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PuntoSicuro, one of Italy’s leading occupational safety portals and EU-OSHA media partner, recently published an interview with Dr. Maurizio Curtarelli, Senior Research Project Manager in the Prevention and Research Unit at the Agency, focusing on how digitalisation, climate change and new forms of work are reshaping occupational safety and health (OSH) in Europe.

Dr. Curtarelli outlines the final phase of the Healthy Workplaces Campaign (HWC) 2023-25 'Safe and healthy work in the digital age', shedding light on the last priority area of smart digital systems, such as connected protective equipment, Wearables are electronic devices with sensors and computational capacity (e.g. smart watches, data glasses, or other devices with embedded sensors or tags), which can be placed on different body parts to gather data to be fed into other digital systems for processing purposes. They can be used to analyse physiological and psychological data such as feelings, sleep, movements, heart rate, body temperature and blood pressure, via applications either installed on the device itself or on external devices, such as smartphones connected to the cloud. , sensors, drones and AI refers to systems that display intelligent behaviour by analysing their environment and taking actions – with some degree of autonomy – to achieve specific goals. AI-based systems can be purely software-based, acting in the virtual world (e.g. voice assistants, image analysis software, search engines, speech and face recognition systems) or AI can be embedded in hardware devices (e.g. advanced robots, autonomous cars, drones or Internet of things applications). -based monitoring tools that support risk prevention through real-time data. He highlights both their potential to improve safety and health, the risks that come with their use, and the need for a human-centred approach ensuring worker participation, transparency and protection of personal data.

The interview also presents the results from the OSH Pulse 2025, covering 28 000 workers across Europe. Findings show that one in three has faced at least one climate-related risk in the past year, such as extreme heat (20%), poor air quality (19%) or intense sun exposure (12%). Around one in five uses AI-enabled systems, and 12% rely on wearable devices at work. Dr. Curtarelli notes that while these technologies can enhance prevention, they may also bring new psychosocial risks, including stress and loss of autonomy, if not properly managed.

Read or watch the full interview (in Italian) on PuntoSicuro’s website here.