New report forecasts safetytech market could exceed $850bn by 2023

Today, global safety charity Lloyd’s Register Foundation launched new research which forecasts that the combined global industry potential for the emerging safetytech market could grow to $863bn within three years. The Lloyd’s Register Foundation report, ‘The safetytech market’, the first of its kind, predicts that the market will expand rapidly led, in the short-term, by start-ups and tech-driven businesses combining digital technologies that will disrupt traditional approaches to safety in the workplace.

Safetytech - the collective term for technology, products and services that are starting to significantly enhance safety management in safety-critical industries and infrastructure - is only recently defined, yet this new research shows that it is set for aggressive growth.

For safety-critical industries alone, the market for safetytech is set to grow by up to $455bn by 2023. These industries and their associated supply chains have yet to realise the full potential of real-time operational insight, made possible from continuously generated data and analytics enabled by digital technologies.

The largest proportion of the safetytech market, by technology, is IoT which represents nearly 77% of the market, followed by wearables, robotics and analytics.

Globally, 2.8m deaths each year are directly attributed to inadequate safety measures and hazardous work environments. Work-related safety incidents result in the significant loss of approximately 3.9 % of worldwide GDP, equating to approximately $3,146 billion. It is hoped that the market growth outlined in today’s report will contribute to a reduction in such incidents and accidents.

Professor Richard Clegg, Chief Executive, Lloyd’s Register Foundation, said: “There is a pressing need to invest in Safetytech, as the rate of decline in incident rates has levelled off over the years. Organisations must leverage the market growth potential of Safetytech for the greater good. Not only does it offer an opportunity to transform the market and gain competitive advantage, it will save lives. Safetytech also presents a clear and sizable opportunity for new start-ups and innovative technology firms to disrupt the safety solutions market. This growing sector has the potential to deliver innumerable benefits to our wellbeing, our quality of life, and our global economy.”

Burgeoning digital potential

Globally, there remains a lack of insight, innovation and technological advancement in the world of safety. In today’s economy, the need for more robust safety and security measures has become crucial for organisations seeking to thrive.

Safetytech market size in safety-critical industries such as energy, marine, manufacturing & food will grow considerably over the next 3 years. This growth is expected to be largely driven by the expansion of markets for Wearables (28% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)), Robotics (15%), Asset Performance Management (17%), Environment Health and Safety (12.5%) and IoT (9%). The report also forecasts that the potential within the manufacturing and natural resources industry will be worth more than $230bn by 2023, a CAGR of 10.5%.

The insight gained through Safetytech also unlocks significant value through improved efficiencies, margin gain and market differentiation.

James Pomeroy, Group Health, Safety, Environment and Security Director, Lloyd’s Register said: “Real time monitoring and data capturing hardware and software, immediate AI enabled analysis, and automated outcomes will all lead to industry-wide competitive disruption. Safetytech offers the opportunity to transform outmoded approaches to safety, and gain competitive advantage. There’s a sizable first-mover advantage to those organisations and indeed investors that recognise a market set to explode.”

More findings on Safetytech market size from the report:

• Wearables represents the fastest growth within the Safetytech market at 28% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR).
• The largest sub-sector by market size within manufacturing and natural resources is natural resources and materials, forecasted to be worth $89.8 bn by 2023 and exhibiting a growth (CAGR) of nearly 14%.
• The largest sub-sector by market size within transportation is warehousing and couriers (forecasted to be worth $34.9bn by 2023 with a growth of 14% CAGR).
• Amongst Lloyd’s Register Market Focus industries (Energy, marine and manufacturing), the energy industry has the largest market size as it is forecasted to grow to $25bn in 2023 with a CAGR of 8.3%, the fastest growth rate amongst the Lloyd’s Register Market Focus sectors.
• The other sub-sectors that are likely to see large growth and adoption of Safetytech are motor freight (forecasted to be $9.6bn with a CAGR of 10.2%) and air & marine transportation (forecasted to be $6.9bn and $6.5bn with CAGRs of 10% and 7.7% respectively).
  
  

Safety statistics taken from the report include:

• 153 workers have a work-related accident every 15 seconds which equates to 317 million accidents annually worldwide, many leading to the extended absences.
• Across the globe nearly 7,620 people are estimated to die as a result of occupational accidents or work-related diseases every day which amounts to more than 2.8 million deaths per year that are directly attributable to inadequate safety measures and hazardous work environments.
• Work-related safety incidents result in the loss of approximately 3.9 % of the world’s GDP, while the financial cost of safety incidents to organisations is primarily suffered as an indirect consequence and is often unaccounted for in official figures.
• The largest proportion of the costs (between 68% and 72%) related to safety incidents are indirect and not immediately visible.
• Nearly 47% of the costs incurred by organisations, post-incident, are usually unaccounted for.
• Analysis of financial markets typically show that shareholders suffer a loss of 1.3% over the two days immediately following disasters, one fatality or serious injury is associated with an additional loss of $164 million, while the occurrence of a toxic release corresponds to an additional drop of around $1 billion.