Novara's New AI Turns Paperwork into Proactive Safety Intelligence

WESTMINSTER, Colo. – June 16, 2026 – In a move that signals a deepening integration of artificial intelligence into industrial operations, Novara today launched Form Agent, a new capability designed to eliminate one of the most persistent administrative burdens in workplace safety: paperwork. The AI-powered tool, now part of the company's Flex platform, promises to convert paper forms, PDFs, and scanned documents into fully functional digital workflows in minutes, a task that has historically consumed countless hours for environment, health, and safety (EHS) teams.

While the announcement centers on a seemingly mundane task—form digitization—it represents a significant step in a broader industry-wide transformation. The launch is not just about saving time; it's about accelerating the shift from a reactive, compliance-driven safety culture to a proactive, data-informed one. By turning static documents into dynamic data streams, Novara is betting that it can help organizations identify and mitigate risks before they lead to incidents.

The End of the Paper Chase

For any EHS professional managing complex, multi-site operations, the reality of form management is a constant headache. Safety inspection checklists, incident reports, and compliance forms are the bedrock of any safety program, but digitizing them field-by-field is a slow, manual process. This administrative lag creates a backlog that delays standardization, hinders data collection, and complicates responses when an incident occurs.

Form Agent tackles this bottleneck head-on. According to Novara, the AI analyzes uploaded documents, automatically recognizing and extracting fields like checkboxes, date entries, and signature lines to build a digital equivalent within the Flex platform. “A complicated form that might take at least an hour or two to digitize on your own can now be done in a minute or two with Form Agent,” said Jade Brainard, Chief Product Officer at Novara. The platform then allows teams to refine the AI-generated form using plain-language commands.

This is a compelling value proposition for teams buried in administrative tasks. As Gennesis Rosas, an Electrical and Instrumentation Designer from Phase 3 Energy & Power Solutions, noted, the tool will “be a game changer for our team. As a Flex Administrator, I spend a significant amount of time recreating existing paper forms... Being able to upload a PDF or image and have AI generate a draft form would dramatically reduce setup time.”

To ensure professional oversight, the system includes confidence indicators and side-by-side comparisons, allowing EHS managers to review and validate the AI's output. This human-in-the-loop approach is critical for a field where accuracy is non-negotiable.

A Calculated Gambit in a Broader AI Strategy

The launch of Form Agent is far from an isolated product update. It is the latest move in a deliberate and aggressive strategy by Novara to position itself as a leader in AI-powered operational risk management. This strategy is built on a series of recent acquisitions and partnerships that create a powerful, interconnected ecosystem.

Earlier this month, Novara acquired Ensogo, an AI-native platform for sustainability and ESG management. That move not only expanded the company’s expertise in the rapidly growing ESG sector but also brought in specialized agentic AI talent. Shortly after, the company announced a partnership with Voxel, an AI computer vision company, to integrate real-time video monitoring for hazard detection with the Novara Flex platform.

These developments build on the firm's existing partnership with the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP), which resulted in the integration of Safety Trekr AI into Flex. This tool functions as a closed-environment AI expert, providing safety professionals with contextual answers sourced directly from trusted industry handbooks and standards. An EHS manager could, in theory, use Form Agent to digitize an incident report and then consult Safety Trekr AI for guidance on the relevant compliance standards—all within the same platform.

Viewed together, these initiatives reveal a cohesive vision: to embed workflow-native intelligence across the entire safety and risk management lifecycle. From digitizing foundational documents to providing expert compliance guidance and detecting real-time hazards, Novara is assembling a suite of tools designed to make proactive safety management not just possible, but practical.

The AI Arms Race in Workplace Safety

Novara is not alone in this pursuit. The EHS software market, projected to reach between $2.5 billion and $7.58 billion in 2026, is a hotbed of AI-driven innovation. Competitors like Benchmark Digital are also making significant strides with their own AI offerings, such as the "Genny AI" suite, which includes tools for optical character recognition (OCR) and workflow automation that directly rival Form Agent's capabilities.

This competitive push reflects a fundamental market demand. According to a 2024 survey by industry analyst firm Verdantix, 68% of companies reported tangible improvements in their EHS workflows from AI-driven solutions. The promise of AI is shifting the entire paradigm of EHS from a cost center focused on compliance to a strategic function capable of preventing incidents and driving operational efficiency. As one industry analyst explained, “We are moving past AI as a novelty. EHS leaders now see tech-enabled, continuous prevention as a core part of their role, and they are demanding tools that augment their expertise, not just automate their paperwork.”

This technological arms race is about more than features; it's about who can provide the most actionable intelligence. The ultimate goal is to leverage predictive analytics to identify leading indicators of risk, allowing companies in high-risk sectors like manufacturing, energy, and construction to intervene before an accident happens.

Navigating the Human-AI Frontier

As AI becomes more deeply embedded in critical safety functions, it brings a host of regulatory and ethical questions to the forefront. While AI can process vast amounts of data to spot patterns a human might miss, its effectiveness is entirely dependent on the quality of that data and the integrity of its algorithms. The risk of perpetuating historical biases or generating flawed recommendations is real.

This is why the principle of human oversight remains paramount. Regulatory frameworks like the EU's AI Act are already mandating stringent human review for high-risk AI systems to mitigate risks to health and safety. For EHS, this means that while an AI like Form Agent can accelerate workflows, a qualified safety professional must always be the final arbiter of its output. Transparency and explainability are vital; users must be able to understand why an AI made a particular recommendation to trust and properly utilize it.

For companies like Novara, building that trust is as important as building the technology itself. By providing confidence scores and enabling side-by-side reviews, the company is acknowledging that the most effective path forward is a collaborative one, where AI augments human expertise rather than attempting to replace it. This symbiotic relationship is the future of operational risk management, transforming safety from a manual burden into a source of proactive, life-saving intelligence.