Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors
In short: today's best AI models could do about 35% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about 73% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 23% of the time, stays with people.
Promote worksite or product safety by applying knowledge of industrial processes, mechanics, chemistry, psychology, and industrial health and safety laws. Includes industrial product safety engineers.
21,450 people do this job in the US. $115,160 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on14 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet17 h
- Stays with people9 h
Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 14 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 17 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 9 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Maintain and apply knowledge of current policies, regulations, and industrial processes (about 3 h); Evaluate product designs for safety (about 2 h); Conduct research to evaluate safety levels for products (about 1 h).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 77%
- 3%
- 20%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 6%. Today's estimate: 35%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, 0.021% went to this job's tasks in May 2026, the 315th largest of the 447 jobs that showed up at all; 1 of its 27 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.0073% to 0.0036% (released February and March 2025); none to 0.006% (August 2025 to February 2026); 0.011% to 0.021% (April to May 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.0073% | 566 of 708 | 2 of 27 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.0036% | 616 of 703 | 2 of 27 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | none | n/a | 0 of 27 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.0079% | 512 of 672 | 2 of 27 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.006% | 558 of 677 | 3 of 27 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.011% | 361 of 434 | 1 of 27 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.021% | 315 of 447 | 1 of 27 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 21% of this job's working time as physical work. For 9% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 9% in a structured facility. 0.17 of 3, the 464th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 79%
- No robot shown 12%
- In a structured facility 9%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 27 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conduct research to evaluate safety levels for products.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 16% | 2.5 work days6.7 h to 1.7 work weeks | 18%Half by Jun 2027 | |
| Develop industry standards of product safety.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 9% | 1.7 work weeks1.7 work days to 1.2 work months | 1%Half by Aug 2028 | |
| Maintain and apply knowledge of current policies, regulations, and industrial processes.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 1.7 h25 min to 5 h | 94%Half by now | |
| Review plans and specifications for construction of new machinery or equipment to determine whether all safety requirements have been met.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 6% | 1 work day2.5 h to 4.2 work days | 43%Half by Dec 2026 | |
| Evaluate product designs for safety.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 6% | 6.7 h2.5 h to 2.5 work days | 69%Half by now | |
| Plan and conduct industrial hygiene research.Done more than yearly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 4.2 work days6.7 h to 3.5 work weeks | 5%Half by Apr 2028 | |
| Recommend procedures for detection, prevention, and elimination of physical, chemical, or other product hazards.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 5% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days | 55%Half by now | |
| Design and build safety equipment.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 5% | 4.2 work days6.7 h to 3.3 work weeks | Stays with people | |
| Conduct or direct testing of air quality, noise, temperature, or radiation levels to verify compliance with health and safety regulations.Done more than yearly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days | Stays with people | |
| Investigate industrial accidents, injuries, or occupational diseases to determine causes and preventive measures.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 1.3 work days3.3 h to 4.2 work days | Stays with people | |
| Review employee safety programs to determine their adequacy.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 3% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days | 55%Half by now | |
| Evaluate potential health hazards or damage that could occur from product misuse.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 3% | 6.7 h2.5 h to 2.5 work days | 69%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Occupational Health and Safety Technicians56% now, 60% by 2028
- Occupational Health and Safety Specialists40% now, 54% by 2028
- Environmental Compliance Inspectors58% now, 63% by 2028
- Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health21% now, 68% by 2028
- Environmental Engineers31% now, 58% by 2028
- Environmental Science and Protection Technicians, Including Health34% now, 65% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 35% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 73% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five (61% to 77% across the three paces the site shows). Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Maintain and apply knowledge of current policies, regulations, and industrial processes (94% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); Evaluate product designs for safety (69% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); and Conduct research to evaluate safety levels for products (18% of the task's time now, 99% by the end of 2028).
- Which tasks of Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Design and build safety equipment; Conduct or direct testing of air quality, noise, temperature, or radiation levels to verify compliance with health and safety regulations; and Investigate industrial accidents, injuries, or occupational diseases to determine causes and preventive measures. Together such tasks are about 23% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026 and tied to a work task, 0.021% went to this job's tasks, the 315th largest share of the 447 jobs that showed up; 1 of its 27 tasks appeared. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 0%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 21% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 9% of the working time, 9% in a structured facility. Its index is 0.17 of 3. One example: Spot + Orbit (Autowalk missions, Spot Cam 2, acoustic payload) for "inspect facilities, machinery, or safety equipment to identify and correct potential hazards, and to ensure safety regulation compliance". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 27 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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