South African small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face considerable challenges in complying with Occupational Health and Safety regulatory requirements, mainly due to limited resources, deficient safety management systems, and inadequate monitoring practices. The integration of Artificial Intelligence offers substantial potential to enhance safety performance through predictive analytics, automated hazard detection, and digital compliance tools. However, empirical studies examining AI's incorporation into OHS compliance within South African SMEs remain limited. Employing a literature-based methodology, this review analyzes OHS compliance challenges confronting SMEs and explores AI applications to address these gaps. It proposes strategies for embedding AI solutions into prevailing OHS frameworks and identifies viable AI approaches to bolster compliance among South African SMEs. The analysis reveals that AI applications present significant opportunities for advancing OHS compliance in this context. By synthesizing extant knowledge, this review establishes a basis for informed decision-making and subsequent research at the confluence of AI and OHS.

Keywords

Artificial Intelligence (AI), AI Applications, Occupational Health & Safety (OHS), Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Compliance Gaps