Illustrative: branching futures, each branch weighted by its probability

Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium · Course catalogue · Health and Society

Human Development, Work and Social Policy

Work, skills and occupational safety

Work, skills and occupational safety, taught twice over: as the working methods of the field and as its frontier since 2024, with labs on the Academy's tools, open data and the Nexus Standards.

Core course Frontier course

The discipline

01Core course · L2 Intermediate

Work, skills and occupational safety: foundations and practice

This area covers how technology, automation and shocks change jobs and tasks, how skill systems and labour institutions help people adapt, and how occupational safety and health protect workers, including from heat.

Level
L2 Intermediate
Study time
about 24 hours (planning estimate)
Status
In authoring
Prerequisites
An L1 course in the area, or an entry review

Why now

Creates a global reference for platform labour standards, affecting operating, compliance and reputational risk for platforms. International Labour Organization, International Labour Conference ends with adoption of the first Convention on decent work in the platform economy, 16 June 2026

Learning outcomes

  1. Define task exposure and the other key terms of the discipline and use them correctly in a written case
  2. Explain automation and jobs and labour market change with a worked example and its source
  3. Apply the discipline's method to a documented case and explain each result with its source
  4. Analyse a named case against lifelong learning and reskilling, stating evidence, date and limits

Modules

  1. Automation and jobs
    • Automation and jobs
    • Labour market change
    • Lifelong learning and reskilling
  2. Platform and digital work
    • Platform and digital work
    • Occupational safety and health
    • Heat stress at work
  3. Work and social protection
    • Work and social protection
    • Workforce planning
  4. Lab: the discipline's method
    • Wet bulb globe temperature and the metabolic rate of the task together set the share of each hour a worker can safely work; multiplied by the hot days of a year and the size of the outdoor workforce, that share becomes hours and full-time jobs lost, and the rest schedule is the control that spends them deliberately.
    • Work the method through a documented case and explain each result
    • Read the method's sources and stated values

Labs with Academy tools

Nexus Standards

Teaches

  • NRS-D4 Work, skills and livelihoods risk
  • NRS-X9 Occupational health and safety risk
  • NRS-H82 Hazard family: Occupational disease and injury
  • NRS-H115 Hazard family: Labour and technology transition

Relies on

  • NS-1 The UNI and the artefact catalogue
  • NS-16 UNI application profile (how articles, documents, code, data, APIs and interfaces carry the UNI)
  • NRS-C1 Risk vocabulary and ontology
  • NRS-C2 Risk assessment method
  • NRS-C3 Hazard, exposure, vulnerability and capacity data
  • NRS-C4 Risk data model, identifiers and exchange
  • NRS-C7 Early warning, triggers and anticipatory action

Assessment

  • 40%Lab recordWork the discipline's method through a documented case and explain each result with its source and date
  • 40%Case memoApply the discipline's methods to a named place or organisation, stating evidence and limits
  • 20%Key terms checkShort answers on the key terms, marked against the definitions

Delivery

  • Self-paced online, with the labs in the browser
  • Cohort study over six to eight weeks, with a weekly lab review
  • Co-delivered with a partner institution, inside its own courses

Partner on this course

  • Co-teach a module and bring a current case from your work
  • Host a cohort for your learners, with your own schedule and review
  • Contribute a lab: a dataset your institution publishes openly, or a model
  • Review the course content and its references before it opens
  • Translate the course and adapt its cases to your region

How institutions and experts take part

In the Academy LMS

Course on the learning platform
Intermediate, 4 topics
Cohort group
A community group for each cohort of learners
Achievement
Recorded on completion of the assessed work

References

  1. International Labour Organization, International Labour Conference ends with adoption of the first Convention on decent work in the platform economy, 16 June 2026
  2. Kjellstrom, Holmer and Lemke, Workplace heat stress, health and productivity: an increasing challenge for low and middle-income countries during climate change, 2009
  3. Kjellstrom and others, Heat, human performance, and occupational health: a key issue for the assessment of global climate change impacts, 2016
  4. International Labour Organization, Working on a warmer planet: the effect of heat stress on productivity and decent work, 2019
02Live map

People and exposure in Ukraine

Population density, night-time lights, air quality, heat and floods, over Ukraine.

The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.

Layers 2

People and exposure

Latest available

NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth

Loading the latest NASA imagery.

Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.

People and exposure, framed on Ukraine.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.

Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONETSources and licences

  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
  • VIIRS Black Marble night-time lights, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; distributed by the NASA Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • OMI nitrogen dioxide (Aura) and OMPS aerosol index (Suomi NPP), NASA; distributed by the NASA GES DISC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
  • Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
  • © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
  • Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
  • Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
  • Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
  • NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
  • Air quality forecast, 5 days, PM2.5 (CAMS via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information 2026.
  • Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
  • Optional layers (7 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.

Layers and dates

  • Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
  • Night-time lights, daily: VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2), NASA LAADS DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
  • Nitrogen dioxide, lower atmosphere column: OMI Aura, NASA GES DISC · 10 Oct 2026
  • Land surface temperature, day, 8-day composite: VIIRS NOAA-20 Level 3, 8-day, NASA LANCE · 14 Sep 2026
  • Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026

03How learning runs

How learning runs, as a process you can run

Select a scenario and press Play: course, pathway, practice, faculty, cells and record.

04What is changing

Frontier course · L3 advanced, programme courses and standards

Work, skills and occupational safety: frontier methods

The methods, data, tools and studies that changed work, skills and occupational safety between 2024 and 2026, taught by reproducing them on open data.

Level
L3 Advanced
Study time
about 28 hours (planning estimate)
Status
Planned
Prerequisites
Work, skills and occupational safety: foundations and practice; Working knowledge of a scripting language (Python or R) for the labs

Why now

Creates a global reference for platform labour standards, affecting operating, compliance and reputational risk for platforms. International Labour Organization, International Labour Conference ends with adoption of the first Convention on decent work in the platform economy, 16 June 2026

Learning outcomes

  1. Explain what changed in work, skills and occupational safety since 2024 and cite the studies, data or rules behind each change
  2. Reproduce ILO adopts first convention on platform economy work on open data and state the uncertainty of the result
  3. Evaluate a 2024 to 2026 study: its question, data, method, limits and what it changes for practice
  4. Design an analysis that combines a frontier method with the faculty's instruments, and justify each choice

Modules

  1. ILO adopts first convention on platform economy work
    • The International Labour Conference adopted Convention No.
    • Creates a global reference for platform labour standards, affecting operating, compliance and reputational risk for platforms.
    • International Labour Organization, 16 June 2026
  2. WHO and WMO issue guidance on workplace heat stress
    • A joint report finds worker productivity drops 2–3% for each degree above 20°C and recommends occupational heat action plans developed with employers, workers and health experts.
    • Supports heat risk assessment and controls for outdoor and manual workers as extreme temperatures become more common.
    • World Health Organization, 22 August 2025
  3. ILO adopts convention on biological hazards at work
    • The 113th International Labour Conference adopted Convention No.
    • Sets expectations for risk assessment, preventive measures and emergency preparedness against workplace biological exposure.
    • International Labour Organization, 16 June 2025
  4. ILO index estimates a quarter of jobs exposed to generative AI
    • An ILO and NASK index of nearly 30,000 tasks finds about 25% of jobs globally, and 34% in high-income countries, are potentially exposed to generative AI, with transformation more likely than replacement.
    • Helps workforce planners target reskilling where exposure is highest, including clerical roles and women's employment.
    • International Labour Organization, 20 May 2025
  5. Reproduction lab
    • Extend the discipline's method with one frontier method and compare its results
    • State the uncertainty and the limits of the result
    • Peer review against a shared checklist
  6. Technology that helps and the risks it carries
    • Digital public infrastructure and digital identity.
    • Exclusion, surveillance and the automation of work.

Labs with Academy tools

Nexus Standards

Teaches

  • NRS-D4 Work, skills and livelihoods risk
  • NRS-X9 Occupational health and safety risk
  • NRS-H82 Hazard family: Occupational disease and injury
  • NRS-H115 Hazard family: Labour and technology transition

Relies on

  • NS-1 The UNI and the artefact catalogue
  • NS-16 UNI application profile (how articles, documents, code, data, APIs and interfaces carry the UNI)
  • NRS-C1 Risk vocabulary and ontology
  • NRS-C2 Risk assessment method
  • NRS-C3 Hazard, exposure, vulnerability and capacity data
  • NRS-C4 Risk data model, identifiers and exchange
  • NRS-C7 Early warning, triggers and anticipatory action

Assessment

  • 50%Method reproductionReproduce one frontier method on open data and state the uncertainty of the result
  • 30%Study reviewA critical review of a 2024 to 2026 study: question, data, method, limits, what it changes
  • 20%Peer reviewReview two other learners' reproductions against a shared checklist

Delivery

  • Self-paced online, with the labs in the browser
  • Cohort study over six to eight weeks, with a weekly lab review
  • Co-delivered with a partner institution, inside its own courses

Partner on this course

  • Co-teach a module and bring a current case from your work
  • Host a cohort for your learners, with your own schedule and review
  • Contribute a lab: a dataset your institution publishes openly, or a model
  • Review the course content and its references before it opens
  • Translate the course and adapt its cases to your region

How institutions and experts take part

In the Academy LMS

Course on the learning platform
Expert, 6 topics
Cohort group
A community group for each cohort of learners
Achievement
Recorded on completion of the assessed work

References

  1. International Labour Organization, International Labour Conference ends with adoption of the first Convention on decent work in the platform economy, 16 June 2026
  2. World Health Organization, WHO, WMO issue new report and guidance to protect workers from increasing heat stress, 22 August 2025
  3. International Labour Organization, ILO adopts landmark Convention on biological hazards in the working environment, 16 June 2025
  4. International Labour Organization, One in four jobs at risk of being transformed by GenAI, new ILO–NASK Global Index shows, 20 May 2025
  5. Kjellstrom, Holmer and Lemke, Workplace heat stress, health and productivity: an increasing challenge for low and middle-income countries during climate change, 2009
  6. Kjellstrom and others, Heat, human performance, and occupational health: a key issue for the assessment of global climate change impacts, 2016
  7. International Labour Organization, Working on a warmer planet: the effect of heat stress on productivity and decent work, 2019
05Take part

Take part in the work

Start from who you are.

06Questions

Questions, answers and key terms

Is the course free?
Yes. Every course and learning material of Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium, is free to study, self-paced or with a cohort. Ordinary participation has no fee; paid work, internships and fellowships are separate arrangements.
What does completing a course give me?
A completion record: the course, its version, the date and what was assessed, private by default and shared by you. It stacks into discipline, department and programme achievements. A record states what was studied and assessed and does not certify competence; it is not a licence, a professional title or an employment status.
Where do the data and the places come from?
Every faculty teaches on a twin of a real place built from open data; each layer carries its provider, licence and date, and every result on the Academy states its source. Maps and figures are indicators for teaching, never an assessment of a place.
How do I take part beyond the course?
Form a competence cell of three to seven people, study a shared pathway, take a supervised assignment in the National Working Groups, or bring a cohort from your institution. For organisations.

Key terms

Term

Task exposure

The share of a job's tasks that technology could perform or change.

Term

Reskilling

Learning new skills to move into a different job or role.

Term

Occupational health and safety management system

A framework for managing workplace health and safety risks, such as ISO 45001.

Term

Platform work

Paid work organised through online platforms.

ReportsContribute

Contribute evidence from this page.

Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.

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