S12Ep10 Impactful Training: How SafeStart and Storytelling Can Save Lives

Every trainer knows the feeling of weariness that can set in after countless safety sessions.  Imagine if someone tells you that your session saved their lives. That isn't just a pick-me-up—it's an affirmation of the lifesaving potential we harness every time we stand up to teach.

Share this with your colleagues and remember: every story told, every lesson learned, could be the one that makes all the difference.

Host: Danny Smith
Guest Don Wilson

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SafeStart Training Saves a Life

Danny Smith 0:07

Welcome back to Safe Talk with Safe Start . I'm Danny Smith , and joining me today is Safe Start's Chief Client Officer , Don Wilson . We asked Don here today to encourage those of us who , maybe , a bit weary from Safe Start training . It does happen , right ? So , first of all , Don , welcome back to the podcast . .

Don Wilson 0:26

Hey , thanks , Danny . It's great to be here . I think the last time it's been a while . I think the last time , as all Canadians do , I was complaining about the weather , but I think the last time I was complaining about it being too cold up here in Canada . We certainly don't have that here anymore . It's very , very hot , but I'm guessing it's even warmer where you are .

Danny Smith 0:48

It is quite toasty where I am here . I'm actually home today in Alabama and , as I was saying , as we're getting on , the weather is so humid I think you can actually just kind of wring the water out of the air kind of thing today . So it's a bit hot today , for sure .

Don Wilson 1:06

I've just been noticing that when I get into the car , the seat belts are like branding irons If they touch your exposed skin it's warm ?

Danny Smith 1:13

Yeah , absolutely . As I mentioned a minute ago , we've invited Don back here today just to share a story to encourage us all . As trainers , we realize burnout is a real thing and as you've gone through and you've taught SafeS tart and you've done so many unit ones or so many unit threes or whatever it is , it's easy just to get a bit complacent with that and or a bit burnt out with it . And we just want to kind of inspire everybody a bit today . You never know who's listening and that's the important part of this . You never know what impact your efforts are going to have . And , Don , you shared with us earlier a great chance encounter that you had . That really just illustrates this point . Do you mind sharing that real quickly ?

Don Wilson 1:57

Well , of course , that's why I'm here . So , just to set the stage , this very brief encounter or meeting happened almost 10 years ago now . What had happened was I was asked to take part in a corporate safety conference for a forest products company that was headquartered in the interior of British Columbia , up here in Canada . Now they were bringing together the CEO , other senior leadership and safety and plant managers from all of their different operations across North America . I had been asked to deliver a motivational talk on 24-7 human factor safety concepts , you know , like SafeStart for their whole leadership team . But instead of holding the meeting at their corporate HQ , the CEO had decided it would be better to get the senior leadership team out of their ivory tower and conduct the meeting at one of their production facilities , which turned out to be a mill located inside one of their wood harvesting properties . Now , the only problem with this choice of location was that I wasn't allowed to drive my rental car onto that property because the roads were poor . So they asked me to wait outside the hotel in town and told me they would send one of the company four by four crew cabs to pick me up first thing in the morning .

Don Wilson 3:15

So early the next day . I'm standing there waiting outside the lobby and , sure enough , a company- logoed truck pulls into the hotel and parks at the entranceway . And I'm thinking well , here's my ride . And I start to walk over . The driver gets out and starts walking towards me and says you must be so . And so I don't remember the actual name , Danny of the person he said , but it wasn't even close to my name . So of course I stopped walking and I said no , my name is Don Wilson , but I am waiting for a ride to your mill . I'm speaking at your corporate safety meeting there today . Well , he said , I'm here to pick up so and so . Sorry , I'm sure your driver will be here shortly .

Don Wilson 4:01

So now we're both just standing there kind of awkwardly together , killing time . He's waiting for his passenger to walk out of the hotel and I'm waiting for my ride to arrive . So , to be friendly and pass the time , he says to me you said you were speaking at our safety conference . What company are you with ? And of course, I answer I work for SafeStart . I'm not expecting he'll actually recognize the company name or what we do , but he immediately takes a step towards me , reaches out to shake my hand , looks me right in the eyes, and says SafeStart saved my life . Thank you .

Don Wilson 4:39

Well , I was not prepared for this . I'm a little startled and taken aback . At first I think the first thing out of my mouth in response was you're welcome . Like I was somehow personally responsible for saving his life . But when I had regained my wits and composure a bit , I asked him . So while you're waiting for your passengers to show up , can you tell me the story ? How exactly did Safe Start save your life ? So he told me that before he had moved to BC to work for the Forest Products Company , he had lived in southern Saskatchewan and had worked for an energy or utility company , I don't actually recall the name . That company had decided to implement the Safe Start Human Factors process and he had been selected to serve on their internal training delivery team . Apparently , he had very recently completed our Safe Start Train the Trainer course and was starting to apply some of the concepts to improve his own safety 24-7 .

Don Wilson 5:45

On the day of his story he was driving from work back to his home and along his route there was a four-way stop intersection . So he said to me I'm slowing down for the stop sign on my road and I'm thinking about the critical error reduction techniques and , of course , as you would know , one of the CERTs is that you need to get into the habit of watching others , and you know the one reason is , well , it keeps your head in the game and helps you to fight complacency , but the other reason that it sometimes you can see the states affecting other people in the moment and anticipate and avoid the mistakes that they might make as a result . So I've stopped at the intersection , waited and now it's my turn to go . But as I'm about to proceed , I noticed this minivan approaching the four-way at a fair clip . I can see that there is a young woman behind the wheel and I can also see through the side windows that it's full of kids , and I can see that she's having a fairly animated conversation in the rearview mirror with the passengers in the back , and she looks as if she's reaching back with her right arm to try and keep the ones in the second row from killing each other .

Don Wilson 7:03

And even though it's my turn to go , I keep my foot on the brake because I'd been thinking about that state error pattern and she looks to me like she's frustrated and I'm also thinking that by definition she's also rushing , you know , driving this two-ton killing machine while also trying to break up the tag team wrestling match going on in the back . So instead of proceeding , I just sat there and sure enough , she didn't even hit the brakes , she just went sailing right through the four-way . I don't even think she ever saw the stop sign .

Don Wilson 7:38

He then kind of added you know , she went right through the intersection from my left . So if I had just pulled out I would have been t-boned on the driver's side in the collision . I don't think I would have survived that , given the speed she was going . So that's how Safe Start saved my life and I just wanted to say thanks . He told me to keep up the good work and then he concluded you know , SafeS tart skills do save people's lives . I thanked him for sharing his story with me and we talked for a few more minutes before the passenger he actually was waiting for walked out of the hotel , got into his vehicle and they drove off together . You know , the funny thing is I actually don't remember his name , but I've never forgotten his story yeah , that's .

Danny Smith 8:30

Uh , that's often the case when we hear things like this . You may not remember the name , but you never forget those stories , do you ? It's , that's amazing . Uh , you mentioned that he had worked in Saskatchewan prior to that and for those who have not had the pleasure of driving through that province Larry Wilson Don I think , your brother , described it best as you pass through the ever-changing wheat fields . But you know , you think about that . I mean , that's , I guess , a lot of the open prairie when you get into the Midwest , be it in the US or Canada . But you think about that . Certainly , he probably had at least a clear view there to see that car approaching . I guess he's probably pretty thankful for that as well . Right that his view wasn't blocked by trees or buildings or anything . Did he give you any indication , Don , of how fast she may have been going there ?

Don Wilson 9:18

Well , I should have asked Danny . Other than saying she was going at a fair clip , he certainly thought she was going fast enough to put lives at risk if that collision had occurred . So my guess is , you know , probably at least 40 . I think this could have been much worse for everyone . My imagination in these cases always goes to what might have happened to those kids in the back if they had been involved in a collision .

Danny Smith 9:43

Sure , yeah . What I really like about this example in this story is just how fast these skills can be picked up , right .

Don Wilson 9:53

Well , you're absolutely right . I think about how many of us get to a four-way first or wait for a light to change green and we just blindly take off without even a defensive glance . Whenever I think back on this story , Danny , it always brings to my mind this pearl of wisdom I heard from someplace , I don't remember who , long ago . The person said to me you know , at an intersection , don't get fixated , looking at just the signs or the lights . They never hit anyone .

Danny Smith 10:23

That's incredible . I love that I haven't had a stop sign jump right out in front of me before either , although I've seen some pass by that I didn't

Learning Through Storytelling

Danny Smith 10:32

see . But anyway , yeah , I can imagine with this individual . He probably never thought his story would end up being the subject of a podcast . But you know , that's really the beauty of vicarious learning we can learn through storytelling . We can learn through storytelling . We can learn through these examples that people share with us . It really helps us to sharpen our skills through learning from other people's stories , other people's mistakes , other people's victories , and in this case , this one just kind of helps all of us , I think . Just put a little bit of wind back in our sails , right .

Don Wilson 11:04

You're absolutely right , Danny . Thank you so much for having me on it's . I'm sorry . It was great to be able to share my story and it's been a pleasure to talk to you again .

Danny Smith 11:13

Thanks so much , Don . So , on behalf of Don and the entire Safe Talk team , thank you for your time today and don't forget to share this episode , particularly , I would say , share it with your trainers . Let so particularly I would say , share it with your trainers . Let them know the work that they're doing , the work that your steering committee is doing , the work of the supervisors who are out just having conversations on the floor . That work , those conversations are important and sometimes you may not think it's having an impact , but it certainly is . I'm Danny Smith for Safe Talk with Safe Start . Just continue to look for others and keep in mind that's not only to help sharpen your skills , but also just to keep you out of their line of fire .