Digital Transformation for Sustainable Safety in Agriculture: Extending eCall Systems beyond Road Transport

Digital transformation is a key enabler of sustainability in all economic sectors, but perhaps especially in the agriculture sector where the intersection between technology-driven innovation, occupational safety, and rural resilience is critical. While smart agriculture is advancing, emergency response in agricultural settings remains underexplored, despite high operational risks. Existing studies emphasise digitalisation for productivity, overlooking how emergency communication systems support sustainable safety. This paper addresses that gap by examining the extension of automatic emergency call systems, originally developed for road transport, to agriculture as part of a digital transformation toward sustainable safety. Using a quantitative descriptive design, a structured questionnaire was administered to 185 agricultural workers. The study evaluates perceptions of risk, the perceived usefulness of emergency call technologies, and the willingness to adopt them. The results show a high awareness of the risks in agriculture and strong belief that emergency call systems can shorten response times to serious incidents. Most of the respondents expressed a willingness to explore or use such systems, particularly when supported institutionally or offered at low or no cost. Adoption barriers appear to be more economic and governance related than technical. The paper contributes to the digital transformation and sustainability literature by positioning emergency communication systems as a strategic infrastructure for social sustainability in agriculture and by expanding emergency call technologies beyond road transport, highlighting their potential to embed safety, digital innovation, and sustainability into rural and agricultural policies.