Health & safety 4.0: A digital twin reference model to support the smart operator at the workplace

In the Industry 4.0 era, Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and the Internet of Things are the enabling technologies for a new tool, the Digital Twin, that allows a streamlined communication, automation and interoperability among all the production assets. Even if there has been a great deal of efforts toward digital twin engineering, little attention has been paid to the correct integration of humans in the emerging context of smart factories and, in particular, to the potential contribution of digital twins for supporting a health and safety 4.0 at the workplace. This paper sets the stage for a discussion over health and safety aspects for the Smart Operator and proposes a renewed approach to t…