Beyond conducting regular workplace inspections and listening to workers' safety concerns, it's also important to consider possible future risks that may cause harm to workers.

Historically, we have published information based on data collected from past incidents. But there are risks not evident from such incidents — risks due to new technologies, products, and procedures used in industry. These risks are known as emerging risks because while the risk exists in the workplace, there is little historical data about past incidents to quantify it.

Our risk analysis unit looks for risks that employers may be unaware of or that are difficult to detect. It investigates external sources of data to identify current and potential risks to workers in B.C. This research complements the information we gather from analyzing claim-related data.

The risk analysis unit uses various means to learn about potential risks such as:

• Engaging internal and external subject matter experts and stakeholders
• Monitoring more than 200 specific information feeds
• Scanning for risk indicators using web crawling tools and artificial intelligence

The goal of this research is to identify and stop risks before harm is done. Once a potential risk is identified, the team assesses the risk to determine appropriate forms of intervention. The risk analysis unit places special emphasis on the following four categories of risk:

• Emerging risks — risks that are long-term, uncertain trends, yet may be important
• Catastrophic risks — risks that may not materialize often but have the potential to cause widespread damage or loss of life
• Slow-acting harms — where there are many years between the initial cause of harm and to onset (i.e., occupational disease)
• Invisible risks — risks that aren’t fully revealed and may be hard to detect

Newly identified risks are communicated to employers and industries through risk advisories.