Industry 4.0 requires a holistic approach to occupational safety. It necessarily expands the focus of prevention to include human factors, i.e., the psychological factors that can lead to an occupational accident. In this context, the safety culture and the safety climate play a decisive role.

Safety culture and climate

The safety culture is formed from two components, the psychological as well as the organizational. It reflects the general interest in and understanding of prevention in a company as a whole. The safety culture thus reveals, among other things, the extent to which the conviction is pronounced that basically every hazard can be controlled preventively. Last but not least, it shows how open the company is to preventive improvements and how willing employees are to participate.

The safety climate prevailing in the team is derived from the safety culture. It forms the milieu in which occupational safety prevention takes place. The safety climate should particularly promote attention to human factors. Psychological as well as organizational risks are specifically included in prevention. How does this work in practice?

If all organizational matters such as regulations and instructions have been properly observed, if the planning and control structures are functioning, if force majeure such as rain, lightning or storm is out of the question, what then led to the personal accident? If those responsible ignore the psychological factors of human action in their analyses, they are faced with an unsolvable riddle. Ultimately, they come to the conclusion: human error. The case is then considered finally solved and filed away.

But beware! If the psychological causes are left in the dark, the human failure will repeat itself sooner or later. Therefore, it is essential to ask what all could have led to so-called human failure? Were they:

• Suspended attention
• Perception error
• Memory gaps
• Errors
• Knowledge deficiencies
• Operating error
• Conflict Moods

Often, it is also a matter of psychological traits such as fearfulness and recklessness. Last but not least, organizational factors with a psychological impact must be taken into account.

Fear of failure leads to stress

Fear of failure is the fear of making mistakes. It occurs in many areas of life. It manifests as nervousness, discouragement or stress. Associated with it are difficulties to relax. With fatal effects on the heart and stomach. At work, fear of failure can lead to misconduct and be indirectly responsible for accidents.

Rapid onset of anger or excessive irritability indicates a vehement fear of failure in a person. Worse, being seen as a failure by colleagues reinforces the syndrome. As a result, an individual can put a significant strain on the working atmosphere of the entire team. The fear of failure sometimes goes so far that affected individuals call in sick more often or even quit.

If managers suffer from fear of failure, they become more intolerant of their employees. They thus unnecessarily increase the pressure to perform. Then, to save time, for example, employees prioritize prevention over hazards. Often observed: In order to finish more quickly, the necessary fall protection is neglected at high workplaces.

Fear of failure is widespread, but often goes unnoticed. If a person suffers from it, he or she nevertheless need not be unsuited for his or her function. After all, fear of failure is not innate. Management can help affected employees shake off their fear of failure in a variety of ways. A psychological supervisor knows how to do this.

The pathological fear of failure originates in the mind. It is a reaction of the consciousness. That is where overcoming it must begin. Cognitive behavioral therapy begins by getting to the bottom of the suffering. It identifies the irrational thoughts that cause anxiety. Based on collected knowledge about it, it causes, e.g. by means of learned self-awareness, to overcome this weakness.

Recklessness and frivolity are a matter of the head

If someone knowingly ignores a hazard that is apparent to him, he is acting recklessly. There are many reasons for this. Not infrequently, it is a character trait that leads to rash, risky behavior. It is anchored in the psyche. Nevertheless, recklessness can be controlled by directing the will to such an extent that it does not degenerate into recklessness.

In prevention, care should be taken to ensure that recklessness does not turn into its opposite, namely fearfulness. This would have fatal consequences for a reasonable willingness to take risks and make necessary decisions in a timely manner.

When it comes to the causes of an accident at work, a premature plea of recklessness should never be made. Even if there seem to be clear indications of this. In fact, it may be organizational inadequacies in the work process or in the management structure. If they are concealed, they continue to have an effect.

Recklessness never happens intentionally, like sabotage. Unconsciously, reckless people suffer from a cognitive distortion of their perception. They overestimate their abilities while ignoring the risks associated with their actions.

Are people with this characteristic fundamentally unsuitable for risky functions? That varies greatly from person to person. Employees not only change physically over the years, their personalities also develop. A study shows that character traits are not as stable as is often assumed. About every ten years, everyone changes more or less noticeably, often becoming more reasonable. This development can be promoted psychotherapeutically.

Whether a person's recklessness should be treated individually must be decided by the management together with a psychotherapist. It also depends on the conceivable damage that can occur as a result of carelessness. If a waiter acts carelessly when clearing dishes by piling too many on top of each other, in the worst case china breaks. Driving a car with alcohol in the blood would be assessed differently.

The most effective prevention against recklessness is a safety climate in which employees look out for each other without taking offense. If, for example, someone uses his cell phone while walking, another person should be able to draw his attention to the danger without being ridiculed as a busybody. After all, even trivial matters contain a considerable risk potential. Everyone should be made aware of this: An accident at work affects everyone in the team in one way or another.

Conclusion

Occupational accidents result from a collective failure in prevention. Decisive measures were already neglected in the run-up or momentous mistakes were made during the work process.

Assigning blame clarifies legal liability and responsibility. The primary causes, however, remain unaffected. It is of no help at all to attribute responsibility to a single person.

In all occupational accidents, people are always both the cause and the victim. Their actions are determined by their awareness. This is where prevention should start.

At the Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS), a new vision and strategy for the department is on the agenda.

The strategy essentially consists of five fields of action: security and protection, resilience, performance, digital transformation, and people and leadership, each with three strategic initiatives. The DDPS intends to align itself with these pillars in recent years.

The federal government has begun implementation in 2023, and the projects and measures are now to be driven forward across agencies, according to a statement.

A separate video clip is intended to illustrate the DDPS's new vision and strategy. The new mission statement reads: "Switzerland lives by its security. And the DDPS for the security of Switzerland. The DDPS - security for Switzerland".

According to a Fortinet survey of 1,800 IT and cybersecurity decision makers in 29 markets, the cyber threat situation is worsening for businesses worldwide. According to the survey, the number of companies that recorded five or more cyberattacks in the past 12 months has increased by 53 percent since last year. Eighty-four percent of respondents in the Cybersecurity Skills Gap Report said they had been the victim of at least one cyber incident in the past year. Nearly half of all respondents said it cost their company more than $1 million to fix a security breach. Sixty-five percent of respondents expect cyber incidents to continue to increase over the next 12 months.

Fortinet identifies another threat in the increasing shortage of skilled workers in the cybersecurity industry. There is reportedly already a shortage of 3.14 million skilled workers worldwide. As a result, important IT positions remain unfilled, the current Security personnel are overworked and there will continue to be an increase in security incidents.

The IT company sees one approach to tackling the shortage of skilled workers in focusing on more diversity when recruiting employees, for example to achieve a better balance between female and male experts.

In Switzerland, according to a 2023 Adecco survey almost 120,000 IT specialists are needed. There also remains a gap of 38,700 ICT specialists, as calculated by the Basel Institute for Economic Studies.

Source: Fortinet

Researchers of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) have developed a sophisticated ventilation system without classic pumps for smart clothing of the future. "We are presenting the world's first pump in the form of a fiber. It's essentially tubing that generates its own pressure and flow," said Herbert Shea, head of development. He and his team use a physical principle called electrohydrodynamics.

Fiber pump for weaving

Two spiral electrodes embedded in the wall of the tube ionize and accelerate molecules of a special non-conducting liquid, which may be hot or cold. The ionic motion and electrode shape create a flow that circulates the fluid. This results in quiet, vibration-free operation and requires only a palm-sized rechargeable battery.

To achieve the wall's unique structure, EPFL scientists have developed a novel manufacturing technique in which copper wires and polyurethane threads are twisted around a steel rod and then fused with heat. After the rod is removed, the two-millimeter-thick fibers can be incorporated into textiles using standard weaving techniques or drawn into knitwear.

Robust construction washable

The simple design of the pump has a number of advantages. The materials required are cheap and readily available, and the manufacturing process can be easily scaled. Since the pressure generated in the hose is directly related to its length, it can be cut to suit the application, optimizing performance while minimizing weight. Because of the robust construction, textiles equipped in this way can be washed with conventional detergents, it says.

The innovative textiles can also be used for therapeutic applications, such as cooling inflammation, the scientists say. Athletes could use them to warm up cold muscles. "We believe this innovation will fundamentally change wearable technology," Shea concludes.

Source: Press text.com

If a serious occupational accident occurs in a company, emergency organization should proceed in a professional manner.

Before an accident: Prepare well for an emergency

Quick and professional help in the event of an accident can save lives. That is why it is important that you are well prepared for an emergency.

1. Set up professional emergency planning. As part of your safety plan, you should set up professional emergency planning. Here you will find a checklist for emergency planning:

a) Emergency planning for fixed workplaces

b) Emergency planning for non-stationary workplaces

c) The Seco emergency manual for companies and administrations Provides comprehensive information and checklists for a professional emergency organization

2. use the instruction sheet "Emergencies at work". Post the Emergency Conduct Bulletin in conspicuous places around the company: Behavior in an emergency

3. order the Suva emergency card for your wallet. Equip all employees with a Emergency card for wallet from

After an accident

Report the accident. Accident victims should report their accident to their employer as soon as possible. He will forward the accident report to the insurance company. On the Suva website for reporting claims you will find all the necessary information.

Get help with emotional distress. If you need emergency emotional help after a serious accident at work, find out more:

Adjust your system and behavior after an accident or near-accident

• Follow the most important Basic rules of occupational safety
• Set up a professional absence management and thus strengthen your prevention work in the company
• More on the topic: "Accident-free thanks to prevention"

Leaflet "Behavior in an emergency
Has a bad accident happened at work?
Consult the leaflet
"Behavior in case of emergency"

The Future of Life organization has published an open letter calling for a temporary halt to AI development. The moratorium has been signed by several tech geniuses such as Steve Wozniak and Elon Musk. In the letter, the experts warn against a out of control race in AI development.. The initiators are calling for a halt or temporary pause in the development of powerful AI systems. These should only be developed further once their effects and risks are manageable. So far, the moratorium has already been signed by more than a thousand people.

Specifically, they call for a six-month pause in the training of powerful AI systems such as GPT-4. The signatories suggest that current developments should be reviewed by a committee of experts and developers should begin to develop common security protocols, although it may be difficult to stop the current run on AI tools such as ChatGPT. Critics fear an increase in hate comments and a growing displacement of high-profile jobs.

For the first time in ten years, police recorded an increase in burglaries and sneak-ins in 2022. With an increase of 14 percent, a similar value was recorded as before the pandemic. The police crime statistics (PKS) of the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) mentions however, there has also been an increase in serious violent crimes and criminal offenses such as aggravated assault and rape.

More pickpockets and vehicle thefts

A total of 35,732 burglaries and sneak-ins were registered by the police in Switzerland last year, similar to the number before the pandemic, according to the FSO. This was the first increase in burglaries and sneak-ins since 2012, the Confederation wrote in a statement. However, a total of 174,702 thefts were committed, an increase of 17.4 percent.

All types of theft have increased. Pickpocketing is particularly on the rise (around 20 percent more cases), as is theft from vehicles (up 17 percent). As far as vehicle theft is concerned, a total of 46,385 vehicles were reported stolen in 2022 (against 16 percent more than the previous year). Among them were also 14,153 e-bikes, an increase of 58.7 percent compared to the previous year.

More cases of fraud on online platforms

The PKS also recorded an increase in digital crime. The majority of these are cyber white-collar crimes, including more phishing incidents, sextortion and online investment fraud. Majority of cases were registered on classified ad platforms. Either paid goods are not delivered or, for example, an online payment system is misused in someone else's identity for fraudulent purposes.

2022, 1942 serious violent crimes were also registered. This is a total of 16.6 percent more cases than in the previous year and thus, according to the PKS, more than ever since the statistics were introduced in 2009. The number of rapes increased by 14.5 percent to 867 and the number of aggravated assaults by 17.2 percent to 762 cases. The number of homicides (42) is in line with the average of recent years. More than half of these occur in the domestic sphere.

Source: Federal Statistical Office

Swissphone is launching a new Mioty base station that enables fast bidirectional communication from sensors to IoT platforms thanks to IoT technologies such as telegram splitting and LPWAN. According to Swissphone, the "m.BASE" base station is especially predestined for secure and robust information transmission. The applied technology proves to be an advantage especially in the reading of tank levels via sensors as well as thanks to the good building and material penetration, Swissphone writes in a statement. In this respect, the solution guarantees reliable and automatic monitoring.

Various configuration options

In terms of fail-safety, the m.BASE base station from the Swiss solution provider in the communications and alarming sector also features a redundant power supply and emergency power concepts. According to the company, the IoT base station is designed with various configuration options to meet a wide range of customer needs, from outdoor installation to network connectivity via 5G.

Product Manager Raphael Wirz of Swissphone is proud of the new solution: "We put a lot of effort into using the best components and technologies to create a device that meets our customers' needs and exceeds their expectations." The product is designed to provide customers with reliability and variability for business-critical applications above all else, according to Swissphone.

Source: Swissphone

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), based in California, coordinates the allocation of unique names and addresses on the Internet. Its central task is to ensure the secure and stable operation of the Domain Name System (DNS) for the World Wide Web. The potential fragmentation of the global Internet is a "worrying issue," a top ICANN official told Deutsche Presse-Agentur last week on the sidelines of an industry meeting in Rust, Germany.

According to the ICANN expert, there is an increasing tendency for individual nations to seal themselves off. However, the ICANN representative did not explicitly comment on the individual countries. They are authoritarian governments that want to control their people, he only said.

ICANN wants to continue to hold on to global data traffic. It is also still opposed to removing Russia from the traffic, for example, even though Ukraine demanded this at the beginning of the Russian war of aggression last year.

Securiton AG, among others, was represented for the first time at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos from January 2023 with its new drone security system "SecuriDrone". The aim was to detect drones entering the defined restricted airspace at an early stage, to localize the location of the drone as well as the pilot in a visualized manner and to intervene by the security forces, writes Securiton in a message on Linkedin. If the pilot of a third-party system is not detected in time, Securiton is able to take over the pilot's control function in order to bring the drones to a predefined and safe place for landing in a controlled manner. However, it is not necessary to rely on frequency band jamming with the Securiton system.

Low antenna equipment

Using the "RF Cyber" feature with a minimal antenna infrastructure, Securiton's approach has proven to be a powerful solution concept, bypassing heavily used frequency bands, signal reflections in cities, it says. The minimal antenna setup also proves to be an advantage in unpredictable conditions due to weather such as cold, wind and snow, the Swiss installer further writes.

According to Company brochure a special long-range camera enables precise verification of the foreign object. Apparently, only one sensor is needed for detection and controlled takeover. A "virtual wall" can be activated within the software, which puts drones into a so-called fail-safe mode. This means that drones either remain in the air or can return to their starting point.

Source: Securiton

Companies very often take good organizational and technical security precautions to protect themselves from events as well as from attacks on their objects, resources and people. However, if something unexpected happens, it is often due to human behavior. Humans, supposedly the most vulnerable link in a security chain, have a significant influence on security in organizations with their irrational thinking and actions. What are the options for dealing with this risk? What helps to better protect values, people and resources in the company? How can weak points be eliminated? How can human behavior be changed in particularly dangerous situations? Which measures achieve the desired success in the long term?

Interested parties will be able to gain exciting specialist knowledge about the "human" factor with all its effects on safety at the symposium "Man, what a 'risk'!" on May 10, 2023 in Zurich. Speakers will examine the human factor and its impact on safety from different perspectives. New impulses and food for thought are expected. These insights can be used for the security activities in one's own organization. The conference is organized by Save AG. This company specializes in the practical transfer of knowledge between security experts on the topics of risk management, corporate security, building security, safety and health protection (AS&GS), fire protection, information and infrastructure security, population protection as well as machine and process safety, incident prevention, natural and environmental hazards, guarding and integral security concepts.

To the program flyer

Passwords have had their day, but biometrics for authentication are gaining in importance. According to "The Future of Identity Report" by the Entrust Cybersecurity Institute 51 percent of the 1450 users surveyed worldwide reset a password at least once a month, 15 percent even once a week.

Biometric solutions more secure

More than half of respondents consider biometric solutions to be more secure, with 53 percent preferring finger scanning, followed by facial recognition (47 percent). Only six percent of consumers still consider passwords to be the most secure login method.

Faced with the choice between biometrics and password, 74 percent of all respondents therefore opt for biometrics for at least half of all applications, according to Entrust. A third would always opt for biometrics if it were offered.

Source: Press text.com