NSC Names Work to Zero Safety Innovation Challenge Semifinalists
A competition held by the National Safety Council announced ten semifinalists on March 30. The 2026 Work to Zero Safety Innovation Challenge spotlights emerging technologies designed to prevent serious workplace incidents and fatalities.
This year’s challenge focuses on solutions that address workplace fatigue, which can slow reaction time and increase the likelihood of mistakes. Research shows that working a 12-hour shift increases the risk of injury by 37%.
“Fatigue is a serious and underrecognized risk factor across many industries,” said Matt Law, director of Work to Zero at NSC, in a statement. “When workers are exhausted, the risk of life-altering or fatal incidents rises. This year’s semifinalists represent innovative solutions that can help employers identify fatigue and take action before incidents occur.”
This year’s semifinalists include:
- Design Interactive: Greenlight is a mobile-based fatigue monitoring system integrating wearable and smartphone data to support safer performance in high-risk environments.
- electrocore, Inc.: TAC-STIM is a handheld device that stimulates the vagus nerve to reduce fatigue and improve attention and decision-making.
- Impairment Science Inc.: DRUID is a mobile app using neuroscience-based tests to assess cognitive and motor impairment for fit-for-duty screening
- Innsightful, Inc.: A wearable-enabled platform that continuously tracks physiological indicators to quantify workplace exhaustion and deliver real-time interventions
- MakuSafe Wearable Tech: A wearable and analytics platform that detects and predicts fatigue-related strain through motion sensing and environmental monitoring
- Predictive Safety SRP, Inc.: AlertMeter and AlertMeter FRMS assess worker alertness and provide predictive fatigue risk management tools
- Pulsar Informatics: Fatigue Meter is a predictive analytics platform originally developed from NASA technology that integrates wearable data, sleep tracking and alertness assessments
- SmartTec Inc.: Okaya is an AI-driven platform that extracts digital biomarkers from brief video check-ins to detect fatigue in real time
- SOBEREYE Inc.: OPTOVERA is a smartphone-based assessment that measures how eyes respond to light to help determine fitness for duty
- Vocadian: A predictive voice AI solution that analyzes voice biomarkers and circadian science to forecast fatigue risk in safety-critical roles
All semifinalists are also eligible to participate in the Work to Zero Pilot Grant Program, which helps organizations test these technologies in workplace settings. The program will award up to $60,000 in total funding, with individual grants available for up to $20,000.