Preconference Training

Optional workshops are offered on Tuesday, September 29, for an additional fee.

Contact hours available

AI and the Human Side of Safety

Molly Breysse Cox

Leadership Associate 
Foster School of Business, University of Washington 

Description of the Program: AI is advancing rapidly and changing how work is performed across the safety industry. As organizations are increasingly relying on AI, it is vital for safety professionals to develop AI literacy skills today to guide processes, organizations, and culture to be positioned for the changes ahead. The urgency is for safety professionals to help shape how AI is implemented and used in the workplace.

Change and the Digital Workforce

While AI can enhance safety effectiveness and provide valuable insights, safety leadership is fundamentally a human responsibility. AI can serve as a powerful partner, freeing leaders to focus on what matters most – a safe workplace. The challenge is not just AI technology itself, it is also the human capacity to adapt to it responsibly and effectively. 

This workshop provides participants with a clearer understanding of where AI can add value and what safety managers and professionals can do today to build the knowledge, skills, and perspective needed to lead effectively in an AI-enabled workplace. 

Learning Objectives: 

1. Assess the Impact of AI on Workplace Safety

  • Identify challenges in the workplace for safety professionals and AI.
  • Examine privacy, biases, and pitfalls related to AI.

2. Explore AI Tools and Safety Applications in the Workplace

  • Explore practical, common AI tools and applications for safety professionals using real-world examples of strategic thinking, decision-making, communication, risk assessment.
  • Demonstrate effective prompting and uses of AI tools for safety in the workplace.

3. Examine Key Factors for Enabling Trust in Your Safety Culture in the AI Era

  • Examine three key factors and trust for fostering adoption of AI-driven change.
  • Practice and apply leadership skills for enabling behaviors which foster a positive safety culture.

4. Apply Communication Strategies to Build Trust and Inclusion in an AI Workplace

  • Assess feedback processes that support psychological safety, learning, and continuous improvement.
  • Identify communication strategies that build trust, foster inclusion, and encourage engagement in AI-related change initiatives.

 

When Safety Becomes Performance

Ann Lindsey

Head of Enterprise Operational Integrity and EH&S
Hexion

Description of the Program: Psychosocial safety is often discussed as a well-being issue.  In safety-critical work, it is much more than that.  Psychosocial safety reflects an organization’s responsibility to address systemic sources of harm and stress embedded in how work is designed. It influences whether people recognize drift, challenge assumptions, speak up, and take action before harm occurs. But how does work—and human performance—shape overall mental health?  As safety professionals, we often rely on frameworks like the 13 Elements of Psychosocial Safety— such as leadership commitment, employee involvement, hazard identification, and training—to define the workplace conditions that support mental well-being.

Participants will leave with a sharper lens for recognizing when psychosocial safety is genuinely present in practice, when it is only assumed, and what leaders and teams can do differently to strengthen it.  This session offers a different way of understanding psychosocial safety and how it can be a practical condition for safe work. Participants will examine the difference between psychosocial safety and psychological safety, why that distinction matters in high-risk environments, and how both influence whether concerns are recognized, voiced, and acted on before risk escalates. Through real-world examples, facilitated discussion, and focused activities, the session will explore how the 13 elements of a healthy workplace show up in practice, where organizations mistake appearance for reality, and what it takes to build environments where weak signals are noticed early and acted on with clarity. Attendees will leave with practical insight they can apply immediately to leadership, team dynamics, and frontline decision-making.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Identify and apply core safety concepts

  • Differentiate psychosocial safety and psychological safety
  • Identify the 13 elements required for a truly safe workplace
  • Recognize gaps between stated systems and actual practice

2. Describe and respond to weak signals

  • Identify early indicators of misalignment, drift, and risk exposure
  • Describe how hierarchy, pressure, and assumptions suppress signals
  • Apply stop triggers and decision frameworks in high-pressure environments

3. Build capability through mentoring and operational discipline

  • Define what “qualified” truly means in safety-critical work
  • Apply effective mentoring and coaching approaches across experience levels
  • Integrate new worker insight with experienced worker judgment