Don't be frightened of technology. Get in there. Experiment with it... don't be scared of failing, but fail quickly and move on. 

- Richard Bate

About this session

The health and safety profession has passed a critical event horizon. As AI and advanced technologies move into high-consequence environments at pace, we're facing an unexpected paradox: industrial safety metrics are more heavily monitored than ever, yet psychological distress is soaring, particularly among the emerging workforce.

In this session of Safety Voices, Julian Taylor sat down with Richard Bate, President of IOSH, who brings over 30 years of experience managing critical risk across the Olympics, heavy industry, and elite motorsport.

Speaking with rare candour about his own thirty-year experience of PTSD, Richard challenges the profession to move beyond “sticking plaster” wellbeing solutions and rigid compliance data, and explores “co-intelligence”, a collaborative model for working with AI that keeps human judgement and human connection at the centre.

The “Co-Intelligence” Approach

Richard borrows the term “Co-Intelligence” from a book by Ethan Mollick. It means to work collaboratively with AI rather than worrying that AI is going to take over. He points out that using the expression “human in the loop” is too narrow of a framing. When people try new technologies - following the advice of choosing one AI platform and mastering it instead of getting to know a little bit of each - they learn how to ask the right questions. The result? Extended careers and safety judgement sharpened.

Key takeaways from the session

Richard's main message says Co-Intelligence isn't about handing decisions to AI, or about resisting it. It's about knowing exactly where the boundary between the two sits, and using your tool of preference to broaden your perspective, not narrow your attention.

• The Digital Reality Shift:  how the “great rewiring” of a generation moving from an analogue to a digital childhood is reshaping communication, resilience, and mental health. That reflects in the workforce,  with younger colleagues having their own language. Learning how to meet them halfway is necessary.

• Beyond Quick Fixes: why helplines, apps, and mental health first aid alone won't solve a wellbeing crisis rooted in how a generation was raised, and why proactive, human conversation still beats a “sticking plaster.” 

• Data You Can Trust and Data You Can't: how subjectivity and bias creep into safety reporting long before AI ever touches it, and why more data isn't automatically better data.