Chris Cole on Building Safety Programs That Scale Without Becoming “Safety Police”

Chris Cole didn’t set out to build a career in safety. Like many people in the field, he stepped in because the work needed to be done, and no one else was there to do it.

He started as a site supervisor. Then safety landed on his desk too, because the site needed it. That accidental entry point became a pattern. Chris kept being handed out complex, high-stakes responsibilities, and he kept building systems that actually held up in the real world.

Today, he manages safety across a multi-branch operation spanning Canada and the U.S., while also carrying quality responsibilities and supporting multiple business units. His approach is practical, scalable, and grounded in one core belief:

“Safety works best when people are not afraid to talk.”

Building a COR Safety Program from the Ground Up

Chris describes his start simply. A company needed a safety person, so he stepped into the role. The results, however, were far from simple.

After stepping into the safety function, he helped the company achieve COR certification in about six months, while also expanding his responsibilities into safety management and quality assurance and control.

Strong safety leaders often see safety and quality as part of the same system. Chris made that connection early. Quality failures can lead to safety incidents, and weak safety practices almost always surface in quality or maintenance issues.

The Scale Problem: You Can’t Be in Nine Places at Once

As the company grew, the old safety workflow started breaking down.

Field Level Hazard Assessments (FLHAs) were being mailed in from different provinces. Those meant delays, gaps, and a lack of visibility. Chris needed a way to confirm whether crews were actually doing the work, hazard assessments, pre-trip inspections, and preventative maintenance checks.

His turning point was shifting from “collecting paperwork” to “getting visibility.”

That’s where digital workflows became a force multiplier, not because technology replaces leadership, but because it makes leadership possible at scale. If you cannot see the work, you cannot improve it.

The Safety Philosophy Shift

Chris is blunt about a trap that many safety professionals fall into early:

Being “too safe” can turn you into the person everyone avoids.

He credits mentors and leadership influence for helping him shift away from blame and toward instruction. His view is that safety should function like coaching:

• If someone is doing something unsafe, correct it.
• If something goes wrong, find out why.
• If you want to report, remove fear.

This approach is not just about being nice. It is operationally smart.

When people fear punishment, they hide near misses. When near misses disappear, serious incidents surprise you.

Chris put it plainly. Once you start getting people in trouble, your mouths close.