HSE UK Learning Summit: This is a write-up from a talk at the HSE UK Learning Summit.
AI is transforming industries at a rapid pace. In some sectors, adopting the technology is now essential just to keep up with competitors; in others, it offers a powerful opportunity to leap ahead due to slower uptake. It may come as little surprise, then, that artificial intelligence and other modern technologies are still far from commonplace in the day-to-day workflow of many health and safety professionals.
So in an industry often tainted with a stuffy and boring brush, how can you as a health and safety leader, manager or supervisor adopt AI, and further to that point, should you?
The HSE UK Learning Summit (hosted by our sister company HSE Global Series) welcomed Prakash Senghani to the stage along with a panel of EHS leaders to discuss potential ways AI can be leveraged, and what managers should be aware of when it comes to the technology.
Engagement and Data: A Frontline Opportunity for AI
One recurring challenge in health and safety is engaging the frontline and obtaining data directly from those at risk. People are busy; cumbersome forms and unfamiliar systems add friction. And, despite best intentions, valuable observations and near-misses go unreported or lost in translation—sometimes quite literally. AI offers game-changing potential here.
Tools now enable workers to voice-report in their own language, automatically translating and structuring the data. This is not just about accessibility, but inclusion. Beyond reporting, physical environments also benefit from real-time oversight; AI-assisted live video monitoring for businesses shows how cameras plus human verification can flag and deter risks in the moment. People can relate incidents without wrestling with forms or standardized scripts, which, in my experience, leads to richer, more honest data. AI also enables the creation of safety materials in various formats; videos, podcasts, and infographics. AI also enables the creation of safety materials in various formats; videos, podcasts, and infographics. Suddenly, “dry” safety comms can reach people where they are, in the way they want to consume information.
Prakash illustrated this wonderfully by creating visually engaging videos and podcasts from quite basic prompts and content. Whilst this may not make it to the company’s marketing material, for internal communication, the ability to quickly and effectively re-imagine content could be very powerful.
Policy, Perception, and the Place of Safety in the AI Conversation
There’s an important generational aspect: new entrants to the workforce expect to see AI used natively. Those of us responsible for policy must put clear guidelines and boundaries in place for responsible AI adoption, rather than play catch-up.
During the summit, it struck me how easy it is for health and safety teams to be sidelined, especially in larger organizations where HR, IT, or operations are already piloting AI tools. “If we are looking for new EHS software, stick AI in the company name and you’re adding months onto the procurement process,” a safety manager noted with dry humor. It’s a telling sign of the wariness that surrounds AI—partly due to regulatory uncertainty, but just as much a cultural perception of the profession.
In reality, we are more attuned now to legal implications than we were in the early days of Facebook or social networking. High-profile cases, like the recent ChatGPT and Google Indexing troubles, are front-of-mind. Setting policy is more than a compliance exercise—it’s about ensuring safety is neither left behind nor caught unprepared.
Is over-reliance an issue?
There was one question to the panel with concerns of an ‘over-reliance on AI, especially for the next generation’. The technology should help with the heavy lifting, but the best practitioners are those who wield it critically. They design sophisticated prompts, interrogate the results, and use what AI gives as a platform for further thinking, not a cut-and-paste end solution.
Safety may be at a crossroads with AI
Much is said about the revolutionary power of artificial intelligence; in health and safety, we are only at the start of that journey. While other industries scramble to keep pace, safety sits at a crossroads.
AI can be the enabler that helps us engage, communicate, and protect more effectively if we embrace it critically and responsibly. The choice doesn’t lie in whether AI will change our industry, but how. Those who take up the challenge thoughtfully now may find themselves not only keeping pace but setting the standard.
Speaker:
This article is a write-up on thoughts and discussions from a talk at the HSE UK Learning Summit from Prakash Senghani, a digital construction thought leader and Founder/CEO at Artificial Intelligence start-up Navatech.
About the Author:
David Foy is the Head of Content at HSE Network and SEO Manager at Varn. David has worked with HSE Network for 6 years and regularly attends safety events, hosts the HSE Network podcasts and handles all the editorial for HSE Network.
