Author: Events Team

Don’s working background includes over 25 years of experience in instructional design, vocational education, e-learning, industrial education, and health and safety training. As a motivational speaker on 24/7 safety concepts, he has been a frequent presenter at corporate health and safety meetings, as well as NSC, ASSP and VPPPA conferences at both the national and local level. He has also presented briefings on 24/7 safety to the leadership of all branches of the U.S. Armed Services at the Pentagon, and has taught classes on various subjects at safety schools and organizations across North America and around the world. Don donates all his speaking fees to charities that improve the safety of communities.

Interviewer: What do you feel are the biggest challenges safety leaders are currently faced with?
Don: I believe the greatest challenges facing safety professionals will be the ever-changing nature of both work and work environments and increasing employee turnover. Gone are the days when every safety professional’s world was a relatively unchanging factory or mill and the stable group of people who worked their entire lives solely in that workspace. In addition, as employee teams increasingly become distributed globally and connected to each other through remote technologies the ability to control safety with direct oversight will naturally decline. Globally, EH&S Professionals will increasingly need to provide individual employees with the tools, training and information they require to take more control of their own personal safety and performance 24/7.

Interviewer: What do you feel is the hottest topic and biggest trend right now in the industry and what is its effect on the industry?
Don: A holistic approach to Safety, Performance and Culture – we increasingly see organizations that understand that all of these areas are integrated and connected in achieving peak performance and that Human Factor leading indicators can positively influence and inform overall KPIs including safety.

Interviewer: What do you feel businesses continue to get wrong when it comes to their Health and Safety strategy?
Don: Even after all this time there seems to be a belief by many EH&S Professionals that they can solve their injury problems through compliance alone in today’s rapidly changing work environments.

Interviewer: What is one key takeaway you hope our OHS audience leaves with after hearing your presentation on site?
Don: That fostering open communication that allows the organization to harvest Human Factor signals as leading indicators is the best way to improve overall outcome reliability and improve the day to day climate that results in overall culture improvements.   

About SafeStart

SafeStart makes safety training more personable, more engaging and more useful.

They’ve educated thousands of companies to support personal safety. They’ve trained millions of employees to be mindful of human error. On every continent, they’ve guided people to take practical safety skills from the workplace into their homes and communities.

For over 20 years, SafeStart warehouses have shipped safety workbooks around the world. SafeStart trainers have arrived on-site at the crack of dawn to set up classrooms. SafeStart account managers have called clients to make sure training has gone smoothly. The SafeStart research department has developed guides on how human error prevention training can transform business culture, performance and—yes—safety.

They are a training company that cares about organizational excellence. They are a learning company that cares about 24/7 performance. In 32 languages, they help people understand that personal awareness is the key to workplace safety.

They are the next generation of safety training.

Allison Montgomery is the Global Senior Director of Environmental, Health and Safety for L3Harris  Technologies. She is based at L3Harris’ Corporate Headquarters in Melbourne, FL and is responsible for developing strategies to improve the company’s overall Environmental, Health and Safety performance. Before joining L3Harris, Allison worked at Pentair as the Global Director of EHS and Quality and held varying EHS Management roles with Alcoa, Inc. Allison served four years in the United States Marine Corps. She holds a BS degree in Biology from The Ohio State University and a MS degree in Environmental Management from The University of Maryland.

Interviewer: “As an expert in the health and safety sector, what do you feel businesses continue to get wrong when it comes to their Health and Safety strategy?”
Allison: “Differentiating between tactical and strategical safety and then resourcing that accordingly.  Businesses should spend time prioritizing EHS efforts based on impact and risk and then dedicate resources appropriately. EHS resources tend to be lean at most organizations, which is usually why EHS needs a strong operational partner.  Utilization of resources effectively will ensure that both tactical safety (focused on by operations) and strategic safety (focused on by EHS) are both accounted for.   Knowing what to impact and focusing on strategy and system-based safety will bring the most value to an organization that they can sustain.  It doesn’t mean that tactical EHS doesn’t happen, it just means that responsibility for tactical EHS is shared by EVERYONE and it continually evolves based on strategy.  By focusing on setting up your employees to be successful and safe from their first day at work, you see benefits down the road with a safe and proactive culture.”

Interviewer: “Where do you see the industry headed within the next one to five years and what do you feel will be the biggest game changers?”
Allison: “In the next several years, the integration of technology into everyday EHS will continue to grow and evolve. Leaders will expect instant data that is trended and available for them to make decisions that will guide their daily activities. As EHS professionals, we will need to ensure integration and cohesiveness of systems is a priority.”

Interviewer: “What advice would you give to someone trying to excel in the health & safety industry?”
Allison: “As you progress in your career, your softer skills like; political savviness, team building, managing conflict and concise communication will outweigh the importance of technical skills. Knowing this, your focus on developing and honing these softer skills will require your time and attention. Keep up with your technical training, but don’t forget the softer skill set, it will take you further in the long run.”

Interviewer: “What is one key takeaway you hope our OHS audience leaves with after hearing your presentation on-site?”
Allison: “A key takeaway I would like to leave everyone with is that related and overlapping functions, like medical and workers compensation, can be seamlessly integrated into EHS. This integration allows for a strong team approach to managing EHS and also ensuring that you have the full picture of an employee’s health from initial injury to return to work.” 

About LT3 Harris Technologies

L3Harris is an agile global aerospace and defense technology innovator, delivering end-to-end solutions that meet customers’ mission-critical needs. We provide advanced defense and commercial technologies across air, land, sea, space and cyber domains. They bring speed, innovation and flawless execution together with our commitment to make the world safer and more secure.

Dr. Robert Emery is Vice President for Safety, Health, Environment & Risk Management for The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and Professor of Occupational Health at the University of Texas School of Public Health.

Interviewer: “What do you feel are the biggest challenges safety leaders are currently faced with?” 
Robert: “Successful safety programs function largely in the realm of prevention, so on a good day “nothing happens”. But safety programs need to improve their ability to articulate the amount of resources and commitment needed to “make nothing happen”.”

Interviewer: “What is the best piece of advice you have received within your job over the years?”
Robert: “One of my bosses told me “I don’t get paid to listen to complaints: if you have a problem, come in with three options and put yours at the top, and most likely you’ll get your way”.”

Interviewer: “What do you feel is the hottest topic right now in the industry and what is its effect on the industry?”
Robert: “The issue of total worker health is gaining traction. The notion that workers only have one body and it is either at work or at home – and that employers are going to pay for health-related issues either through workers comp insurance or health insurance – so it is in everyone’s best interest to understand this.”

Interviewer: “What do you feel the most passionate about within your business?”
Robert: “There is no more noble cause than protecting the health and safety of a person’s whose name you may never know”

About The University of Texas School of Public Health

At six campuses across Texas, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health works to improve the state of public health in Texas every day. Each of their campuses is strategically placed to meet the public health education and research needs of the diverse populations across Texas. UTHealth School of Public Health is the only school of public health in the nation with regional campuses.

John Green, has worked in the oil, gas, petrochemical, electronics, heavy engineering, construction and aviation sectors and has 40 years’ experience of industrial safety. He is recognised and respected as someone who does safety differently and as major force for change in how industrial safety is delivered. He has spent periods living and working overseas with in the Middle East, Iran, Europe, Hong Kong, New Zealand, parts of the USA and returned from a 4-year spell in Australia covering major construction operations in the southern hemisphere before moving to Canada in 2018.

He has held senior positions with Motorola, British Airways and Board level positions with McAlpine, Laing O’Rourke, Battersea Power Station Development Company and is currently the SVP and CSO for Aecon.

He spends any spare time that he has climbing in Europe and scuba diving across the world or any other pastime that requires exceptional risk management skills.

Interviewer: “What do you feel are the biggest challenges safety leaders are currently faced with?”
John: “I think that we have been tied into orthodox thinking in safety that we have almost become blind to alternatives and ignorant of the fact that the traditional approach is no longer working for us. We lack the skills to influence those at the top of the need for change and the abilities to coordinate that change effort with other business initiatives. That is partly an educational challenge but it’s also an issue when it comes to deciding what other characteristics we need safety people and leaders to have. The world of work has changed enormously in the last few decades but we still see safety as a simple, common sense issue when, in fact, its messy and complex”

Interviewer: “As an expert in the health and safety sector, what do you feel businesses continue to get wrong when it comes to their Health and Safety strategy?”
John: “I think everyone approaches this with the right attitude. Organisations want to get this right, but they fail because they disconnect the Safety strategy from almost all other aspects of the business. That and the fact that most strategies and based on a flawed notion of what safety truly is.”

Interviewer: “What is the best piece of advice you have received within your job over the years?”
John: People don’t come to work to be safe, they come to work to be successful

Interviewer: “What is one key takeaway you hope our audience at the OHS Leaders Summit USA leaves with after hearing your presentation on site?”
John: “That there is an alternative approach. One which enables everyone in the organisation to contribute to the success of the enterprise which includes the safety effort. The growth of bureaucracy is not inevitable and that there are mechanisms to enable safety that don’t involve control and constraint. Finally, that the future for EHS can be bright but we must realise that we need to change.”

About AECON

For more than a century, Aecon and its predecessor companies have helped to build many of Canada’s most famous landmarks – from the CN Tower and St. Lawrence Seaway, to the Vancouver Sky Train and Halifax Shipyards. In addition to these great landmarks, they’ve also helped to build hundreds of factories, roads, sewers, theatres, book stores, power plants, arts centres, mine sites, offices, hotels and gas distribution networks – the smaller, but no less important projects that help to make Canada a great place to live.