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Proceedings chapter
English

AI Systems for Occupational Safety and Health: From Ethical Concerns to Limited Legal Solutions

Contributors

Weerts, Sophie; Naous, Dana; El Bouchikhi, Maeva; Clavien, Christine

Published in

Janssen, M (Ed.), Electronic Government. EGOV 2022, p. 499-514

Publisher

Springer

Collection

  • Lecture Notes in Computer Science; 13391

Publication date

2022-08-30

First online date

2022-08-30

Abstract

Digital technologies in the workplace have undergone a remarkable evolution in recent years. Biosensors and wearables that enable data collection and analysis, through artificial intelligence (AI) systems became widespread in the working environment, whether private or public. These systems are heavily criticised in the media and in academia, for being used in aggressive algorithmic management contexts. However, they can also be deployed for more legitimate purposes such as occupational safety and health (OSH). Public authorities may promote them as tools for achieving public policy goals of OSH, and public employers may use them for improving employees’ health. Despite these positive aspects, we argue that the deployment of AI systems for OSH raises important issues regarding dual use, chilling effects and employment discrimination. We exemplify how these ethical concerns are raised in three realistic scenarios and elaborate on the legal responses to these issues based on European law. Our analysis highlights blind spots in which laws do not provide clear answers to relevant ethical concerns. We conclude that other avenues should be investigated to help determine whether it is legally and socially acceptable to deploy AI systems and eventually promote such tools as means to achieve the OSH public policy.

Keywords

  • Occupational Health and Safety
  • Law
  • Ethics
  • Internet of Things
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Public sector

UNIGE affiliation entities

UNIGE research groups

Funding

Citation (ISO format)

WEERTS, Sophie et al. AI Systems for Occupational Safety and Health: From Ethical Concerns to Limited Legal Solutions. In: Electronic Government. EGOV 2022. Janssen, M (Ed.). [s.l.] : Springer, 2022. p. 499–514. (Lecture Notes in Computer Science) doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-15086-9_32

Main files (1)

Proceedings chapter (Accepted version)

Identifiers

Additional URL for this publication

https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-031-15086-9_32

ISBN

978-3-031-15085-2
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Technical informations

Creation

24/07/2023 08:12:34

First validation

01/08/2023 14:50:43

Update

01/08/2023 14:50:43

Status update

01/08/2023 14:50:43

Last indexation

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