“The individuals that I represent and our membership, the heartbeat of the Society, are the ones that wake up every single day and worry about sending everybody home…. Everyone has a story of a journey into safety.”

Many safety professionals struggle with executives and decision-makers in their organizations. But not all executives view safety in a negative light: in fact, most view safety to be very important. I once asked a group of executives why safety was viewed to be 18th on the list of 27 enterprise risks identified to company. Most safety professionals are horrified to learn that executives would put safety so “low” on the list, but when asked why, all the executives stated it was that low because they had confidence in the safety manager and team to manage that risk: without them, safety would be much higher on that list. Don’t underestimate the important role you play in keeping people safe and the organization strong. It’s executives like Jennifer and organizations like ASSP (Society) that ensure we have the skills to set the value of who we are as professionals.