When it comes to hazardous professions like mining, construction, and manufacturing, we often think of workplace safety as an environmental quality—making sure the structures are sound, the tools secured, the machinery maintained. And although these are critically important, workplace safety is largely a human resources consideration.
Christian Damstra understands this problem well. “It's about making sure they've got the right skills, the right training, the right competencies, they're not under the influence of drugs and alcohol, they're not fatigued.” It’s why he founded Damstra Technologies, a company that offers an HR platform specially designed to ensure workplace safety for people in hazardous occupations.
On this edition of UpTech Report, Christian describes his own experiences in the coal mining industry, and how he came to appreciate the complexities of this issue—and the need for a sophisticated solution.