The American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) has published a research report examining the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in environmental health and safety (EHS), highlighting both its growing use and the challenges organisations face when implementing the technology.
Titled Trust, Ethics and Governance: How Safety Leaders Are Thinking About and Using AI, the report draws on a survey of nearly 1,000 safety professionals conducted by ASSP between 6 July and 2 August 2026.
The findings show that 86% of respondents work in organisations exploring or scaling AI within EHS operations. Of these organisations, 66% began their AI-EHS initiatives within the previous two years, indicating a rapid shift towards integrating AI into workplace safety practices.
Reported applications span several operational areas, including report preparation, personalised training and education, incident analysis, pattern recognition, resource optimisation, predictive analytics, automated compliance, and real-time monitoring and alerts.
However, implementation continues to face financial, organisational and technical obstacles. Limited investment was the most frequently reported barrier, cited by 74% of respondents. Data quality followed at 62%, while 59% identified a lack of ownership, internal advocates or organisational priority. Concerns about trust, confidence and comfort with AI, alongside issues relating to data privacy, security and bias, were each reported by 55%.
The research also found links between AI adoption and organisational culture, perceptions of its value to EHS, ethical concerns and data quality. Data quality remains a challenge at different stages of implementation, while training is associated with greater knowledge of AI-EHS applications and increased confidence among safety professionals.
Emphasising the need to retain human responsibility as AI becomes more widely used, Monique Parker, CSP, president of ASSP, said, “While many safety professionals are using AI to support better decision-making and address real-world EHS challenges, human oversight remains essential. AI does not change our fundamental responsibility to protect people, property and the environment through EHS practices. This is why ASSP is meeting safety professionals where they are on their AI journey with several resources and programs to help address barriers to implementation, including the Applied AI for EHS Certificate with the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the AI in EHS: A Practical Framework for Responsible Adoption course.”
ASSP will also use the survey results to inform its complimentary Standards-Based User Group (SBUG) on AI in Safety. The group aims to identify further implementation challenges and evaluate practical ways to address them.
The research was funded by the ASSP Foundation.
The full report is available on the ASSP website.
