Digital Transformation and Occupational Safety in Industry
A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 January 2026 | Viewed by 108
Special Issue Editors
Interests: project management; Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP); occupational safety & health; quality management; sustainable manufacturing; indoor and outdoor air quality; Industry 4.0.; Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: project management; construction management; architectural engineering; project engineering; building energy efficiency; energy rehabilitation; industrialized construction; sustainable design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: project management; sustainable manufacturing; occupational safety & health; quality management; Industry 4.0.; Artificial Intelligence (AI); supply chain
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Industry 4.0 (I.40) and Industry 5.0 (I5.0) mark new stages in production based on the integration of advanced technologies to achieve more flexible and personalized processes. Beyond optimizing manufacturing, these innovations offer key advantages for occupational health and safety (OHS): they enable the design of safer environments, reduce human exposure to high-risk tasks, and improve ergonomics through automation and the continuous monitoring of parameters such as noise, temperature, and humidity.
Tools such as virtual reality facilitate training in hazardous scenarios without exposing workers to risk, and artificial intelligence and big data enable real-time risk assessment, while digital twins optimize contaminant control and monitor fatigue or work statuses. Cybersecurity also protects against attacks that could compromise robots or machinery, preventing serious accidents.
In particular, artificial intelligence provides safety management with advanced predictive and analytical capabilities that strengthen OHS. By processing data from incident histories to environmental variables in real time, algorithms identify risk patterns before they materialize, prioritize preventive actions, and allocate resources more accurately. Furthermore, AI automates the generation of regulatory compliance reports and customizes training programs based on individual risk profiles, so safety managers can make proactive decisions to safeguard their team's integrity.
Research on OHS and I.40 and I5.0 is still in the exploratory phase, predominantly being confined to conceptual studies in Europe and with limited empirical data. It is vital that organizations review their management systems, strengthen human capital, and promote new digital skills. Therefore, more studies are needed that correlate Industry 4.0 and 5.0 technologies with occupational health and safety, incorporating sustainability and the human factor as central themes.
Dr. Andres Pastor Fernandez
Dr. Alberto Cerezo Narváez
Dr. Magadalena Ramirez-Peña
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- artificial intelligence (AI)
- advanced industrialization
- big data
- digital twins
- Industry 4.0 (I4.0)
- Industry 5.0 (I5.0)
- occupational health and safety
- occupational risks
- project management
- sustainability
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