AI Spots Workplace Risks Early
How Can Computer Vision and AI Help Avoid Risks?

Software can detect dangers of all types to help prevent incidents, says report from National Safety Council.

Finding technology that can eliminate workplace fatalities is the core mission of the National Safety Council's Work to Zero Initiative.

The organization's white paper, titled Using Computer Vision as a Risk Mitigation Tool, found that computer vision technology that uses a risk protection algorithm is capable of "accurate, consistent and automatic monitoring of worker personal protective equipment (PPE), risk identification, and the detection of violence and weapons in the workplace."

For industries such as manufacturing, warehousing and construction, software is available that is able to take current closed circuit television (CCTV) feeds that, when paired with artificial intelligence (AI), can rapidly review old footage to find and serve relevant post-incident images and clips. This information can be turned into dashboards for EHS professionals to use in determining root causes of workplace incidents.

The authors found that the most effective object detection computer vision systems are based on deep learning, which allows AI to identify key objects, including those that could be involved with incidents. This identification can help prevent future injuries.

Another key advantage of computer vision is the ability to monitor employees as they work, thus learning their habits and figuring out what specific activities could lead to incidents. The system is set up to continuously learn the association between behavior and incidents and turn them into tags that can be analyzed.

For workplace injuries, computer vision can track and log data associated with these injuries and then use that to predict when injuries could occur. The paper notes that this is especially useful for industries with material movement, such as logistics and warehouses, as well as those industries using heavy machinery such as manufacturing and construction. ehstoday.com


Target Takes Backend AI Approach
Target puts AI to work behind scenes, while rivals chase shopper-facing tools
Target is leaning into AI by naming Chandhu Nair as its first chief AI officer and elevating Purvi Shah to senior vice president of UX. The company aims to move “from insight to action faster” while keeping human-centered design a priority.

While mass merchant rivals Amazon and Walmart, not to mention retailers ranging from Kroger to Michaels, are putting AI-powered agents front and center across their digital experiences to help shoppers find products, Target is taking a different tack. It is focusing on weaving AI into backend systems to improve inventory management, simplify processes, and help the retailer make faster, better-informed decisions.

Implications for Target and other retailers: Target’s focus on using AI to improve back-end functions has merit. Roughly 2 in 5 CEOs worldwide say AI is already delivering measurable impact in core operations or production (41%) and strategy and decision-making (41%), while 30% point to supply chain and procurement, per EY-Parthenon. Those are areas where Target’s approach could pay dividends.

But focusing too heavily on back-end functions risks leaving an opening on the consumer-facing side. While Target has made some moves—including launching a conversational AI tool last year to help shoppers find gifts—those efforts have been far from the more sophisticated shopping assistants offered by rivals.

AI can make the business more efficient behind the scenes, but retailers also need to invest in the customer-facing experience or risk ceding more of the digital shopping journey to competitors. emarketer.com


Retail Doom Loop Over in San Francisco?
Reporter’s Notebook: How bad off is San Francisco retail?

There are signs of a comeback downtown, but the best shopping in the city is still hyper-local.

For more than five years now — since the onset of the pandemic — San Francisco has seemed to be the epicenter of store closures in the U.S., as crime and other troubles gave the city’s major retail corridors a bad reputation.

Retail in San Francisco has never been entirely doomed, though, and now there are early signs of a comeback. A recent tour by bike, transit and foot found numerous boarded up buildings and “for lease” signs, but also stores flourishing in the city’s neighborhoods and even its beleaguered downtown.

Hesitation around signing a lease here lingers. Yet landlords and store owners never stopped shaking hands, especially in the city’s neighborhoods and surrounding suburbs, according to Meghann Martindale, principal and director of retail market intelligence at commercial real estate firm Avison Young.

“What makes San Francisco fascinating is that retail demand has become hyper-local,” she said by email. “Neighborhood to neighborhood can completely change the customer profile, spending power, and retailer performance. The city’s strongest retail is increasingly being driven by strong neighborhood ecosystems rather than a single dominant downtown shopping district.” retaildive.com


Services Reshape America’s Retail Landscape
Here's how gyms, salons and ice cream are changing America's Main Streets
Last year marked the first time that the majority of U.S. retail space was leased to tenants selling services rather than goods, according to real estate data firm CoStar. This change is a response to changing spending habits, and it is shaking up malls, suburban shopping hubs and Main Streets nationwide.

This year, in the 20 biggest metropolitan areas, CoStar data shows retail tenants declining for the third year in a row, while personal services and entertainment are ballooning: escape rooms and virtual golfing, medical spas and Pilates studios.

"Over the very long term, consumers have switched a lot of spending from retail goods to services in terms of share of wallet," says John Mercer, who tracks the state of retail at the analytics firm Coresight Research. "We think that that kind of long-term pattern will continue."

This shift was temporarily interrupted by the lockdowns of the coronavirus pandemic but has since roared back. And it's generally fueled by the wealthier spenders, though Mercer says surveys also suggest that some people choose to trade down to cheaper goods to redirect that saved money to services, for outings and experiences. npr.org


Are Mall Makeovers Working?
Malls reinvent themselves to win Gen Z shoppers
Malls’ efforts to reinvent themselves with experiential formats and Gen Z-friendly initiatives are bringing shoppers back. Indoor, outlet, and open-air shopping centers have each posted positive YoY visit growth for the past three months, with particularly strong gains for indoor and open-air formats, according to Placer.ai.

Average dwell times at all three formats rose YoY in July for the first time in five months, pointing to growing shopper engagement.

Simon Property Group CEO Eli Simon said that shopper traffic across the company’s portfolio—which includes class A properties like The Galleria in Houston, Texas, and Woodbury Common Premium Outlets in New York—accelerated in Q2, with comparable sales increasing 5.7% YoY. content-naf.emarketer.com


Dollar Tree’s opening spree

HHS Wants New Requirements For Food & Beverage Manufacturers