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135: A Wholistic Approach to EHS: Caring Inside and Outside of Work
83 Plays14 hours ago
What happens when the teacher becomes the student? Meet Stacy Dubin, an EHS leader whose journey began in the classroom as a middle and high school teacher, and evolved into an impressive career in industrial hygiene and safety. Stacy shares how creating hands-on lessons in toxicology and epidemiology sparked her move into EHS, the challenges of transitioning from teaching to industry, and how she leveraged project management skills to find her footing. She and Jill discuss why EHS professionals are “the ultimate influencers,” succeeding through relationships rather than authority, and how curiosity, reciprocity, and listening to employees help earn trust and drive real safety improvements. From integrating EHS into everyday operational conversations, to observing work and collaborating with supervisors to identify hazards, Stacy offers practical insights on influence and impact—along with her vision for building consistent, engaging global EHS frameworks rooted in authenticity and connection.
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Introduction
00:00:09
Speaker
This is the Accidental Safety Pro brought to you by HSI. This episode is recorded December 12th, 2025. My name is Jill James, HSI's Chief Safety Officer. And today my guest is Stacey Dubin. Stacey is Regional EHS Manager at Hyperion Americas.
00:00:26
Speaker
Stacey
Stacey's Career Journey
00:00:27
Speaker
received her master's in occupational health industrial hygiene from the University of Toledo in 2017 and has spent nearly 10 years in the EHS field in different industries including aerospace, agriculture, construction equipment, chemical, and the biosciences. Much of her focus has been preparing sites to be internally and externally audit ready. Stacey also guides comprehensive incident investigations and timely corrective action resolutions.
00:00:56
Speaker
In her career, she created and developed EHS department policies and procedures from the ground up. Stacey joins us today from Southeast Michigan. Welcome to the show and thank you for taking the time to be here.
00:01:11
Speaker
Thank you, Jill, for giving me the opportunity to be a guest on your show. Very honored to do so. Very happy to have you you. You might be the last guest of 2025. We'll have to check with with ah with Emily on that later, but I think you might be wrapping things up for us this year.
00:01:29
Speaker
Oh, wow. the the honored The honored bookend position. So so Stacey, um tell us your origin story. how did you How did you get into this field and find your way here?
00:01:43
Speaker
Oh, it's interesting. At least for me, I started out as a high school, middle school science and health teacher, and I was asked by my district to create a course that was a course elective for eighth graders using the standards within my certifications.
00:02:02
Speaker
So i developed hands-on interactive activities that dealt with toxicology, epidemiology, illnesses, signs and symptoms, investigating root causes of these.
00:02:17
Speaker
And as I developed this, you know, curriculum and these is activities that we did as a class, I became very interested in the types of occupations that would deal with toxicology, epidemiology, and just really looked into studying more about that as it became time for me to um get my master's degree.
00:02:45
Speaker
And I found that their industrial hygiene at the University of Toledo encompassed all of those occupations. So I began my studies there and never looked back. It just really drew me in.
00:02:59
Speaker
So when you were you were teaching the eighth graders, and you got this project that you developed, it kind of lit the spark and then you decided to go back to school. Is that how it worked? Well, it was i I was to the point where in my district I had to become tenured teaching.
00:03:15
Speaker
And I was looking at different programs as a master's that would enhance my classroom instruction. And so as I became more engaged in what appealed to me to teach and proceed,
00:03:30
Speaker
within the classroom, I ah came across this type of of work that you can do. And I just couldn't believe It was just really, i just, I distinctly remember looking online and actually having a meeting with the head of the department at the University of Toledo. And I just was fascinated um from there. And still to this day, of still very much intrigues me because of just the broad aspect of this type of work.
00:04:00
Speaker
Yeah. was it Was it hard for you to leave teaching in the eighth graders and go into industry? Like, was that ah was that a difficult switch? or It were was definitely, yes, it was definitely a leap. I mean, I had worked many different jobs up to before teaching. so I had been in other areas in the workforce.
00:04:20
Speaker
yeah um But it is very different going from from an academia to a manufacturing facility. I fortunately had mentors and um was brought right into project and management. And then that's kind of where I got my biggest understanding of how things work was truly through project management and having that oversight and kind of looking things high level and incorporating what I need to for my project. So I...
00:04:53
Speaker
really started the ground running in that area. And where was the first place you landed? Like what sort of industry did you land first? Aerospace was my co-op.
00:05:03
Speaker
My internship was in aerospace. okay So I was heavily involved in the hexavalent chromium um here's air monitoring that we had to do. There was a lot of activity in aerospace. They use hexavalent chromium. It's an excellent rust inhibitor in their primer, ah in the aircraft engine, any part of it.
00:05:25
Speaker
And so there was a lot of that application and just and interacting with it, different areas throughout our facilities. So it very active
EHS Influence and Strategy
00:05:35
Speaker
in looking at those different operations and the different ways that employees may may be exposed.
00:05:42
Speaker
Mm hmm. Fascinating. Fascinating. and what an And what an interesting way to to um to begin your career in aerospace, man. And I thought my brain does a lot of work every time I'm walking in and off of a plane and thinking about everything that goes into it. You know, things that not regular people know. Yeah.
00:06:06
Speaker
It's good. It's good. So, Stacey, when we spoke earlier in preparation for this, you told me that you believe that EHS, our profession, are the ultimate influencers. Why do you believe that?
00:06:22
Speaker
We do not have direct supervision typically of people that need to do what they need we need to instruct them to be doing.
00:06:34
Speaker
We don't have that authority. We don't have that type of um downline in our organization. So the way that we get things done is truly by influencing either those that are further up in the organization or those that are on the shop floor, supervisors, managers.
00:06:54
Speaker
And I really strongly believe that you need to have rapport and respectful standing with with every facet of the organization in order to you know, have those KPIs and those metrics of safety and growth and maturity in those different areas in the facility.
00:07:18
Speaker
And how did you or how have you found ways to make those those connections and have you found any unexpected connections along the way?
00:07:30
Speaker
Usually, learn very hard. It's truly a reciprocity. dynamic between people, you can usually find something that I can provide for them, or they feel like they're benefiting from a relationship with safety or engagement with safety.
00:07:50
Speaker
And they often don't realize it. But, you know, we, we say we don't generate income for the or revenue for our our companies, but truly investment in safety has shown to increase value of what people are doing on the shop floor.
00:08:06
Speaker
And usually we can demonstrate or or make things better. Like for instance, if if somebody is wearing PPE and it's not quite fitting right, or i can usually say, look, let me look into that. And I can usually source something that is a better fit and they feel more comfortable and they'll be more likely to be compliant.
00:08:26
Speaker
So those are ways that I found that we can influence finding out what the issues are or what the concerns are. Maybe the people don't feel like they can speak up about something or that they have a way of getting something better. Sometimes they think they're just stuck with what they have.
00:08:43
Speaker
okay So I have found that engaging with folks on the floor and also in the meetings with leadership that you can usually find something that you can bring as in improvement or as a solution to whatever the issues are.
00:09:05
Speaker
Yeah, a benefit to them. i mean, I like what you said about reciprocity. That's that's blunt and a really great opening. I mean, that makes sense. That makes sense. um you've You've also shared with me about how you like to interject EHS into conversations when that's not the focus. Talk about, I mean, I think these things kind of all go together, but can you share about how you how you do that and kind of how you use your curiosity to like, where's my opening here?
00:09:38
Speaker
its
Integration and Problem Solving
00:09:39
Speaker
um Well, I think sometimes people think that if they do safety, there's another action or task that they're going to have to complete and not really realizing that you are actually making things safer or you're looking at doing things in a better way actually is increasing safety. So for instance, we've had areas where the focus has been on 5S.
00:10:03
Speaker
That means you're you're sorting things, you're getting rid of things you don't need in an area, or you you're making sure things are clean and new and they all have a spot to be in.
00:10:14
Speaker
And i tried to explain to people just by doing that on a regular basis, you're actually increasing the safety of your work area because you don't have things on the floor that are in your way or you're not reaching over items to get a tool or or some materials that could fall over on you or, you know, impact something else that you're working on. So i I try to say that, you know, by doing this task, we're actually also making things safer in your area.
00:10:43
Speaker
And this is also true, we talk about when you are changing out a piece of equipment or you are looking at and introducing a new material that you're using. um Having EHS at the beginning to help with that, you're already thinking about, you know, if you bring this on site, what type of PPE might we need? What type of ventilation might we need? What type of disposal might be that EHS is already starting on?
00:11:09
Speaker
making sure that those things are in place. So it doesn't become an extra. it It just goes concurrently with the scope of the project. Yeah. Yeah. And how do you how do you get a seat at the table for those projects? Like how what's been your method to kind of elbow your way in so that you're not coming in after the fact?
00:11:32
Speaker
It's been different with different companies that I've worked in. Some have been more mature with their management of change process, and they have a formal procedure for having subject matter experts at the table at the beginning of the project and as the project goes along, if they need to be changed out, depending on what the scope is at that point in the project.
00:11:55
Speaker
um Others, if had its it's been, you know, oh, I have, for instance, what I'm working on right now is safety data sheet and updates.
00:12:06
Speaker
So there are different areas like sales, sales. other production areas that they're not a, we're having more conversations than we had before. We're starting to connect the dots with helping each other. And then that's also led into, oh you have a resource for this, you know, in other areas of the company. So it kind of has snowballed that once you find out that there's a resource and they have an understanding, then you start having wider conversations. And it's been,
00:12:41
Speaker
I find it's better if you approach with truly just help me understand. i just want to understand not that you're doing things wrong or why are you doing it this way or there's a better way to do it.
00:12:53
Speaker
I always start from help me understand. And then i can go to a direction that is the reciprocity. What is that? and What is the solution? or do we have options? These are options that I could come up with.
00:13:08
Speaker
Yeah, very good. Yeah, I like what you're saying about your your identifying those opportunities when you're working with cross-functional teams. That, oh, like, here's that here's that opportunity. you're You're not being transactional at that point. I mean, you you may be in the work that you're doing, but you're paying attention to, this is a connection I need to make that's going to give me benefits um ongoing. Mm-hmm.
00:13:35
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, that's good. That's good. um In terms of how you view problems and solutions, you want to talk about what your approach is to that?
00:13:47
Speaker
i'm I'm an advocate for clearly stating what the problem is Sometimes people are not comfortable with saying they can't do something or something is a challenge that they can't solve on their own.
00:14:00
Speaker
um That's where I come in with help me understand. Because more often than not, what I've encountered is if I didn't truly understand what you're doing, i don't come up with a best solution.
00:14:12
Speaker
Like we we end up having to go backwards before we can go forwards again. um I noticed that when I first started out in aerospace, you had different engineers doing different projects.
00:14:23
Speaker
And they were sometimes not willing to disclose everything that they were doing for maybe a media material or ah wanting a piece piece of equipment to do something.
00:14:34
Speaker
And it didn't always, it wasn't always in our best interest for me to walk by i find out, you know, it was better if we could sit down and I could understand what you were trying to achieve and what the challenges were to that. And that, because I, I may have resources that I've used elsewhere and other materials that we um were able to substitute that were less hazardous or less flammable,
00:15:00
Speaker
that you may not understand that has application here, but I do. it So that's where I found that um really so clearly stating the problem at any point in the project. I mean, even if we've gone down a road that You know, we're at a mature point in the project that you are concerned that it would be delayed or usually we can find something that will make things better fulfill a need that is not going to cause for a whole rework or change drastically.
00:15:34
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Makes sense. Makes sense. you've You've told me that you believe that EHS is a holistic practice. And I think you're describing pieces of that as as you've been as you've been sharing right now. But do you want to expand on your belief on the holistic approach?
00:15:53
Speaker
Well, people come to work. with, I mean, our employees have lives outside of their jobs. And in e h s we have our policies and procedures, and we have training, and we have our KPIs. But you also have to remember that you have individuals, employees coming to work that have their own perceptions and their own ideas.
00:16:18
Speaker
And oh I don't know if it's just because I'm older as a person or I'm becoming more mature in my career, but I'm always looking for ways to, and this goes back to you know engagement, how can I get my bottom line or what is absolutely needed done but yet still incorporate where our employees are, where the organization is.
00:16:45
Speaker
You can't completely exclude that. That has to be included in what you're doing in EHS. So you always
Communication and Cultural Dynamics
00:16:53
Speaker
have to be familiar with the operations, but also with your employees.
00:16:59
Speaker
You should, you know, be on the floor, be present and watching the operations and watching them handle materials or using the PPE. And so all of that, you can't just look at one at a time.
00:17:11
Speaker
um I'll never forget. um I was working, and this was early in in one of my positions, and we were doing high rock.
00:17:22
Speaker
assessment which means that you were not just focusing on the job, you're actually looking at all um aspects of the tasks that they were doing. And um we needed engagement from the employees on the floor, because we were asking questions about the tasks.
00:17:42
Speaker
And it was step by step that we needed. And this gentleman was was not quite engaging. And and mind you, this took a number of days because we were going wall to wall in the factory. And so word had spread that we were getting this project done and we were needing different employee input.
00:18:00
Speaker
And in this particular area with this gentleman, he's an older gentleman. But he had the most knowledge about the the task and the operation that was happening. But he was really standoffish and just didn't see talking to us about the task as an opportunity to really share his knowledge and help us understand.
00:18:21
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Well, what we found out after the fact was he was suffering from a terminal illness and was trying to work as long as he could with his treatments before he couldn't work again.
00:18:36
Speaker
Mm-hmm. And we didn't take the time to really ask him, is everything okay? um Doing good today? And that's what I mean. you You have to really think about the employee and all that they are dealing with outside of as they come to work and then incorporate that concept or idea into work.
00:19:00
Speaker
Yeah. So how did that experience change how you try to get to know your your colleagues on on, you know, up and down the a facility? How do you you know? Yeah. How did that change? Or do you have a um a method that you're using, you know, a communication method?
00:19:24
Speaker
like How are you doing that and connecting with people? Well, i I think it's more of I approach my meetings. I do have an objective. I do have an agenda. But even with my direct reports right now, we do our meetings remotely because we're all over the you know North and South America. I do start my meetings off with a general question or something of general interest.
00:19:49
Speaker
And so that's usually how I start any conversation or any kind of relationship with someone. Hey, I am here doing this type of safety related task or what have you. But, you know, hey, how are you today?
00:20:04
Speaker
you know, what's happening? um and then be yeah give an example of like some of those general interest, injur interest um sorry, general interest questions that you use.
00:20:15
Speaker
Well, the recent one, we just had a, I had a manager's meeting this past week and it was, the question was, what was your fondest memory of snow or snow day?
00:20:27
Speaker
Because through Ohio and Michigan, obviously my my folks in South America were appreciative of the stories, but but they're really great. But it was really interesting to hear some of these childhood memories of being in the snow. And I think someone said they like driving in the snow for obvious reasons and making snow circles and donuts and stuff like that. But it just...
00:20:53
Speaker
It just was a way to make a connection that, you know, we are all people. We all had a history in childhoods and we were sharing some of these anecdotes. And so it was good. And that's what I tend to try to do when I'm engaging with someone. Yes, I have objectives. Yes, I have metrics.
00:21:10
Speaker
But I'm dealing with a person. And we do better if we have, you know, kind of a rapport. Maybe, um I don't know what they call it now, you know, psychological safety. I've heard that before.
00:21:24
Speaker
I simply have always called it a connection. do it We have some sort of a connection and then it tends to go better. Then that way you know don't have people wanting to cover anything up. They want to share with you.
00:21:39
Speaker
They want to support you because you have that connection. You have that rapport with each other. Yeah, what a great way to frame it. And I know there's, you know, when you've been in a career as as long as I have, and Stacey, you've been at this a while too, you see things that are the same, but take on a new term.
00:22:01
Speaker
Like you just pointed out with psychological safety, and you've been practicing that in your career for a long time. You're just not calling it that. You're calling it condition. right. That's beautiful. Yeah, right. That's good. Thanks for giving that example. I love it. And for anyone who heard Stacey say donuts in a parking lot, she's not talking about it.
00:22:19
Speaker
If you're not from a snowy um region, which which Stacey, you and I are both in snowy areas. It's been snowing all week where I live. Donut means that, you know, like maybe you're in a parking lot and there's a snowstorm and you're whipping your car around in circles just for funsies when no one else is around. And so in in many places, they call it donuts because it's making circles with your car. People call it other terms as well. But we'll just leave that for people to Google.
00:22:51
Speaker
Yes. That's good. Not endorsed. Just knowledge. Just information. Right, right, right, right. It's good. I was working on building my adult snow fort this week. I build one every winter.
00:23:06
Speaker
So I've been doing that. um Yeah, i love what you're talking about with with regard to connection and communication techniques that you're using, which, you know, is all ah if we wanted to call it another buzzword culture, you know, building that culture. That's another thing. And I know that you said that you've read a particular book that was that was helpful in this for you. Do you want to talk about that?
00:23:31
Speaker
Well, i I was given a book by my sister-in-law. was called The Culture Map. And i wasn't really sure what to expect. She's traveled all across the world. And that's what I thought it would be, just information on different countries and regions in the world. And it actually was a book on how to...
00:23:52
Speaker
And actually, the the way that different people in different countries may approach communication or present presentation of information.
00:24:03
Speaker
Mm-hmm. So... in In terms of it's it's really helped with my team in the globally with the current company I'm in because we have a team comprised of people throughout the world.
00:24:19
Speaker
And you're working on trying to have the same understanding and set of procedures or instructions that mean the same to all of you.
00:24:29
Speaker
And it helped to read this book because we have what is called social context that we speak with when we are speaking with someone.
00:24:41
Speaker
So, for instance, in the U.S., we have what is called low social context, which means social. We don't expect someone to have a lot of understanding. We actually present present everything, bullet by bullet, all the information, instructions you would need to have an understanding of our concept we're trying to share.
00:25:03
Speaker
And that is not the case with other areas throughout the world. They come with with um expectation of a higher social context. So not much is given.
00:25:18
Speaker
But much is expected that you already have knowledge about. And so that interaction doesn't have a whole lot of shared information. which How interesting. what Which can be, yeah. yeah And it can be frustrating, but I think that it's helped me to even double down on that connection.
00:25:41
Speaker
and not and And being able to say, help me understand. And maybe I'll say it back to you. And does this mean the same thing to you as it does to me? And that's pretty much a rule of thumb with my engagement with everybody. doesn't matter who you are, what level of the organization you're if we're going to be on the same page, we shouldn't make assumptions. We shouldn't get frustrated. We should just go to where do we have the same understanding.
00:26:10
Speaker
That's, that's so fascinating. And yeah, culturally, I don't think I would have thought of that. My, my default setting is always to assume people don't have context, don't have knowledge. And I work my way up and I try to ask curiosity questions to calibrate,
00:26:28
Speaker
For the situation to figure out like, does this person have a little background on this particular topic? And can we jump ahead a little bit? Or do we need to stay back? it That's actually true. That's what I've done throughout the years also. Because, you know, if you're dealing with someone outside of EHS, you would assume they don't have all of the knowledge about that's practices and things like that.
00:26:50
Speaker
Right. But this has even been another level of of really dialing back and that understanding and being gracious and and respectful and really wanting us to, in order to have the same end goal, we really need to kind of check in, like you said, track with each other and do we know what's happening. Yeah.
00:27:15
Speaker
yeah Yeah. And not make assumptions on either end. Yes. Yeah, I find myself doing that in our profession, particularly with terminology. um Right. And then, you know, like you said, there's buzzwords and things like that. Somebody may call something. They try to stay away from that, especially if you're setting up kind of a training um for a group of people. You always want to be mindful of your audience. Yeah.
00:27:42
Speaker
Who is it that's receiving this? What do you want them to know? there skill? Is there a policy or procedure? You always have to be mindful of how you're coding things.
00:27:53
Speaker
And now it's even more so when you're dealing at the global level of that information delivery. Yeah, what's what's an what's a story in terms of, you know, you said you work with a global team. What was one of those curiosity things that you learned and went, oh my gosh, I would have never thought of this or like an understanding that you came to?
00:28:17
Speaker
There was one anecdote in the book that stuck with me. And it was the author was presenting with a co-presenter. They were supposed to have um equal presentation parts in this, you know, in this group training that they were doing.
00:28:37
Speaker
And the the author was trucking right along in the presentation. And at the point where her co-presenter was to be interacting and supporting, they didn't.
00:28:49
Speaker
And so she thought maybe they were distracted or just weren't prepared. So she thought she was supporting them as a team, just kept proceeding with the information.
00:29:02
Speaker
So once the presentation was done, they you know, they were concluded everything and the group left. She turned to her co-presenter and said, um was everything okay? di Did I mess up that you, and the person said, well, you never asked me.
00:29:23
Speaker
to interject or get engaged. so the Yeah, it wasn't invited to speak. Okay. Correct. It wasn't a formal, now here is so-and-so with their, it was, she paused thinking that he would, this person would jump in and they're agreed upon moment.
00:29:43
Speaker
And that was not made clear before the presentation of that having the expectation. And that truly was a sign of the context, high context, low context, and that type of interaction.
00:29:58
Speaker
So I, that has always stayed with me that when you are doing someone, something with someone in a group and even more so remotely, you're, That you may fully have to introduce them or conclude your portion or, know, lay out the objectives, who is doing what.
00:30:18
Speaker
yeah It just
Hazard Detection and Safety Concerns
00:30:19
Speaker
makes things, i think, a little more easier for people. Not only those receiving the information, but off those preparing to present. So that has always stayed with me.
00:30:30
Speaker
Yeah, that's a really good, that's a really good example. And I mean, part of what you're talking about are social graces and not making assumptions about, yeah, how it works in different places. yes I think one of the things that's been really interesting about working remotely for as many years as I have, and it sounds like you have two Stacys when we're in these virtual environments, the importance of having cameras on so that you can see people's faces and see when eyes light up, when people are like just starting to open their mouth, like, oh, I need to interject something. And you're trying to pay attention to all the faces on the screen so that you, as the leader, can call on people and say, oh, you know, I can see that you want, you know, it's time yeah you have something to say.
00:31:19
Speaker
Or your eyes look curious. Yes. And that's even from my academia. You know, when you're presenting and teaching, do you see the quizzical looks or do you see the comprehension and the nodding of the heads, you know, yeah so that I can proceed? Or do I need to um maybe revisit that and state something a little clearer or different so that it gets understood? Right.
00:31:42
Speaker
Yeah, right. Right. Yeah, that's good. So speaking about visibility and the things that we pay attention to in our careers, how have you,
00:31:54
Speaker
in terms of like hazards that aren't readily visible, what are the methods that you've used, I'm assuming coupled with your curiosity to figure things out that isn't just like right in front of your face? How are you finding hazards?
00:32:12
Speaker
It was interesting. the One of my last positions, we had manufacturing and then I had laboratory. wow who were So you had people that were on the floor doing assembly versus people were actually doing R&D in the lab.
00:32:27
Speaker
And that was two very different approaches. And what I found was if you take the time to go to an area where And ask about the operations. obviously If something is obvious that you're seeing that is handled incorrectly and is urgently could put someone at risk, that I tend to go a little faster and point out that this is the issue that I'm seeing.
00:32:51
Speaker
This is the risk to it. And um maybe we do a temporary
00:33:00
Speaker
type of activity before maybe we could do something more permanent to make it safer. But I found that if I learn what is happening in the area, ask questions, and then I bring into, this is what I am seeing.
00:33:15
Speaker
um Is there, because sometimes you may see one individual doing something, then you may see another individual not doing it. And then, so then you kind of look at how do I need to address this?
00:33:29
Speaker
Not always do I recommend or do I go right to the employee. I would usually go get the supervisor of the area. And then we will have a discussion about what I saw this individual doing versus this one.
00:33:43
Speaker
Start looking at what was the procedure that was trained to them. Do we need to look at that? um And then sometimes the procedure may all always call out that task. Maybe that needs to be updated.
00:33:55
Speaker
So, i again, it's that help me understand. yeah And i'm I'm observing this significant issue or this hazard issue that may lead to the certain risk.
00:34:07
Speaker
Help me understand this is what I'm seeing. And then working with the supervisors of the area. And that tends to be where I would get the support. And then oftentimes they'll say, oh, hey, go speak to so-and-so. They'll be happy to help you.
00:34:20
Speaker
And then we work as a team to um get things corrected or and or made better or improved improved. improve the instructions that everybody has them.
00:34:31
Speaker
There's, there's a lot of reasons why you're seeing what you're seeing. Yeah. Should never assume somebody did something wrong. Right. Right. I have um in, in my career asked employees directly or supervisors, like, what's the thing that, what's the job task you do around here that you do personally that that you are concerned about? Like if you think, gosh, this is the one thing that I could get hurt doing, or a few things that I just can't see while I'm here with you today. What are those things that that you're concerned about?
00:35:10
Speaker
You know, and it and it opens up the door for, well, once a year we do this thing where dot, dot, dot, or every once in a while, blah, blah blah happens.
00:35:21
Speaker
And then I have to do x Y, and Z. or That's absolutely true. Yeah. Or I'm doing this thing alone or, you know, we, we had a budget cut over here and this used to be something that three of us did, but now two of us are doing it or one of us is doing it. And those kinds of things have come out of that kind of question.
00:35:43
Speaker
um I've also done a lot of observing of just people's physical body um Like, looking at what's on someone's hands.
00:35:56
Speaker
You know, am I seeing some certain level of grease or dirt that's like, hmm, wonder where they picked that up.
00:36:07
Speaker
you know, that kind of, that kind of thing about from personal protective equipment, or what are they, what are they having contact with their skin or even looking at people's faces? Are there, is there a particular type of debris on their face that is making me think about what sort of flying chips, sparks, respiratory hazards could they be exposed to just based on what I'm seeing in their hair or on their face?
00:36:31
Speaker
And then asking questions from there. Something I'm seeing now, they're having to maybe sand a tool or its yeah you know smooth their edges and stuff. They're using a large machine because you know they were shown by another individual, but they actually had a machine brought in just for this task that maybe they didn't know about. that's right Those are kinds of things, yes, that I'm yeah beginning to see that. It's not usually an issue too much. We just need to make sure that we're all... Yeah, right. have toee Yeah, the in...
00:37:04
Speaker
And it's giving people information and help that they might not know is even available. Or, or, or even sharing with people that something is a, is a hazard to their health or their wellbeing, or their, you know, musculoskeletal risk that people may not know about that could be done differently.
00:37:29
Speaker
Right. I just saw one where they were doing they were handling a small part, but they had to count them. And it it had a bit of heft to it and they had to pinch it. And it was explained to me by the supervisor. Oh, stage, don't worry. We've put everything on a cart. They don't have to lift it up. You know, it's at waste level. And I said, well, they're really having to grip this. And that wasn't even thought of. It was like, oh, we could just put this into a fixture. yeah So it was like, OK, so people usually try to.
00:38:00
Speaker
they want to do things right. Usually I've not seen too much resist in all the areas I've been, people show up and want to do the right thing. Yeah.
00:38:12
Speaker
Yeah. They want to, they want to do the right thing. They want to do a good job. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's a, it's an unfortunate stereotype that in some places in industries, people think that employees set out to hurt themselves. Yeah.
00:38:28
Speaker
I've not experienced that. No, I'm not. Usually that's, I'm doing things how I've been taught with what I've been given and, um, trying to do the best that I can with what I have and the information that I have. And,
Future Goals and Closing Thoughts
00:38:43
Speaker
and, you know, to your point about the holistic approach, um, to, to our jobs is, is really, is really looking at that, that whole person. Yeah.
00:38:54
Speaker
It's a big job, big job. Yeah. So, Stacey, when you're thinking about setting goals for 2026, since you are indeed Emily, our producer has confirmed you are the last guest of 2025. So as you're thinking about setting goals for 2026, what are the things that you're thinking about right now?
00:39:16
Speaker
Um, there's some key areas across each of my sites that I would like to get more cemented.
00:39:28
Speaker
and and this goes into developing our culture is getting more specific framework that we are all operating. And then we develop our culture from there. Like all of us are assured we're, we're,
00:39:42
Speaker
Doing work in safe, agreed way, whether it's hot work, um incident management, um you know lab safety for R&D, all of those to be in place, and then also develop the training process.
00:39:58
Speaker
formats that we need for that, whether I've experienced training methods such as putting things together in a binder and flipping through pages in a certain work area, or do we need to bring them in and do a presentation, or do we need to have more hands-on such as in the lockout tagout.
00:40:16
Speaker
So those are my big items I'm looking at next year is what do we getting things in place that we all agree on? Same language, um like you were saying, the same for you definitions, the way what we call things and then going from there to our training that I'd like to talk.
00:40:35
Speaker
Yeah, and and you mentioned something when we spoke earlier about what you're noticing in terms of influencers that you follow in EHS. And and what is it that you've noticed? The the biggest thing I'm seeing is connection.
00:40:54
Speaker
an engagement. So even though, like I said, you would put together those procedures, you really need to develop the engagement so that we can all be working under those procedures.
00:41:08
Speaker
You can't just plunk it in front of someone and say, okay, now you're going to do it this way. And this is the only way you need to engage. You need to make sure that, yes, I have those best practices, but does it fit for this work area? Do we need to adapt that?
00:41:24
Speaker
So that we can fulfill the doing things safely, doing things with compliance. yeah So it really, what I'm seeing is engagement and connection. And so when you pull your global team together to kick off 2026, that's, that's going to be part of the conversation. How can we engage more deeply with our employees?
00:41:45
Speaker
Yes. Yes, it is. And some people comes easier to, like such as you know directing a safety committee topics to cover in the safety committee. Some people have more experience and they're more comfortable doing that, some not. So yes, I'm hoping to help support ideas or areas that they can leverage for that engagement, their sites.
00:42:08
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, great. Yeah, Stacey, as we as we conclude our conversation today, is there anything that you would like to share with the listening audience about our profession or advice?
00:42:24
Speaker
um If I'm any example, yeah and actually, actually, ah most folks that I interact with in EHS did not start out their careers or working life saying that I'm going to be an EHS person. right so Most people don't start like that. So I, I, and I would encourage anybody who has experience or acuity in this to do what you can to develop yourself because we do need, and I think it helps a lot of areas to have that big, broad exposure to other careers and environments that we bring in to EHS to pursue that.
00:43:06
Speaker
um The biggest thing is being authentic. So for me, you can't People know if you walk into a facility and you are not authentic and truly believe what you're saying and supporting them, um you really want to be authentic. um Don't be yourself and find something that I don't know if I shared before. I like cars. No, I didn't. didn't feel good.
00:43:38
Speaker
I do like talking about different cars and trucks and um I like different sports. So what, and I outdoors, whatever I can find that's authentic to me, i can engage with someone and make that connection.
00:43:52
Speaker
That's very important. Almost as anything else in our jobs. Yeah. Humanizing, humanizing yourself by talking about things that you may, yeah, I may share commonalities with, or just letting people know about you.
00:44:05
Speaker
You know, Yeah, that's so important. so important, especially when you're in ah in, as you said at the beginning, you know, we have this influential role, though we don't have authority over people.
00:44:19
Speaker
Yet we do have an influential role and we are in leadership positions. And yeah, how can we humanize ourselves so that people can open up to us so that we might provide them the the best experience, the safest experience, healthy experiences at their job?
00:44:37
Speaker
you Yeah. Yeah, i I love that you shared about the culture map book. Maybe we can find a ah link to that and put it in the in the show notes. That would be that would be pretty sweet. I love that.
00:44:52
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, Stacey, thank you so much for your time today. Wishing you the best and in in 2026. And really, really grateful that you spent time with us today.
00:45:05
Speaker
Jill, thank you who very much. I've enjoyed my time spending with you and speaking with you about, quite frankly, I unabashedly think this is the best career in the world. So I love talking buzz. Thank you for bringing me on.
00:45:20
Speaker
Yes, EHS, best career in the world. Love it. Let's end with that. That's great. Thank you. And thank you all for spending your time listening today. And more importantly, thank you for your contribution toward the common good. May our employees and those we influence know that our profession cares deeply about human well-being, which is the core of our practice. If you aren't subscribed and want to hear past or future episodes, you can subscribe in iTunes, the Apple podcast app, or any other podcast player you'd like. Or if you prefer to read the transcript of the episodes and listen, you can do that at hsi.com.
00:45:54
Speaker
We'd love it if you could leave a rating and review us on iTunes. It really helps us connect the show with more and more yeah ehs professionals like Stacey and I. Special thanks to Emily Gould, our podcast producer. And until next time, thanks for listening.