As human beings we naturally want more of anything that is good. A bi-product of technology solutions in the workplace is the capture and collection of a lot of data. As more and more technology solutions are integrated into businesses there is a ton of new data readily available and existing within the business. The lay person or safety person is typically not equipped to analyze and review the sheer volume of data, and if they are, from experience they are likely unable to work at the speed or quality of a trained data scientist. As a result of this, I anticipate that there will be a great demand for safety specific data scientists to digest and analyze the data, which will help inform immediate solutions and long term strategic decisions.
Link: The benefits of a data scientist
Tip: If you are fortunate enough to have additional headcount or hiring capacity this year, design a data scientist into your organizational plan. If you don't have head count, think creatively about how you can outsource this skillset, particularly if you have a several technology solutions in your business. If you cannot outsource this, check out some of the many micro learnings on data science, so you can acquire a handful of skills in this area.