Today, safety professionals face a host of challenges. Generational turnover, regulatory changes, budget constraints, and other factors create distractions, interruptions, and frustration. On top of it all, these same professionals are under significant pressure from their organizations to achieve even more aggressive safety goals.

Manufacturing leaders know that people and processes are most productive when safety, compliance and operational objectives align. Some people used to fear that focusing too much on environment, health and safety would undermine productivity.

Back in 2015 I had a widow-maker heart attack. That near-death event focused attention on my heart health, particularly when I push to physical extremes during mountain backpacking. 

Traditionally, safety departments get opinions and guesses thrown at them, says Stinson. There may be a hazard. Equipment doesn’t seem to be working. “Now you have objective data all mapped out. It’s very important that this is objective data, so you know for a fact that a part of plant is leaking. It’s a fact, not a suspicion,” he says.

Glassdoor ranked the position “Safety Manager” among the “50 Best Jobs in America for 2019.”1 The #1 Best Job in America for the past four years, according to Glassdoor, is “Data Scientist.