A Shifting Safety Landscape
Five trends that are steering workplace safety over the next six to 18 months.
- By David Kopf
- Feb 27, 2026
The past year has felt like workplace safety is shifting under your feet; you’re not imagining things. Moreover, those shifts are likely to continue. The next six to 18 months will bring changes that are reshaping how safety professionals keep people safe.
The first trend is impossible to ignore: AI and data analytics. AI is entering workplace safety fast. These tools can strengthen hazard identification, capture near misses, and highlight where serious incidents are most likely next. But AI doesn’t replace safety professionals; it will depend on human judgment, context, and culture.
The second trend is the expanding definition of safety culture to include mental health, stress, fatigue, and workplace violence prevention. Long hours, physical strain, isolation, and production demands can quietly undermine safe work. Notably, while suicide rates are significantly higher in some industries than in the general population, supervisors can feel unprepared to respond despite seeing warning signs. This underscores the need for more trauma-informed training and early-intervention systems.
The third trend is the one many safety leaders have been forced to manage in real time: regulatory evolution and compliance shifts. OSHA has had a volatile year. Budget pressures, political dynamics, and even a temporary shutdown have disrupted normal rhythms of enforcement and rulemaking. Meanwhile, NIOSH suffered deep staffing cuts that threatened its ability to conduct its research. While some staff have since been reinstated, uncertainty remains about the agency’s long-term capacity and funding. Fortunately, state OSHA programs have continued their work. Looking ahead, heat stress remains one of the most closely watched potential developments, even if timelines remain uncertain.
The fourth trend is how we measure safety. Many organizations are moving beyond lagging indicators like recordables and lost-time rates toward human-centered, proactive metrics. This shift is closely tied to SIF prevention: Serious Injury and Fatality events. A minor cut and a fatal fall might both be recordable, but from a prevention standpoint, they are not equal. SIF-focused safety asks a better question: Where do we have exposure to high-consequence hazards that could seriously injure or kill someone?
Finally, PPE is undergoing one of its most significant shifts in decades. Fit is increasingly recognized as a safety issue, not a comfort issue, especially for women and others who have historically been underserved by traditional PPE sizing. At the same time, advances in materials and design are improving protection while reducing heat burden and fatigue. Smart PPE adds another layer, with sensors and connectivity integrated into equipment — offering new visibility but also raising important questions about privacy and trust.
Despite the upheaval, the good news is that the fundamentals still matter. The safety leaders who succeed in 2026 won’t be the ones chasing every new tool or reacting to every headline; they’ll be the ones working to prevent the events that change lives forever.
This article originally appeared in the February/March 2026 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.
About the Author
David Kopf is the publisher and executive editor of Occupational Health & Safety magazine.