Survey Identifies Where Workforce Mental Health Ranks as a Health and Safety Priority

Employee mental health and wellness programs add value, but they don’t rank as high on the list of occupational health and safety priorities as interventions designed to address other persistent concerns, according to The Safety Shift: EHS Readiness in 2026, a new report from the National Safety Council and Wolters Kluwer Ebablon. 

The report examines ways U.S. employers expect to use artificial intelligence and other digital tools to reinvent their approach to workplace health and safety management. Findings from the survey of 1,053 environment, health, and safety (EHS) and risk management professionals reveal both excitement and trepidation about the rapid adoption of technological advances that align with thorny challenges like predicting risk, interpreting complex data, and achieving operational consistency. 

With AI’s potential to generate seismic shifts in EHS and risk management roles and responsibilities, the report highlights the importance of “preserving human accountability and responsibility in EHS performance and decision-making.” It also reveals how employee mental health ranks as a safety management priority. 

The EHS and Workforce Mental Health Interface 

About one in five U.S. adults is estimated to have a mental health condition that can impair their performance at work. For example, anxiety disorders can affect concentration, cause mood swings, and contribute to fatigue. Untreated depression is a leading cause of disability and lost workdays. 

Studies show that a U.S. employer’s investment in well-designed workforce mental health programs can produce measurable value over time by: 

• Reducing healthcare and disability costs 
• Lowering rates of absenteeism and presenteeism 
• Improving productivity and retention 
• Limiting legal liability and safety risks 

EHS professions understand these benefits, but with so much on their plates they need to be selective about where to invest their efforts and resources.  

According to the survey, 62% of respondents “strongly agreed” that mental health is an EHS management responsibility, 25% “somewhat agreed” and only 5% disagreed. However, while they identified workforce mental health as an important safety responsibility, they ranked interventions like emergency preparedness, fatigue management, and return-to-work support as higher priorities. Mental health and workplace stress, digital privacy concerns, and the potential impact of AI on job safety were ranked lower on a list of priorities.  

“This likely reflects the broad range of responsibilities held by EHS professionals and is an acknowledgment that certain issues are perceived as having a more direct and immediate impact on EHS roles than others,” the report states.  

What’s on the Horizon? 

When asked about health and safety challenges they expect to encounter in the next three to five years, survey respondents ranked the top six in this order: 

• Infectious disease preparedness  
• Psychosocial safety 
• Aging workforce and chronic health conditions 
• Ergonomic risk from hybrid or remote work setups 
• Substance use and impairment 
• Workplace violence, harassment, or bullying 

Human-performance perspectives highlighted in the report include the following: 

• EHS functions are poised to become more strategic, data-driven, and influential as human-centered risk management and the application of advanced technological capabilities converge. 
• It is “reasonable to expect” EHS professionals to adopt strategies that balance immediate operational demands with proactive attention to psychosocial conditions and other emerging human-centered risks. 
• Employers will need to invest in next-generation skills and succession planning to ensure employees have necessary analytical and digital capabilities and can successfully acquire foundational safety knowledge on the job,  
• Thoughtful leveraging of automation and AI will be essential for organizations seeking to build resilient EHS teams and proactively manage the risks of tomorrow. 

Transitioning from Safety to Wellness® with WorkCare 

WorkCare offers solutions – From Safety to Wellness® – to help EHS professionals manage their diverse responsibilities. Our expert team provides guidance on effective ways to transition from operation-specific perspectives to more holistic, data-driven approaches for the management of occupational health and safety programs, including those involving psychosocial aspects of human performance. 

Our Incident Prevention and Wellness Solutions programs incorporate total worker health approaches that allow EHS professionals to leverage AI-driven data collection and analytics to effectively respond to exposure risks, with positive impacts on employee health, safety, and the bottom line. Connect with sales to learn more.