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Back to the Future: A New Era of Safety

Oct. 21, 2015
As we define the future, we set new rules of safety.
The hype around Oct. 21, 2015 is palpable. Walking into the office this morning, I half expected to see a Back to the Future enthusiast cruising around the streets of Cleveland in a DeLorean.

Today is the day all of the Internet memes about the future being today ring true.

I was born a year before the first Back to the Future film debuted, so I’m not going to wax poetic about the 80s. But I am pretty excited about the future.

Since I started writing for EHS Today in January, I’ve been writing about the confluence of technology and safety. Think autonomous cars, alternative energy, robots.

With each new technology, with each new product, with each new industry, there is an entirely new realm of safety to explore. As we define the future, we set new rules of safety.

As workers sport Google Glass on the factory floor, as employees don exoskeletons on the loading dock, as fleet drivers use bio-fueled trucks, it’s going to continue to take innovation not only on the engineering side but also on the safety side.

Keeping workers safe, bringing them home at the end of the day is an evolving challenge. New technologies can both make workers safer, but also raise new concerns about power sources, operations and intellectual property.

The future may be today, but it’s also tomorrow and the next day and the day after that.

Let’s take that ride – DeLorean or not – together. I’ll send you a drone.

About the Author

Ginger Christ Blog | Associate Editor

Ginger Christ is an associate editor for EHS Today, a Penton publication.

She has covered business news for the past seven years, working at daily and weekly newspapers and magazines in Ohio, including the Dayton Business Journal and Crain’s Cleveland Business.

Most recently, she covered transportation and leadership for IndustryWeek, a sister publication to EHS Today.

She holds a bachelor of arts in English and in Film Studies from the University of Pittsburgh.

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