Have you ever wondered how compliance, risk management and regulatory understanding can transform the culture and safety of an organization? Meet Abby Scott, SafeStart's newest addition with over 15 years of experience in industries like chemical manufacturing, logistics, safety, and waste operations. Unearthing her personal journey from a severe injury to becoming a devotee of SafeStart, Abby is a testament to the power of safety consciousness both in and out of the workplace.
Host: Tim Page-Bottorff
Guest: Abby Scott
Have you ever wondered how compliance, risk management and regulatory understanding can transform the culture and safety of an organization? Meet Abby Scott, SafeStart's newest addition with over 15 years of experience in industries like chemical manufacturing, logistics, safety, and waste operations. Unearthing her personal journey from a severe injury to becoming a devotee of SafeStart, Abby is a testament to the power of safety consciousness both in and out of the workplace.
Host: Tim Page-Bottorff
Guest: Abby Scott
Hey, welcome back to Safe Talk with Safe Start. I am Tim Page-Bottorff, and as Safe Start continues to grow, so does our consulting family, and today it's my honor to welcome one of our two newest members to our team, Abby Scott. Abby, welcome to the podcast.
Abby Scott:Thank you and thanks to the entire team. The welcoming has been heartfelt and I'm really proud to be part of the greatest group of consultants on the planet.
Tim Page-Bottorff:Yeah, you know what the greatest group of consultants on the planet. I feel the same gratitude as you do. Now, a bit of background on Abby. She has over 15 years of experience working in industries like chemical manufacturing, distribution, bulk chemical logistics safety Oh my god, I'm going to work on that one. Waste and recycling operations, facilities, maintenance and services, specialized logistics, operation, and transportation safety. Now, I know that sounds like a mouthful, but that's a great level of experience. Abby specializes in compliance, risk management, risk identification, subcontractor compliance, DOT and OSHA regulations, even standard operating procedure development. She also happens to work with corrective action planning and regulatory compliance understanding. She's earned a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from Go Sun Devils! ASU, Arizona State University, and completed graduate coursework in industrial management and safety up in DeKalb, Illinois, at Northern Illinois University. All right, Abby, that's pretty serious stuff there, but I'm going to ask you a couple of questions, and it's the same questions that we ask all our consultants Are you ready?
Abby Scott:I'm ready.
Tim Page-Bottorff:All right. How did you end up coming aboard the Good Ship Safe Start?
Abby Scott:Well, I was first exposed to Safe Start in 2010 when I was working for a rather large global manufacturer and distributor of chemicals, and I've been a devotee ever since.
Abby Scott:In 2017, I attended a public workshop, actually here in Chicago. That made even more of an impact to me and I remember thinking, wow, I want to work for these people, but I didn't at that time think it was even a remote possibility. I had the privilege later on then to work with the most awesome Client Success Manager, Shannon McNamara maybe you know him with whom I've maintained a great relationship with since, and last fall I made a decision to leave the corporate world and establish my own consulting practice. Shannon and I talked about that after the first of the year and he said you know, Abby? He said you know what we do, right, and he encouraged me to consider becoming a consultant for Safe Start. I took his encouragement to heart and started the process in February, and here I am ready to share my experience and passion for Safe Start with our clients, with the goal that it impacts their lives at work, at home and on the road as much as it has mine.
Tim Page-Bottorff:So I'm going to unpack what you just said for a little bit. You said Shannon McNamara, you said Chicago and here. And so, for our listeners, this is one of the first time I've been able to record a podcast with both of us in the same room. And so we're here in Chicago wrapping up a public workshop. And then Shannon McNamara yes, you're absolutely right and incredible Client Success Manager. All right, so thank you for bringing all of that up. I got to ask what do you think is unique about Safe Start, or, in other words, what do you love about this process?
Abby Scott:Safe Start is more than a program. The elements and concepts become part of an organization's culture and processes or not even really an organization, maybe it's an individual. It on and not only defines the state's errors and the state's error risk pattern, but it also gives you the tools to address the states, to prevent the errors through CERTs. This is huge and I recall the positive feedback that I received during implementation at one of the companies one of my prior employers and it's when you see the employees get it. It's like watching a light bulb go on. You can see it on their faces and it just. I literally had employees almost in tears when sharing and listening to Safe Start stories. They felt it was the most valuable training they had ever received, saying things like if I had only known about the states and self-trigger, and I remember at the time thinking me too, buddy.
Tim Page-Bottorff:I got to say that light bulb clicking is a great analogy because it gives us a great sense as trainers on feedback that you delivered a great message, but also, if people are getting it, it gives you great feedback on what you can do to get better, and I appreciate you bringing that up. So I got to ask now that the next big question is what is the most important part of your life that Safe Start has made an impact on?
Abby Scott:My outside, outside the workplace, so life outside the workplace 100%. I suffered a pretty serious injury in 2003. I had my husband and I had just relocated, or were in the middle of a relocation, to the Milwaukee area. I had two of my children and I was pregnant with my third and and we had just closed on our house and my husband went back to the Quad Cities, which is where we were living. When we moved he had a trainer replacement, so he was a few hours away.
Abby Scott:I was at the house with the boys, the kids, the, the two older ones, and just there to let a repairman in. I was standing in the front yard and my, my middle son, who was two at the time, was playing in the front yard. And I was there and out of the corner of my eye I saw my neighbor Backing out of her driveway and my son running across the front yard. The garages were in the back and I instinctively moved. I moved my body and the movement right. I went to run, I tripped over some landscape border that I didn't even realize was there and I caught myself with my arms. You know, I extended my arms, caught myself and the, the, the tricep contraction was so strong that it actually snapped my elbow, or the my elbow or the electron on process right, so sustained that injury.
Abby Scott:It was really, you know I was going into shock on the ground, had no family there, husband was out of town. It was just a combination of things, right that I had to deal with at the same time that I was, you know, accepting the fact I just hurt myself pretty bad and you know it could have been a whole lot worse. You know I suffered the fracture but just being as, as you know, far into my pregnancy, as I was, there was, there was the risk that I had landed right on my abdomen and, you know, not knowing for several hours how significant or severe that might have been, just a lot of the unknowns. Thankfully though I just the fracture, was the extent of the injuries, but, like I said, it could have been a whole lot worse and you know I could have certainly disrupted the blood supply, you know could have hemorrhaged. I might not be here today, so Pretty impactful story, right?
Tim Page-Bottorff:I'm assuming that since then, even though it's reactive, you're still using those CERTTs daily.
Abby Scott:Oh, absolutely. I think it's really important to lead by example, and I do. I utilize the CERTs daily. I feel like it's a proactive way to head off injuries, and I also use the concepts of Safe Start to have conversations with my family. As I mentioned, I have sons. I have three sons and two of which are in safety-sensitive positions One is a police officer and the other is a commercial driver and we talk about frustration and fatigue a lot.
Tim Page-Bottorff:I got to say for those of you that are out there listening, you had to be a witness when she tells this story, live, because she said her elbow was from here to there. Now, visually if you're driving, don't try to put that together, but if you're sitting down in a room, her elbow moving up from the bottom of her bend all the way up to the top of her armpit, that's where that elbow moved so vicariously. You probably can get a sense of what that looked like. And you were pregnant.
Abby Scott:I was my goodness Two weeks from delivery.
Tim Page-Bottorff:So, yes, a lot of care, great story, and thank you for reviewing that. Now let's move towards something more positive. What's the most exciting thing that you've actually seen during your Safe Start journey?
Abby Scott:The impact it has had on culture and the workplace. When you see an organization make a shift for the good, where the elements of Safe Start are embedded in everything from pre-shift stand-up meetings to employee touch points both leadership and employee, peer-to-peer incident investigation, root cause analysis all of that it's truly impactful and exciting, especially when you see people that you never thought would really embrace it become champions of Safe Start, which is huge for sustainability within our organization.
Tim Page-Bottorff:Oh, great word, sustainability and you want to continue that growth. That's awesome. So, Abby, thank you for joining us today, especially here together in Chicago. It's always great to welcome a new teammate and, if you haven't heard it yet, welcome aboard. Tell the folks that are listening how they can get ahold of you.
Abby Scott:Thanks, it's been fun. My email is simple it's abby at safestartcom.
Tim Page-Bottorff:Yeah, again, that's alpha. bravo, bravo, yankee at safestart. com and to all of you listeners, thank you so much for spending some of your day with us. We really do appreciate it. And, on behalf of Abby and the entire team here at Safe Talk with SafeS tart, I'm Tim Page-Bottorff. Until next time, keep an eye on the other guy.