Health and safety must be “cornerstone” of AI development, says IOSH

Chief Executive Vanessa Harwood-Whitcher has written to Feryal Clark, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for AI and Digital Government, to welcome the Government’s ambition to boost AI opportunities.

She also attended a House of Lords event last week focusing on how AI can boost predictive safety.

Workers at the core

In her letter, Vanessa said: “AI holds immense potential to make work safer, healthier and more efficient by preventing workers from undertaking hazardous work and high-risk activities, facilitating informed decision-making and learning, and improving job quality and productivity.”

However, Vanessa went on to urge the Government to ensure worker health, safety and wellbeing remain at the core of plans around AI.

“That will ensure sustainable human capital management, enabling British people to share the benefits AI could bring,” she said. “Rapid and unchecked adoption of such technologies risks unintended consequences, including harm to vulnerable workers and the erosion of well-established rights. We must ensure that good work for as many people as possible.

“As we move ever faster into the fourth industrial revolution, we cannot jeopardise people's safety, health and wellbeing. Lives and livelihoods are at stake and ensuring that health and safety is put at the cornerstone of all planning will ensure that the British public are able to support the developments fully and that workers can be consulted.”

House of Lords event

Vanessa attended an event at the House of Lords last week (Thursday 06 February) focusing on how AI is being used to enhance predictive safety. The event was hosted by the Rt Hon Lord Boateng CVO and organised by Fyld, the organisation behind an AI-driven digital platform aimed at managing health and safety risks to workers. 

Delegates from across the industry attended, taking the opportunity to network before hearing from Fyld about how AI is being used to produce video risk assessments, which help to increase safety observations and prevent harm.

Fyld’s Co-Founder and Chief Futurist Karl Simons OBE then chaired a panel session with Jane Lassey, from the Health and Safety Executive, and Benjamin Leg, from Digital Realty. It focused on regulation, leadership and engagement relating to AI and other advances in technology.

Jane said: “AI is already here. We must work to understand how and where to use it. We need to know that when using AI we can rely on it to give us the answers we need.”

Ben said that the challenges around AI are varied, adding it’s crucial to “ensure health and safety is built into it”.