A smart combination of IoT and blockchain enabling technologies to measure and improve workplace safety in dairy farm

Abstract

In 2022, there was a 25.77 % increase in work-related accidents reported in Italy, including 1090 with a fatal outcome. Legislative Decree 81/100 regulates worker safety and requires employers to assess risks and implement necessary interventions. When risks cannot be eliminated, employers must provide appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). However, safety management requires large investments and supervision to ensure proper use of PPE. The current regulatory system, which focuses on punishing noncompliance with safety requirements, has been insufficient in deterring workplace accidents. To address this, the National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL), is introducing incentives and substantial discounts on insurance costs for companies that carry out preventive actions. In this paper, the authors propose an innovative tool that leverages IoT and Blockchain technologies to record safety-related events in an immutable and transparent way, quantifying the level of achieved safety. They suggest setting up a system consisting of PPE with RFID technology and an automated surveillance agent to record operations and issue consents. The number of events recorded in Blockchain can quantify the degree of achieved safety.