Will AI replace Occupational Health and Safety Specialists?
Estimated risk score: 42 out of 100
Lower replacement risk
Estimate from published task research, not reviewed by a person · how we estimate
Within about 19 points for 4 in 5 of the jobs we checked (23 to 61).
For the occupation as a whole, from ratings of its 21 O*NET tasks published in 2023 and calibrated to our hand scores. A specialty inside it can sit higher or lower.
O*NET-SOC 19-5011.00 · Life, Physical, and Social Science
Tasks rated in 2023 as ones AI could do or speed up
Tasks a GPT-4-class model could do, or do in half the time or less: 2 of its 21 rated tasks. In O*NET’s words.
- Analyze incident data to identify trends in injuries, illnesses, accidents, or other hazards.
- Provide new-employee health and safety orientations and develop materials for these presentations.
Tasks rated in 2023 as not sped up by AI
Tasks such a model was rated as not speeding up or taking over: 8 of its 21 rated tasks; the first 6 are shown. In O*NET’s words.
- Collect samples of dust, gases, vapors, or other potentially toxic materials for analysis.
- Collect samples of hazardous materials or arrange for sample collection.
- Prepare hazardous, radioactive, or mixed waste samples for transportation or storage by treating, compacting, packaging, and labeling them.
- Conduct audits at hazardous waste sites or industrial sites or participate in hazardous waste site investigations.
- Conduct safety training or education programs and demonstrate the use of safety equipment.
- Inspect specified areas to ensure the presence of fire prevention equipment, safety equipment, or first-aid supplies.
What the job is
Review, evaluate, and analyze work environments and design programs and procedures to control, eliminate, and prevent disease or injury caused by chemical, physical, and biological agents or ergonomic factors. May conduct inspections and enforce adherence to laws and regulations governing the health and safety of individuals. May be employed in the public or private sector.
Also called: EHS Officer, Cause Analyst, Safety Person, OHS Consultant, OHS Specialist, OSHA Inspector, Safety Advisor, Tick Inspector.
Source. This site includes information from the O*NET 30.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. (O*NET, CC BY 4.0.) Task ratings: Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock (2023), “GPTs are GPTs: An Early Look at the Labor Market Impact Potential of Large Language Models”, data used under the MIT licence (licence texts). Our change: we averaged the ratings over this occupation’s tasks and calibrated them to our 0–100 scale. It is not a prediction about any one person and not career advice. Disagree? Write to hello@yourstopwashit.com. How we estimate