Denver - At every annual conference of the American Society of Safety Professionals there are multiple tracks of topics to choose from. This year the tracks include business and leadership skills, fall protection, risk assessment and management, safety management systems and Total Worker Health®.

Another way to analyze the current safety landscape is not by these tracks, topical as they all are, but by conducting a key word search. The three words, or themes, that pop up most often in the conference agenda are: risk, psychology and technology. There are at least ten educational sessions involving risk; 14 involving psychology; and 23 representing technology and artificial intelligence. AI alone is connected to a dozen sessions.

Risk for years now has been championed as almost a substitute term for safety. Many think that’s going too far. But there is the realization that “risk” is better understood by corporate executives, and can be used on its own terms as part of safety – risk assessment and risk management. And there are specific risk exposures in travel, mining, construction, almost every industry has risks. What can’t be disputed is in 2024, risk is part of safety’s language used more than ever.

The “psychology of safety” has long been recognized as an element of incident prevention and sustaining well-being. In the 1970s and ‘80s it was popularized by Dr. E. Scott Geller in a book by that title, as well as in journal articles, keynote speeches and workshops. Behavior-based safety boomed in the ‘80s, ‘90s and into this century as one particular type of safety psych. At this year’s conference few educational sessions reference specifically “behavior.” The scope is broader, including sessions on stress and burnout, mental health, wellness, the mind-body connection, mindfulness, mental fitness, suicide prevention, and “safety is more than the physical.” In this respect safety is aligned with the emphasis today on health and mental health in particular in education, healthcare and society.

It’s no surprise that technology subjects are more prevalent every year at safety conferences – and also as the topic of webinars, podcasts, articles, forums, summits, websites and social posts. Here at the Denver meeting sessions focus on drones, personal protective equipment wearables, the “connected worker,” robotics, lone worker safety technology, wearables, safety data analysis and insights, auditing, alerts, various forms of monitoring and training and “giving back cell phones to improve frontline safety. 

Depending on the author or speaker, AI will either enhance safety, complement existing skills, or eliminate positions. Artificial intelligence is the dominant subject today. It’s inevitable. And controversial. It cannot be ignored and must be understood and assessed.