By Jimmy Lee, CEO, Rapid Global, the workplace safety software company.
If you work in workplace safety, the next few months might feel like standing at the top of a rollercoaster. A little nervous. A lot curious. And, if I’m honest, probably excited too.
Because here’s a prediction I’m comfortable making. Five years from now, the way we manage workplace safety will look almost nothing like it does today. And that’s not because safety professionals haven’t been doing a good job. It’s because the tools are about to dramatically change.
We’ve been here before (more than once)
If you’ve been in safety long enough, you’ll know this feeling. That sense that something big is shifting under your feet. I like to think of workplace safety as having moved through a few clear eras. These are moments where technology fundamentally changed how we protect people at work.
First came paper. Clipboards, filing cabinets, forms that went missing right when you needed them most. Safety was hands-on and personal, but slow, siloed, and full of blind spots. You couldn’t see risk clearly across a site, let alone across an organisation.
Then, in the early 2000s, computers showed up. Digital forms replaced clipboards. Certificates stopped living in drawers. Processes sped up. Data got cleaner. And for the first time, safety teams started getting some of their time back.
Around 2015, which was earlier than many people realise, AI quietly entered the picture. Not chatbots and prompts, but things like machine learning and computer vision. Tools that could spot patterns, flag anomalies, and support real-time decision making. A few forward thinking organisations were already experimenting long before “AI” became a buzzword.
And now? We’re stepping into the next era.
Not just AI but AI that works with you
The next shift isn’t just smarter tools. It’s something bigger.
We’re entering the age of AI agents.
Strip away the hype, and an AI agent is simply software that doesn’t need constant instruction. It can plan, act, and follow through on multi-step tasks, all on your behalf. For safety managers, that’s a game-changer. From 2026 onwards, we’re going to see AI assistants working 24/7: checking training, verifying permits, monitoring hazards, managing compliance workflows, not as passive tools, but as proactive teammates.
Some sites are already there. Instant verification of permits. Real-time hazard detection. Automated access control based on live compliance status. Systems that act before issues escalate.
It’s powerful stuff and yes, it’s also where the fear creeps in.
“Are these things coming for my job?”
Let’s address the elephant in the room. Whenever I talk about AI agents, someone inevitably thinks: That sounds great… but am I about to be replaced?
I genuinely don’t believe that’s how this plays out.
The best way I can describe today’s AI agents is this: imagine a PhD-level coworker who started five minutes ago. They’re incredibly fast. They never forget anything. They’re brilliant at spotting patterns and recalling precedent. But they don’t know your business. They don’t understand your site culture. They don’t know why “that’s how we do things here”. That context still lives with you. Which is why your role doesn’t shrink, it grows. You offload the repetitive, time-consuming work to your AI trainee. You set the guardrails. You provide the judgement. You make the call.
The real equation isn’t AI versus humans. It’s workplace safety = AI + human expertise.
And that combination is far more powerful than either alone.
The results are already showing up
This isn’t theory. We’re already seeing organisations get real, measurable results. Internally, our own development teams estimate they’re 20–50% more productive using AI. McKinsey reports that companies adopting advanced analytics and AI can reduce workplace safety incidents by up to 20% within three years.
That’s not marginal improvement. That’s a step-change. And it changes your role too. Across these eras, safety managers have gone from record-keepers, to system managers, to real-time decision-makers. Now, you’re becoming a strategist by leading people and intelligent systems toward safer, smarter, and always-compliant workplaces.
The future isn’t hypothetical, it’s arriving
This isn’t some distant, sci-fi version of safety management. It’s already happening. Quietly and quickly. You don’t need to predict the future to prepare for it. You just need to recognise that it’s arriving and decide how you want to shape it.
Personally, I think it’s a future worth leaning into. And I think the best safety managers will enjoy the ride.
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