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. This is the last post in the series.  

Making Safety Communication Understandable: How AI Supports EHS Professionals

By Christina Brundage, environmental health and safety specialist II, Cargill

My job at the Cargill ground beef manufacturing facility in West Columbia, South Carolina, is to promote safety on the production floor. My boss and I support 350 employees and oversee all aspects of EHS, from incident investigations and safety training to policy development and regulatory compliance. We’re the “go-to” team for anything remotely related to workplace safety, which means our to-do lists are always growing.

With that workload, I’ve had to get creative about working smarter, and that’s where AI has come into play for me. It’s been particularly helpful as a time saver and in making safety communication understandable.

Discovering AI as a partner, not a replacement

When I first started experimenting with AI, I used ChatGPT because it is free and easy to access. I didn’t have a budget for software or vendors, but I wanted to see what I could do with what was available. The more I used it, the more I realized how powerful it could be as a helper. For example, tasks that used to take me three days, like writing a policy or crafting a training outline, started taking one day. AI gives me a framework that I can customize and perfect. It doesn’t replace my expertise; it gives me time back to focus on the human side of safety.

That said, I completely understand why people are apprehensive. I’ve talked to so many safety professionals who are hesitant to use AI, some because they don’t understand it, and others because they worry it’s going to replace them. I get that fear. Honestly, it crossed my mind, too; the more I’ve learned, the more I’ve realized AI can’t replace human judgment, but it can support it. Once people see that it adds value instead of taking away from their role, they start to get excited about what it can do.

Making safety understandable for everyone

One of my goals is to make sure everyone understands what safety means in their workplace. In manufacturing, that’s not a given. We have employees who haven’t graduated from high school, and some for whom English is a second language. So when I write a policy or develop a training, it’s not enough for it to be “technically correct.” It has to make sense to the people who are actually doing the job.

AI has been a huge help in bridging that communication gap. I can take a complex policy, something written in dense, legal language, and ask AI to make it more understandable for our workforce. For example, I asked AI to write a “plain language” radiation safety policy in accordance with South Carolina’s regulations. Once AI completed the draft, I double-checked everything against the actual legislation. It saved me hours of sorting through documents and gave me a starting point I could refine.

I’ve also used AI to condense redundant job task procedures. We had 50 nearly identical documents, and I asked AI to compare them and merge them into one. It did a great job spotting the differences so I could create one unified document instead of juggling dozens.

Training and engagement through AI

Beyond writing policies, I use AI to brainstorm training ideas and engagement strategies. Training can get repetitive, especially in a plant environment. People tune out if it’s the same PowerPoint month after month. So I’ll ask AI to help me come up with creative safety scenarios or games to make learning more interactive. Sometimes it’s as simple as rephrasing a quiz question in a way that makes people think or turning a case study into a team challenge. The point is to keep people engaged, because engaged employees are safer employees.

We’ve also started using an ergonomics AI system that uses sensors to analyze how people move while working. It helps us identify high-risk motions and make ergonomic improvements to prevent musculoskeletal injuries. That kind of data-backed insight is something I could never get manually, and it’s already making a difference in how we approach physical safety.

Building trust through transparency

Whenever I introduce something new, especially technology, I try to be completely transparent. People get nervous when they don’t understand what’s happening. When we rolled out our wearable devices, the first question I got was, “Is this recording me?” or “Does it know where I’m going?” I explained that the data is anonymized. The system doesn’t say, “This is Ray, and here’s what Ray did today.” It says, “This is user 1234” and tracks motion data. Taking the time to explain how it works helps build trust.

That same accountability applies to using AI tools, too. I’m careful never to input personal names or confidential information, even when the platform feels secure. Protecting privacy and maintaining trust are non-negotiable; it’s about respecting the people behind the data.

Collaboration and the future of AI in safety

Being part of ASSP’s AI Task Force opened my eyes to how collaborative this movement toward AI is. Everyone brings different experiences and levels of comfort with AI. Some have been working with it for years; others are just getting started. But what unites us is the goal of making our work more effective and sustainable. The task force helped lay the foundation for how safety professionals can responsibly and effectively use AI, and I hope it continues to evolve with member feedback.

I think it’s crucial that we keep sharing success stories and real examples of how AI is helping us do our jobs better. That’s how we build understanding and trust across the profession. ASSP’s Safety Trekr AI™, which uses AI to search through 1,300 pages of content, is a great step forward. It shows how AI can make knowledge more accessible without replacing the people behind it.

Final thoughts

For me, AI helps make communication understandable. Whether that’s simplifying a policy, translating complex safety language, or finding new ways to engage our workforce, AI helps me connect better with people. It helps me make sure that every employee, no matter their background, can understand how to stay safe. At the end of the day, that’s what this job is all about. AI doesn’t change that mission. It helps me do it better.