Occupational Health and Safety Specialists

Right now, many safety specialists use AI to help with routine tasks – but AI rarely does the whole job alone. For example, some workplaces use smart cameras or drones (with AI “vision”) to continuously scan for hazards, like spotting missing safety gear or unsafe conditions ^{[1] [2]}. Virtual reality and other tech make new-employee safety drills more engaging and realistic ^{[2] [3]}.

Even “smart” equipment (sensor-equipped boots or helmets) can alert a worker about a fall or bad air quality ^{[2] [4]}. These tools handle checks and training quickly, but the specialist still makes the big calls. Investigating an accident or deciding a new safety fix needs human judgment and context.

The ILO notes that robots can take on the very dirty or dangerous parts of a job, freeing people to focus on tricky problems ^[4]. It also warns that too much automation without humans watching it can create new risks ^[4]. In short, AI acts as a powerful assistant for inspectors – flagging problems or running simulations – but specialists are still needed to interpret the results and lead safety decisions.

In practice, adoption of AI in health and safety jobs has been slow. A 2024 survey found only about 6% of workers saw any AI-related improvement in workplace safety ^[3]. Likewise, roughly 29% of safety professionals reported that their company used AI tools for safety, mostly in large or high-risk firms ^[2].

In other words, most organizations haven’t put AI into these roles yet. Why? Partly because safety jobs need human care and site-specific judgment.

Standing machines can monitor lots of data, but deciding what to do with it often requires a person. Also, new AI systems can be expensive to set up and must be proven safe. Experts note that if AI handles repetitive monitoring, specialists can spend time on harder problems ^[4].

However, they also emphasize that humans must still oversee any system to keep it safe ^[4]. Over time, as AI tools get cheaper and data grows, adoption may rise (for example, using analytics to predict hazards). For now, though, companies view AI as a helper – boosting accuracy in checking and training – while keeping people at the center of workplace safety.

This means human skills (like talking to workers, understanding situations, and creativity) remain very valuable in this field.