Five Safety Technology Shifts for Lone Workers in 2026
As digital safety tools become central to occupational health, organizations are rethinking how they protect lone and vulnerable workers through automation, smarter communication, flexible protocols and stronger safety cultures.
- By Gen Handley
- Jan 06, 2026
2025 was a major year for digital safety. The International Labour Organization presented a major report, recommending that digital tools, artificial intelligence, robotics, wearables, and sensors are now essential and central to modern, effective occupational safety – no longer non-essential and supporting resources. Additionally, government bodies began to address these technologies with proactive legislation such as Senate Bill 53, the Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act (TFAIA), intended to manage the potential major safety risks of mass-wide AI use and reliance.
2026 could potentially be even bigger. It could be more significant for safety, particularly for vulnerable employees and people who work alone – lone workers who are more dispersed across different roles and industries than ever, including utilities, home healthcare, social services, as well as field technicians and engineers. Because lone workers might not have the support of a coworker or easy access to help if they experience an emergency, they rely on these safety technologies more than their accompanied coworkers in order to stay connected. Moving into 2026, vulnerable and remote workers could see five major shifts within their occupational safety that will impact how they use – and view – their daily devices and technologies.
Shift 1 – The end of manual monitoring for vulnerable workers
The first shift – which is already taking place – will be completely away from manual monitoring of workers who are vulnerable and at risk of specific hazards. With so many technological options now available for automated safety monitoring of remote workers, manual strategies are not an effective solution to protect vulnerable people, putting them at serious risk of human error such as missed emergency alerts. It is very difficult to effectively and reliably monitor remote workers without the support of available safety technologies.
Shift 2 – Increased scrutiny around mobile worker violence
In relation to this complete shift to automated monitoring, there will be more organizationally intense focus on the significantly increased risk of violence and harassment from mobile and remote work. The increasing number of people working alone with members of the public or patients in their homes is putting more employees such as home healthcare workers who are at, according to NIOSH, high risk for workplace violence and “primarily work alone in situations that can be dangerous.”
Shift 3 – The importance of sustaining a healthy safety culture
“Safety culture” can be a bit of a buzzword; however, the shift will occur towards how important it is to maintain an ongoing, resilient safety culture within an organization, regardless of how big or small the team may be. Maintaining a solid safety culture does not have to entail a massive, complex undertaking, requiring only consistency and engagement from all levels of the organization – especially leadership – to have a positive, occupational impact on its employees.
Shift 4 – The importance of reliable hands-free communication tools
They are becoming more common because not only hands-free communication devices improve safety and reduce distraction with the worker, allowing them to focus on their task, but this technology allows employees to perform better quality work and do so more efficiently. Additionally, there are other occupational safety benefits, including improved cleanliness from minimal physical contact with shared surfaces. Hands-free communications are becoming the expectation and standard for all professional devices but crucial for work safety.
Shift 5 - Supervisor capacity and burnout will be a risk factor
Burnout in certain high-stress industries has received the attention it deserves. However, there is going to be a shift on prioritizing burnout amongst managers and supervisors who also need extra support. The Gallup State of Global Workplace 2025 report found more than 40 percent of 42% of managers experienced stress “a lot of the previous day” and close to three-quarters of healthcare leaders say they have felt burned out in the last six months. There will be more recognition of managers’ capacity to handle stress for remote workers – particularly managing the well-being of multiple mobile teams.
Shift 6 – The end of “one-size-fits-all” safety protocol
Many employers will also realize that their safety protocols require some flexibility when protecting workers and vulnerable teams. Every team is different, and therefore safety protocols cannot be rigid to be truly effective. For example, lone workers experience different risks depending on their role or location. In 2026, organizations may implement tiered safety measures like higher safety check-in frequency schedules for dangerous environments, customized emergency escalation paths for remote areas, and tailored safety training for specific tasks.
What employers can do right now
To effectively prepare organizations and teams for these current and upcoming shifts, consider beginning the following steps and strategies:
Automate where workers are at highest risk of human error: From documents like hazard assessments and other risk analyses, identify where employees are at most risk of human error and implement automated solutions.
Build a mobile-worker violence prevention plan: If employees and mobile, lone workers are at risk of workplace violence and harassment, create a violence prevention plan specifically for lone and vulnerable workers.
Introduce a supervisor support program: Offer a support program and resources for supervisors and managers, addressing their specific concerns and challenges at work.
Add situational workflows for high-risk scenarios:For high-risk environments or if the lone worker feels stressed, adjust monitoring intensity to help them feel more connected and comfortable.
Establish a worker feedback loop: To create added trust and transparency within an organization, establish a feedback loop, an anonymous channel, or network that allows workers to easily provide their thoughts on new safety technologies, new safety protocols, or personal protective equipment impacting their work.
The cultural shift
Overall, there is a shift taking place which involves every department and aspect of the company – a shift in safety culture. While safety tech is now ubiquitous within every organization, every worker must be trained in and trust those technologies and systems. Safety should be a shared responsibility across an organization, involving all departments and all levels of the decision-making process. 2026 will be the year when organizations realize and embrace this potential