Full disclosure: These are the opinions, observations and educated guesses of a reporter who has covered the EHS field since 1980.

1. How will AI impact the EHS field?

To a moderate degree in 2026. Most companies will be testing and piloting AI tools and fewer companies, mostly large companies, will be scaling full implementations. ChatGPT will continue to increase in popularity and become a regular EHS tool due to its easy access. AI’s potential is vast – predicting safety hazards, immersive training experiences, automating dangerous tasks (and eliminating down and dirty jobs), tracking personal health metrics (with privacy concerns an issue) and analyzing incident trends. It will take years for these benefits to trickle down to a substantial number of mid- and small-size workplaces.

2. Will the turnover in the EHS field lead to new approaches by a younger generation?

Younger or older, EHS will continue to evolve from compliance-dominated policing activities to human-centric (people-first issues such as behaviors and attitudes, SIFs, mental health and neurodiversity) and Safety Differently practices (a shift from blaming people to people being problem solvers; emphasizing error is normal; and building the capacity to work safely). This evolution is, and will be, most pronounced in large companies.

3. What will David Keeling do at OSHA?

Not much of note. Nothing against Mr. Keeling, widely seen as a stand-up guy. OSHA chiefs are historically quiet in de-regulatory minded GOP administrations. Confirmed and officially leading the agency since early October, Keeling has said little beyond his confirmation hearing testimony. He will be constrained by staff losses (many in the standards-setting department) and as always, limited funding. Coming from corporate EHS management positions, it’s not surprising he wants to leverage technology to improve data management and improve service delivery. And given a GOP administration’s penchant for voluntary compliance, it’s no surprise that OSHA has launched a new “Safety Champions Program” with self-guided action steps and participants working at their own pace. This is the latest of seven cooperative programs OSHA offers.

4. Will OSHA issue a heat illness prevention standard?

Definitely not in 2026. One, there is the process of reviewing thousands of comments on the proposal, making finalizing a standard this year premature. Two, issuing major standards is a rarity, in again, de-regulatory oriented GOP administrations. Three, Congress has sent OSHA a shot across the bow. Legislation introduced in the House in early January states: “the secretary of labor may not finalize, implement or enforce the proposed standard titled ‘Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings’…” The bill has 28 co-sponsors – every one a Republican representative.

There is an alternative view: construction companies and other operations might complain that they would rather comply with a national heat illness prevention standard than a growing patchwork quilt of state heat-related safety standards. A consensus here favoring a national standard would still take years to work out. There is a precedent: A patchwork quilt of state right-to-know in the 1980s give way to OSHA’s hazard communication standard.

5. Will the Chemical Safety Board survive?

Yes. In the deep state of Washington politics, it’s almost impossible to kill an agency. They may be defunded and defanged, but total elimination is seldom seen. Four times now President Trump has proposed eliminating the CSB. Trump’s budget for 2026 zeroes out the CSB funding. Meanwhile, the board is currently investigating a fatal explosion (16 deaths) at an explosives manufacturing plant in Tennessee and its website lists 9 investigations of explosions and chemical releases

6. Will NIOSH be revived anywhere close to the level of its operation before 2025?

No. NIOSH will recover somewhat from the blows of 2025 but will not operate at close to 100% of what it was doing before 2025. While the staff layoffs were reinstated in January, they were too broad and deep to be restored in one year. The work of the respirator approval program will continue.

7. Will more companies embrace the need for a psychologically safe workplace?

As there is a digital divide in EHS, with large companies investing in AI and other technologies and smaller companies not being able to afford those investments, it is also true with making workplaces safe places to speak one’s mind without repercussions. Large companies with access to resources to make psychologically safe workplaces will understand the need to do so and the benefits. Smaller companies with part-time EHS positions won’t have the knowledge or the resources to emphasize psychological safety.

8. Will employees be more open about psychosocial ills?

This will take time. Coming out of the mental health closet, so to speak, is an incremental, years-long process. It will certainly take more than one year for employees struggling with mental health difficulties to feel safe and secure enough to seek help in the work environment. And for leadership to be sincerely understanding and supportive. Today, for an employee to say they are depressed is still going to be met with beliefs that the person cannot be trusted with certain responsibilities, cannot in many cases be promoted, and must be watched carefully. The mental health stigma is being chipped away at but still persists.

9. Will many EHS pros continue to be in the position of doing more with less?

Yes. Many EHS programs have never fully recovered from the pandemic in terms of staffing and resources, and once a company is comfortable with a level of support for a department that is less than it once was, that lower level of investment will continue.

10. In a deregulatory environment, will more companies cut back on safety spending?

At the end of 2026, ask PPE vendors, training companies, software programmers, facility safety suppliers, safety supply distributors and consultants about sales. Up, down or the same? The proof of any cutbacks in spending will be in safety vendors’ revenues for the year. In general, EHS spending will have more to do with the state of the economy, interest rates and employment levels, than politics in Washington.