Artificial intelligence is changing how organizations approach work, and ergonomics is no exception. From computer vision and automated risk assessments to AI-generated solutions and program management, new technologies are creating opportunities to make industrial ergonomics, office ergonomics, and ergonomic programs more efficient and scalable.
But the growth of AI also raises an important question: How much of an ergonomics program can, and should, be automated?
In Briotix Health’s recent webinar, AI Is Changing Ergonomics: What Safety Professionals Need to Know, we explored where AI can save time, where it can help organizations scale their ergonomic programs, and where human expertise remains essential.
As AI evolves, companies must shift their focus from flashy headlines to accuracy, accountability, and what these tools do best.
Safety managers, plant managers, and EHS professionals often oversee large facilities, multiple locations, and competing safety priorities. Industrial ergonomics may be an important part of their monitoring responsibilities, but it is rarely the only one.
The same challenge exists in office environments. An organization may have employees working at hundreds or thousands of workstations, making traditional office ergonomics assessments difficult to complete consistently and efficiently.
These challenges create a familiar question: How can an organization expand its ergonomic program without adding a large team of ergonomists and asking existing safety professionals to take on an even larger workload?
Technology offers one potential answer.
Modern AI tools can automate portions of the ergonomics process that have traditionally required significant amounts of manual work. Video can be converted into movement data. Assessments can be organized across facilities. Potential solutions can be generated from existing knowledge. Reports can be drafted automatically.
Successful use of AI and AI-powered ergonomic program management technologies allows safety teams to focus their energy on controlling exposures to ergonomic risk factors in the workplace.
The webinar examined four areas where AI and related technologies are increasingly being used in office and industrial ergonomics programs to increase efficiency:
These applications can support both industrial and office ergonomics, although the specific tools and assessment methods may differ by work environment.
Each application offers meaningful advantages. Each also requires an understanding of its limitations.
Computer vision can review footage of a worker performing a task and estimate their body positions and joint angles. This can be used to provide immediate visual feedback during job coaching and help safety professionals identify potentially problematic movement patterns.
For workers, seeing their own movements can make ergonomic discussions more concrete. Instead of being told that they are reaching too far or bending excessively, they can see their actual movement and work with a safety professional to identify possible changes.
Video-based assessments can help identify workstation positioning, posture, and equipment placement that warrant closer evaluation.
Behind the scenes, computer vision can track anatomical landmarks such as the ankles, knees, hips, spine, shoulders, elbows, and wrists. Safety professionals can then use the resulting data with established assessment methods such as RULA, REBA, or the NIOSH Lifting Equation to identify ergonomic risk.
This creates several potential advantages.
Where Computer Vision Can Help
These time-saving use cases can help an organization assess more jobs and use limited resources more productively.
Where Computer Vision Can Fall Short
A camera does not always know what it is seeing, and risk scores should not be accepted simply because a computer generated them. The ergonomist or safety professional still needs to review what the system identified and determine whether the result accurately represents the job.
Identifying an ergonomic risk is only part of the process. The next question is usually harder: How do we fix it?
AI can increasingly help generate solutions by connecting identified risks with databases of engineering controls, equipment, and previous ergonomic projects.
For example, an industrial ergonomics assessment could identify floor-level lifting and excessive horizontal reaching and suggest options such as a lift table or pallet turntable.
An organization still has to consider available space, equipment, production requirements, budget, maintenance capabilities, workflow, employee input, and other site-specific constraints. An AI-generated recommendation may need to be modified or rejected entirely before it becomes a viable solution.
The reasoning behind a recommendation can be just as useful as the recommendation itself because it helps a safety professional think through different possible approaches.
AI can also help address one of the biggest challenges facing large organizations: managing the sheer volume of ergonomic information.
A centralized database can store assessments, organize tasks by department or risk level, track completed and overdue assessments, and provide reminders for upcoming work.
For organizations managing ergonomic programs across multiple facilities, this functionality can make it easier to understand what has been assessed, where risks have been identified, and which projects still need attention.
Machine learning could take this further by analyzing large collections of existing assessments. Rather than requiring someone to tag every assessment manually, AI can identify common root causes and group similar risks together.
Historical information can also help organizations identify recurring patterns and compare previous projects with current risks.
The important distinction is that more data does not automatically mean better decisions. AI can help organizations find patterns in their information, but professionals still need to determine whether those patterns make sense and what actions should follow.
Ergonomists and safety professionals often spend significant time turning observations, measurements, photographs, and assessment results into formal reports and presentations.
AI-powered platforms can now take much of this raw information and create an initial executive summary, job analysis, or other documentation. This lets safety professionals review and complete their administrative work in a fraction of the time it traditionally takes.
Those reclaimed hours can be spent on the plant floor, working with supervisors and employees, discussing concerns, collaborating with maintenance, or helping implement physical changes. In office environments, they can be spent working with employees and managers to address workstation and workstyle concerns.
The future of AI adoption and use begins with the distinction between treating AI as a pilot versus treating it as a co-pilot.
Before adopting an AI ergonomics tool, safety professionals should consider several factors.
Know the Scoring Model: Understand whether the system is measuring absolute or relative risk. A specific score may have meaning within the tool, but it does not necessarily represent the full risk associated with a job.
Verify Design Assumptions: Recommendations need to be grounded in the actual workplace. A theoretically appropriate solution may not work within a facility's physical or operational constraints.
Understand the Tool's Capabilities: Know exactly what the software is measuring. For example, a tool designed to perform the NIOSH Lifting Equation should not automatically be treated as a complete assessment of overall ergonomic risk. The same principle applies to office ergonomics software. A tool designed to evaluate workstation posture may not capture every ergonomic factor affecting an employee.
Keep the Human in the Loop: Perhaps most importantly, validate technology-generated results against the real job. Talk with employees. Observe the task. Understand the workflow. Consider forces, frequency, duration, environmental conditions, equipment, and other factors that may not be visible to the camera or included in the available data.
AI has the potential to make ergonomic programs more scalable, efficient, and data driven. It can reduce repetitive administrative work, speed up assessments, help organizations manage large programs, and offer new ways to identify risks and solutions.
For industrial ergonomics, that could mean helping safety professionals evaluate more jobs across large manufacturing, distribution, or warehouse operations. For office ergonomics, it could provide new ways to support employees across distributed and hybrid workforces.
But AI should not be confused with ergonomic expertise.
The technology can analyze video, organize, identify patterns, and generate ideas. Human professionals provide the context needed to determine whether those outputs accurately represent the workplace and whether a proposed action will actually work.
The future of ergonomics may not be about choosing between technology and people. It may be about using technology to make better use of the people who understand the worker and the workplace.
To learn more about computer vision, AI-generated ergonomic solutions, program scalability, and what safety professionals should consider when evaluating AI partners and technologies, watch the full Briotix Health webinar, AI Is Changing Ergonomics: What Safety Professionals Need to Know.