On Feb. 19, 2026, the ASSP Artificial Intelligence (AI) Task Force released its white paper, “AI and the Evolving Role of EHS Professionals.” To expand on the paper’s key themes, task force members are sharing their unique perspectives in this new weekly series in ASSP News.

How to Use AI to Preserve and Expand EHS Knowledge

By Chet Brandon, director, Global EHS, Hexion

After 35 years in the environmental health and safety (EHS) profession — across metals, chemicals, industrial products, and even a stint in aerospace and automotive — I’ve seen just about everything. I started out on the floor of a steel mill, learning firsthand what “safety” means in a world where the risks are real and the work is hard.

These days, I lead a global EHS team responsible for 24 sites worldwide for a chemical adhesives company. It’s been a long and rewarding journey, and I still have plenty of fire in the belly for what we do. One of the things that keeps me passionate is how our profession keeps evolving: how we learn, share and apply knowledge to protect people and the environment.

When I started, there was no Google, no email, no online training. We passed knowledge through conversation and mentorship. If you wanted to learn something, you talked to someone who’d been there before.

Now, we’re standing at another turning point: AI.

Acknowledge the risk of knowledge atrophy

One concern I have as a veteran in this field is what I call knowledge atrophy. After decades in EHS, I’ve built up a lot of lessons, the kind you only get through real-world experience. My generation learned them the long way, and sometimes the hard way.

But I worry that newer professionals may not get that same depth of exposure. They’re entering a world where answers come instantly, but context doesn’t. That’s where AI can actually become part of the solution — if we use it intentionally.

I’ve been experimenting with a “digital twin” of myself: an AI model trained on over 300 pages of my presentations, notes and published work. It’s designed to think and write like I do, using my ethical framework and decision-making style. Inside our company, it’s become a tool for my team. Sometimes it summarizes meetings, highlights key themes or helps interpret safety data.

The point isn’t to replace me. It’s to preserve and extend the knowledge I’ve built so it remains available to others long after I log off for the day. I can easily imagine a future where experienced EHS professionals leave behind a digital mentor — someone’s career-long insight captured in a way that keeps guiding people forward.

Keep human experience in the loop

Of course, AI isn’t perfect. It can sound convincing and still get something wrong, and when that happens, experience makes all the difference.

A while back, we faced a potential issue related to overpressure in a chemical reactor. Anyone in our field knows that’s not a minor concern. I asked an AI tool to summarize the consensus standards for rupture disks, and it quickly produced a detailed, professional-looking answer. Everything seemed right until I spotted one acronym: “PRV,” short for pressure relief valve.

That’s a totally different device. The AI had mixed them up.

My experience told me right away that something wasn’t right. Someone without that background might have taken it at face value, and that could have led to serious consequences. AI can give you data, but it can’t yet tell you what’s meaningful or what’s dangerous. That’s where human judgment still matters most.

Mentor the next generation in AI literacy

This is why mentorship matters more than ever. We can’t just teach the next generation how to use AI. We have to teach them how to think about it. To question it. To validate it. To apply their own judgment to what it gives them.

That’s where organizations like ASSP can lead. Our community has always been about sharing tools, lessons and successes. There’s no proprietary law on safety — we all win when someone figures out a better way to protect people. I believe ASSP can help the profession build and share best practices for integrating AI — from the basics to the advanced applications.

Use AI to amplify, not replace, human strengths

Outside of EHS, I’m also a pilot. Aviation is a great parallel. Today’s planes are packed with automation, but pilots are still essential. Computers handle the routine precision work, but when something unexpected happens — when systems fail or the environment changes — it’s the human who figures out the solution.

That’s exactly how we should think about AI in EHS. AI can process enormous amounts of data faster than we ever could, but when the unexpected happens, it’s the human brain — and the experience behind it — that makes the difference.

The real opportunity for EHS professionals is to leverage AI as a powerful new tool to see patterns, predict risks and make smarter decisions faster. But the technology has to serve a human purpose. It should exist to improve the human condition, not replace it.

Approach AI with intention

My message to my peers is simple: Don’t fear AI. Engage with it. Learn from it. Teach it. Use it to amplify your impact.

This isn’t about humans versus machines. It’s about humans with better tools, working together to protect people and build a safer, more sustainable world.

If we stay curious, critical and connected, AI won’t replace our profession — it’ll help us take it to an entirely new level.