) should be involved in the selection of the technology. HR will be most interested in the education of workers during deployment. Compliance and legal will want to know that the technology meets local and national mandates regarding data privacy. IT will want to be confident in the privacy design of the product and how it collects, transmits, shares and stores information. It’s also important to make sure, in partnership with IT, that the company has a strong and stable security system that does its part to secure information when integrated with highly sophisticated wearable technology.

Check to Make Sure the Product Was Designed to Keep Data Private From the Start

Not all smart PPE wearable monitoring technology is designed to protect the data it collects, especially if the product was developed several years ago when data security was not yet an area of major concern. The system for transmitting and viewing information may not have a strong enough hierarchy, which is meant to provide only need-to-know information at various levels of access to the data. For example, highly secure data collection systems allow only the worker to see his/her personal health data. Beyond that, the data is filtered so that it is not accessible to the next-level viewer, such as a supervisor. One way it’s filtered is if, when the data indicates a safety threshold has been crossed, such as a surge of body heat to unhealthy levels, only an alert (and not the personal information) is sent to the supervisor. These incident alerts are then compiled via sophisticated algorithms to provide a view for corporate-level EHS teams to see only trends and patterns of unhealthy environments.

Each view prompt actions at each level: workers are alerted when their health is in danger, supervisors are prompted to assist workers in cool down and rests, and corporate teams can redesign worksites to enhance safety, such as by adding shaded areas or rotating work schedules to avoid the hottest times of day.

Products that are engineered from the beginning to protect the view of sensitive data will be more likely to lock down information and divert unintended use of private information.

Ensure Technology Meets or Exceeds Data Protection Laws

Understand different laws mandating data protection in various parts of the world where employees will be monitored by wearable technology. Multinational employers should note that many countries outside the EU have adopted broad data protection laws, often based, in whole or in part, on the EU model GDPR. In Australia, India and Columbia, biometric information is classified as sensitive personal information and subject to restrictions similar, but not identical to, those in the EU. In the U.S., individual states may have local laws, such as in California, where the CCPA governs data privacy.
Consult the latest guidance from the OSHA and EEOC to ensure whatever technology or tool are in compliance with all data privacy and workers’ rights laws.

Review the Manufacturer’s Privacy Policy

The privacy policy for the technology should be both sophisticated, such that it covers every aspect of data protection, while being simple, so that everyone can understand it. Look for privacy policies written with the workers’ rights as the focus.

Strong privacy policies should explain:

• how the technology works and what data it collects from individuals;
• how the data is used at every level within and outside the organization–who sees what and for which purposes;
  when and how the employer and manufacturer seek the worker’s consent for information collection, usage and disclosure;
• how and with whom the collected information is shared;
• how workers can opt out of the system;
• if and how third-party links or tools are used;
• privacy rights under specific laws, such as those in California and the EU;
• legal basis for processing information;
• how and where personal information is transferred and stored;
• how long information is retained; and
• security measures that are in place to safeguard the information.

Demand a Thorough, Collaborative Deployment Process From the Manufacturer

The manufacturer of the wearable product should provide a comprehensive education and training process for informing workers about the technology, how it works, how it’s used and how it safeguards their personal information. This should include information about the benefits of the technology – that it helps reduce incidents and can even save lives, and that it helps employers make worksites even safer.

Lack of a proper introduction can lead to confusion, misunderstanding, distrust, and resistance, which undermine the product’s efficiencies, skew data and result in the employer’s failure to recoup their investment in the devices.

The protection of employee data should be considered part of a comprehensive safety plan for every worker, and top of mind from the very start of the search for a solution. Safeguarding information is serious business and can be quite complex, but not if the company employs best practices and collaborates with manufacturers who have proactive, worker-centric processes already in place.