Real Leadership Stories From
Real Safety Professionals
My Big Safety Challenge- Monique Parker, Elevra Lithium
When Monique Parker was considering whether to step into the role as president of ASSP, one thing gave her pause: she was already busy. But she also knew life wasn’t going to get less busy, and there was an impact she wanted to make. So, she decided to make it.
That drive to make a difference has shaped Monique’s career from the beginning. Monique went to school to become...
My Big Safety Challenge- Kent McElhattan, McElhattan Foundation
Eliminating workplace fatalities by 2050 is an ambitious goal. For Kent McElHattan, it’s also a deeply personal one.
Safety has been a part of Kent’s life for decades, from helping grow Industrial Scientific into a global leader in gas detection to serving as chairman of the National Safety Council. Along the way, he came to understand that workplace fatalities often aren&...
My Big Safety Challenge- Amber Miller, United Steel Workers Union
Safety starts with people. For Amber Miller, Vice President at Large of the United States Steelworkers Union, protecting workers means creating environments where people feel heard and respected.
Coming from a family with deep union roots, Amber has long understood health and safety as a driving force behind workers’ wellbeing. In this episode, she shares her people-first...
My Big Safety Challenge- Steve Scott, HOP Improvement, LLC
What does it look like when an organization truly lives its values? For Human and Organization Performance (HOP) consultant, Steve Scott, it starts with trust: trust workers to know their jobs, trust workers to treat mistakes as opportunities to learn, and create enough trust for people to speak up about risks.
Drawing on thirty years of experience at Alcoa, from the factory flo...
My Big Safety Challenge- Season 07 Trailer
Season 7 of My Big Safety Challenge is here — and this time, host Merle Heckman is joined by a new co-host, Jim Frederick, Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry. After six seasons and more than 50 guests from companies large and small, this...
My Big Safety Challenge- John Whalen, Microsoft
John Whalen, CSP, AMERS Regional EHS Assessment Manager at Microsoft, shares his journey from volunteer firefighter to safety professional—and how those early experiences shaped his people-centered approach to safety. In this episode of My B...
My Big Safety Challenge- Jim Frederick, Nexus HSE
With more than 30 years in health and safety, Jim Frederick of Nexus HSE has worked across industry and spent four years with OSHA, giving him a unique perspective on the shared responsibility of protecting workers. In this episode of My Big Safety Challenge, he discusses some of the most difficult situations safety professionals face, including workplace fatalities and serious in...
My Big Safety Challenge- Ty Farmer, Dycom Industries, Inc.
Ty Farmer, senior director of Corporate Safety at Dycom Industries, Inc. could have let being placed on a performance improvement plan (PIP) early in his career derail him completely. Instead, he turned a difficult moment into a powerful learning experience and an opportunity for growth.
Ty’s military background led him to his first role at General Electric (GE), where he...
My Big Safety Challenge- Matthew Compher, Quanta Services
From an Ohio farm to protecting tens of thousands of lives—this is safety leadership at its realest. In this episode of My Big Safety Challenge, Matthew Compher shares the hard-earned lessons that shaped his career, from steel mills and utilities to leading safety across high-risk industries. He challenges traditional safety thinking, introduces his “capacity model,” and expla...
My Big Safety Challenge- Wendy Brant, Dekra
From a landfill site in rural Vermont to helping protect more than 2 million employees at Walmart, Wendy Brant’s safety journey is any...