Safety isn’t just a job to Jack Frost; it’s a commitment. In 1998, just a short time after Jack had become a safety officer at a shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, he witnessed the horrific death of a fellow employee. It is a moment in time that has stuck with him forever.

“I made a commitment to myself. I couldn't save him, but moving forward, I would do everything I can to save the next person,” Jack shares on this episode of the No Accident podcast, presented by TRUCE.

Having witnessed first-hand the immeasurable cost of failed safety measures, Jack dedicated his life to ensuring no one else would lose their life while working at his company. 

He has become a trailblazer in building and leading strategic health, safety, environmental and quality programs that get to the heart of business priorities — people, profits and performance excellence. 

Those priorities are interconnected. When an incident occurs, companies lose time and productivity when they conduct investigations, which leads to a loss of revenue. They also lose reputability. 

They suffer what he calls the “death of a thousand cuts” as these disparate elements collate and create significant losses in efficiency, productivity, financial and reputation. Therefore, companies should aim to set exceptional safety mandates. Those need to come from the top.

“If you set your [safety] standard high, you're going to reach measures you never thought you could. So setting that expectation, having that right attitude at the top, being consistent, and following up are critical elements to safety excellence.”

Though people and their safety are his core focus, Jack also recognizes the tethered bond between safety and financial success for a business, which can only be perpetuated by those in leadership roles.  

Featured Guest

👉 Name: Jack Frost

👉 What he does: As Vice President of Environment Health Safety at Heico Construction Group, Jack improves plans for establishing the "why," "where" and "how" that bring ideas to successful execution with broad support across the organization.

👉 Company: Heico Construction Group

👉 Key quote: “People are fallible. They're going to make mistakes. And I think understanding those human performance principles is a critical element of improving safety.”

👉 Where to find him: LinkedIn

Safe Takes

⚠️ Hierarchy of controls take human mistakes into account. They use numerous layers of safety to ensure the protection of employees while understanding mistakes happen and having a plan every step of the way.

⚠️ Safety has a positive impact on the bottom line. Rather than halting production and processes for a safety investigation, losing time and money, safety controls help eliminate costs through prevention.

⚠️ Set high safety standards. When you set certain standards, you get what you ask for. High standards allow companies to reach new measures of excellence.

Resources

⛑️ Heico Construction Group — This group operates business units across three key segments: commercial construction solutions, industrial construction solutions and construction equipment.

⛑️ National Safety Council — Each year the National Safety Council presents the “CEOs Who ‘Get It’” award. 
 

Top quotes from the episode:

“There are two parts to safety. It’s about leadership driving it and having consistency.”

“So how is it that one company has superior numbers and another company is struggling significantly? It all starts with leadership. You can have the best programs in place. You can have the best processes in place, but if you don't have the leadership commitment driving it at the very top, then it’s simply not going to happen.”

“One of my passions is [dismantling] hierarchy controls...When we use that approach, we're depending on one person to make the right decision every single time. And that's just not realistic.  Understanding human performance principles is a critical element of improving safety.”

“The hierarchy of controls is the process of having stronger controls to prevent incidents from occurring.”

“In the safety field, we haven't done a great job as far as tethering safety and financials. In the past, I felt they were mutually exclusive. You'd talk about safety, but not the financial aspect of it. I think they should be married together because safety does have a direct financial impact.”

“If you set your standard low, guess what? You get what you asked for.”

“Several things encapsulate changing culture — the way we think about things, continuous improvement, and moving to a higher standard.”