Table 1

Types of technologies 4.0 – Type of risks (physical, psychological and behavioral)


Type of technologies or technology 4.0
Types of risk to workers
PhysicalPsychological (cognitive, emotional)Behavioral (social)
Material processing
Automated guided vehicles (AGV), robots, cobots, computerized numerical control (CNC) and digital manufacturing
  • Musculoskeletal complaints and disorders (Cunha et al., 2022; Papetti et al., 2021; Wixted et al., 2018; Thylén et al., 2023)

  • Accidents and death if security breached, i.e. hacking (Kumar et al., 2022)

  • Decreased perceived safety (Lasota and Shah, 2015; Lowe et al., 2022; Matsas and Vosniakos, 2017; Thylén et al., 2023et a)

  • High noise exposure (Lowe et al., 2022)

  • Fear of job loss (i.e., job insecurity) (Egana-del Sol et al., 2022; Fornino and Manera, 2022; Lordan and Stringer, 2022; Meissner et al., 2020; Palumbo et al., 2022)

  • Cognitive overload and fatigue (Hopko et al., 2023; Hopko and Mehta, 2022; Panchetti et al., 2023; Wixted et al., 2018)

  • Mental underload (Meissner et al., 2020)

  • Lack of perceptual awareness (Thylén et al., 2023)

  • Decreased organizational commitment (Brougham and Haar, 2018)

  • Decreased job satisfaction (Brougham and Haar, 2018)

  • Mental stress (cynicism, depression, helplessness, worthlessness, worry, distress) (Brougham and Haar, 2018; Meissner et al., 2020; Palumbo et al., 2022; Panchetti et al., 2023; Wixted et al., 2018)

  • Mental health problems (Lordan and Stringer, 2022)

  • Low life satisfaction (Lordan and Stringer, 2022)

  • Fear for data privacy violations (Kumar et al., 2022; Marinescu et al., 2023)

  • Social isolation (Meissner et al., 2020; Wixted et al., 2018)

  • Loss of autonomy (Wixted et al., 2018)

  • Increased dependence on technology (Meissner et al., 2020)

  • Increased workload (Hopko and Mehta, 2022)

  • Decreased work performance (Hopko and Mehta, 2022; Meissner et al., 2020)

  • Higher turnover intentions (Brougham and Haar, 2018)

  • Absenteeism (Brougham and Haar, 2018)

Information processing
AI, Big data, cloud computing, digital twin and smart wearables
  • Physical discomfort (Papetti et al., 2020)

  • Cognitive overload (Hopko et al., 2023; Panchetti et al., 2023)

  • Separation anxiety (Meissner et al., 2020)

  • Technostress (Birkel et al., 2019)

  • Decreased organizational commitment (Brougham and Haar, 2018)

  • Decreased job satisfaction (Brougham and Haar, 2018)

  • Fear of privacy violations of personal data (Birkel et al., 2019; Gangwar and Date, 2016)

  • Social isolation (Birkel et al., 2019; Meissner et al., 2020)

  • Loss of autonomy and control (Birkel et al., 2019)

  • Addiction/Dependence on technology (Meissner et al., 2020)

  • Absenteeism (Brougham and Haar, 2018)

Worker processing
AR/VR/XR, exoskeletons and human-systems integration
  • Physical discomfort (Gerdenitsch et al., 2022)

  • Limited field of vision (Gerdenitsch et al., 2022)

  • Cognitive overload (Chao et al., 2017)

  • Information-processing overload (Nakanishi and Sato, 2015)

  • Problem-solving difficulties (Marques et al., 2022)

  • Decreased sense of responsibility (sense of accountability to work) (Gerdenitsch et al., 2022)

  • Loss of autonomy (Gerdenitsch et al., 2022)

  • Passive worker role (Gerdenitsch et al., 2022)

  • Reduced work productivity (Keller et al., 2020)

Other integrated technologies –
Internet of Things (IoT)
  • Cyber risks that can lead to malfunctioning and worker accidents/deaths (Kumar et al., 2022)

  • Fear of data privacy violations (Kumar et al., 2022)

  • Not identified

or Create an Account

Close Modal
Close Modal