Enabling or stressing? – Smart information use within industrial service operation

Abstract

Industrial services as i.e. maintenance are essential for asset-intensive industries. Just as the physical assets become smarter, there is also a change towards digitalization within the workplaces of service technicians. Within service operation, automation scenarios are constantly increasing. No doubt, this will influence the sociotechnical system of service technician, asset and service tools. Research on the effect of digitalized work processes in the field of industrial service are rudimentary, especially its effect on occupational safety and health. In the context of technological adjustments, the paper focuses on short-term effects on Occupational safety and health (OSH) with special regard towards changes in the mental workload. Under the use of the NASA-TLX the paper sums up the results of an empirical study comparing paper-based vs. Augmented-Reality-based work instructions. How the increase in human-machine interactions work as stressors or enablers seen from the perspective of service technicians will be analyzed.