AI adoption in process safety rising but impact on incidents lags
New findings from Sphera's 2025 Process Safety Report highlight ongoing safety challenges faced by high-risk industries and indicate a growing but uneven adoption of artificial intelligence in risk management.
Industrial risks
The latest edition of the report draws from the experiences of 300 senior process safety professionals working across the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand, with particular emphasis on asset-intensive sectors such as chemicals, mining, manufacturing, oil and gas, construction, and utilities.
It reveals that, while digital technologies and cloud-based systems have gained traction over the past decade, their impact on actually reducing the number of safety incidents remains limited. Many companies continue to operate ageing facilities against a backdrop of a shrinking pool of experienced workers and increasing complexity in operations.
The report identifies that 42% of respondents are either already using or plan to use AI technology, with 24% focusing on advancing safety programmes and 29% prioritising the integration of risk data across their operational assets. However, one third of all organisations stated they lack in-house expertise to effectively utilise AI.
Confidence in risk reduction
Despite advances in technology, fewer organisations are "very confident" in their ability to reduce exposure to major accident hazards compared to the previous year. Confidence decreased from 35% in the previous survey to 27% in 2025. Furthermore, 9% of respondents reported they had no confidence at all in mitigating these risks.
According to the report, 64% of respondents said technology is already making a positive difference to their business, while 33% saw significant future potential. Nearly half (47%) are making use of live risk data, but adoption of predictive and preventative risk management systems remains relatively uncommon.
The role of AI
"Today, the process safety industry stands at a crossroads. Ageing infrastructure, workforce attrition and increasing operational complexity are pushing traditional safety solutions to their limits," said Paul Marushka, Sphera's CEO and president. "Our newest Process Safety Report shows that leadership in this area is more critical than ever. Leaders must move beyond endorsing safety initiatives to owning them, ensuring that digital systems and AI tools are being carefully embedded to support operational decision-making. Applied with discipline and oversight, AI can provide predictive insight, reduce data overload and play a pivotal role in overcoming these challenges."
The report cites the shift from risk visibility to risk foresight, a development fuelled in part by the enhanced capability of AI to render meaningful analysis from vast datasets, identify risks earlier, and bridge data silos. Still, the lack of skilled professionals to manage and interpret AI-driven systems was noted as a key challenge.
Third-party providers
Sphera's survey revealed a clear trend towards outsourcing, with 55% of respondents using third-party service providers for process safety management. These organisations were found to have a more advanced approach to AI adoption, with 52% using AI compared to only 29% among those managing safety in-house. They also reported greater confidence in the effectiveness of their risk management practices.
The use of AI to connect risk data across multiple assets is seen as a more significant opportunity than simply deploying it for individual process safety improvements. This connectivity can help address the common challenge of siloed information, which can limit the effectiveness of traditional risk systems.
A decade of change
The 2025 edition marks the tenth anniversary of Sphera's Process Safety Report. Over the period since 2016, industry benchmarking has shown that, despite the spread of technological solutions, there remains "limited impact where it matters most: reducing the number of incidents". The trend has been for organisations to migrate from single-purpose safety applications to more connected, cloud-based platforms in pursuit of improved outcomes.
Respondents represented companies with an annual turnover exceeding USD $500 million, ensuring the findings are broadly reflective of established organisations with significant operational risk exposure. Among the participants, asset-intensive industries - where process safety risks are most pronounced - accounted for a major proportion.
The report underscores that, while basic risk assessment tools are now common, integrated systems capable of predicting hazards and proactively controlling risks have yet to see widespread implementation. The maturation of process safety management and continued prioritisation of safety are expected to drive further technological growth in the sector.
