Verdantix Safety Council Reveals Top Workplace Safety Management Priorities

Verdantix Safety Council Reveals Top Workplace Safety Management Priorities

Verdantix hosted its first-ever Vantage Safety Council roundtable on February 26^th, bringing together 13 safety leaders from various industries to explore emerging workplace safety priorities. The Council provides opportunities for leaders in the EHS space to discuss their safety challenges, technology priorities and best practices. The meeting highlighted three key focus areas that council members’ organizations are actively addressing:

• AI in safety management.
  The Safety Council expressed the growing need to understand the applicability, uses cases and value of AI tools as they emerge into the EHS space. As EHS-focused use cases become clearer, the focus turns to finding those that are most suited to an organization’s specific needs. Firms are exploring ROI-driven solutions such as AI-powered video analytics for near-miss detection, contract analysis tools, and wearable monitoring devices for heat stress. Moving forward, organizations must address privacy concerns, develop validation frameworks and establish appropriate governance structures for EHS-specific AI applications.
  
  
• Contractor management.
  Contractor safety remains a critical challenge industry-wide, with organizations reporting inconsistent pre-qualification processes, overly documentation-focused risk assessments, low visibility of safety during work and credential verification challenges. A clear shift from regional to global solutions is underway as firms seek to balance comprehensive verification with operational efficiency. Emerging technologies – including real-time credential verification systems and AI-powered contract analysis – are enhancing compliance capabilities. The Council emphasized the need for collaborative accountability across departments and better data exchange between organizations and contractors to enhance transparency and safety.
  
  
• Health and safety strategy development.
  Organizations typically employ three-year safety strategies despite leadership changes. Safety professionals favour frameworks structured around people, process, technology and culture – rather than rigid templates. Key priorities include flexible strategy updates, business alignment for executive buy-in, adaptable planning, transition continuity, safety-linked compensation and standardized taxonomies. The Council stressed that demonstrating the business value of safety remains crucial for sustained leadership support.

For more information about the Safety Council or to access our research, visit our Vantage Councils page or the Vantage research portal.