What’s on
Events
Browse The Human Factor’s upcoming and past events as a list or on the calendar.
Upcoming
2026 Indigenous Public Safety Conference
AI-Enabled Emergency Preparedness and Decision Support for Indigenous Public Safety
AI can help communities prepare, respond, evacuate and recover, but only if communities own the data, the tools work in their conditions, and the human judgment stays theirs. This session shares what Scott has learned from human factors research on AI decision support in emergency services, and looks at tools that support emergency preparedness, emergency management, evacuation, and recovery and resilience. It covers what today's AI is and is not, how people come to trust or over-trust it, community data sovereignty (OCAP® for First Nations and the CARE principles for Indigenous data), and what co-design with communities looks like in practice. Session 4, Monday, October 26, 12:30 to 1:30 pm Saskatoon time. About 45 minutes of talk and 15 of questions. Human judgment is necessary, and not automatic.
Science to the Station 2026
Putting Science into Practice: Evaluating AI Decision Support Before It Reaches Your Fireground
Accepted session: Human-AI Teaming in Fire Service Operations: Bridging Human Factors Research and Frontline Fire Service Decision Support. A practical session for fire chiefs, training and safety officers, incident commanders and technology officers. It translates human factors research into tools firefighters can use: from research finding to design principle to tool, and how to test an AI product before you trust it. Using published studies as the cases, it covers the questions to ask before you buy, how to pilot with real crews in real workflows, and how to watch for over-reliance once a tool is in service. Participants leave with a one-page evaluation guide. Tuesday, November 3, 2:45 to 3:45 pm, Trianon E. The same session runs again on Wednesday, November 4, at 2:45 pm in Trianon E.
Science to the Station 2026
Humans, Algorithms, and Alarms (FRED Talk)
A twelve-minute FRED Talk. Accepted session: Human-AI Teaming in Fire Service Operations: Bridging Human Factors Research and Frontline Fire Service Decision Support. Built on a systematic review of 32 studies of AI decision support for emergency responders, the talk looks at what the evidence actually covers, where the fire service is missing from it, and why a human in the loop is necessary but not automatic. It closes with what chiefs and safety officers can ask of any AI tool before relying on it. Wednesday, November 4, 1:05 to 1:17 pm.
Police Governance Ontario: AI Virtual Summit
Sounds Right, Might Be Wrong: What AI Is, What It Isn't, and How People Use It
AI is already part of policing, and increasingly part of the board table. This opening session gives board members a plain-language foundation for the day: what today's AI is and isn't, where it came from, and why it can sound most convincing exactly when it is wrong. Drawing on human factors research, including a systematic review of AI decision support in emergency services and a review of how emergency services are governing AI use, Scott explains how people respond to AI, from trust and skepticism to over-reliance and the pull of fluent but inaccurate answers. Using emergency-services examples, he shows what meaningful human review requires, and why a human in the loop is necessary but not automatic. Board members will leave with a short set of questions to ask of any AI proposal, and of their own use. Opening session, Wednesday, November 25, 8:05 to 9:05 am Eastern, online.
Past
International Association of Fire Safety Science Symposium
Humans, Algorithms, and Alarms: Factors Shaping Usability, Adoption, and Effectiveness of AI-Augmented Decision Support Systems for Emergency Responders—A Systematic Review
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are increasingly emerging in fire service decision support, promising improved situational awareness and reduced cognitive burden. While these technologies offer the potential to support faster decisions in high-consequence environments, their real-world impact remains to be seen. Our systematic review examined how human, technological, and organizational factors shape emergency responders' perceptions of usability, trust, adoption, and operational performance when interacting with AI decision support systems for fire service emergency response.
Paramedic Chiefs of Canada
The Artificial Illusion: Safeguarding Cognitive Health and Clinical Truth in the Age of AI
Topic Area: Innovation and Technology / Workplace Culture We are standing at an exciting threshold in Canadian paramedicine where artificial intelligence promises to revolutionize how we predict calls and deploy resources. However, as we race to adopt these new efficiencies, we must pause to consider the impact on the most critical component of our system: the paramedic. This session invites leaders to look beyond the hype of predictive analytics and examine the real world implications of AI on the front line. We will explore two urgent challenges that emerge when we design for efficiency without considering the human element First, we will discuss the risk of information overload. As we flood the ambulance with live data streams and complex alerts, we risk pushing clinicians beyond their cognitive limits. We need to ensure that our technology acts as a supportive teammate that filters noise and clarifies the situation rather than a distraction that fragments our attention. Second, we will tackle the sensitive issue of AI in documentation. New software tools promise perfect compliance by prompting clinicians to correct their narratives until they align with protocols. We must ask ourselves if this creates a just culture of learning or an artificial reality where we scrub the messy truth of street medicine to satisfy an algorithm.
CRHnet 2026 Symposium
Research to Reality: AI Emergency Intelligence for Every Agency
Canada's emergency management landscape has a resource gap. Many agencies are expected to maintain the same level of preparedness as their well-resourced counterparts, but without the staffing, budgets, or institutional knowledge to do so. The result is that the communities most vulnerable to disasters are often the least prepared. This technology demonstration introduces an AI-powered emergency intelligence platform shaped by lessons learned from human factors research on how AI can support, not replace, human judgment in high-consequence emergency operations.