Some safety programs look solid on paper, then fall apart in the field. Not because the rules are missing, but because the everyday attention and participation needed to make them real are inconsistent.
That’s the space Jared Memory works in. A construction safety professional who started in the trades, Jared has built his approach around a simple, difficult goal: making safety something people choose, not something they endure.
In a conversation alongside Samuel Michon-Bonneau (corporate communications at Englobe, who supports the health and safety program), Jared shared how experience, attitude, and trust-building can turn safety from compliance into culture.
A Construction Foundation Built on Mega-Project Standards
Jared’s safety career began in 2011, but his credibility started long before that. He spent roughly a decade in the building trades as a carpenter before moving into safety. That mix matters, because it shaped the way he designs safety solutions: practical first, always grounded in how work actually gets done.
Early in his safety career, Jared spent five formative years on major Western Canadian projects, including:
- A major potash mine construction project in Saskatchewan
- A hydroelectric dam project in northern British Columbia
Those sites weren’t just big; they were structured. Jared describes them as best-in-class environments where safety expectations were driven hard by the client and supported by partners across the project. He credits those years as a “boot camp” that rapidly elevated his skills and built the construction-safety mindset he now applies in his work at Englobe.
The Real Job Is Winning Buy-In
Jared doesn’t romanticize safety work. He’s blunt about the hardest part: engagement and buy-in.
You can build programs. You can deliver training. You can write procedures. But if you cannot reach people in a way that matters to them personally, “all the safety nerdery in the world is not going to stick,” as he put it.
His approach to buy-in is built on a few consistent principles:
- Bring visible energy and passion to daily interactions
- Keep conversations positive, even when the situation is serious
- Make safety personal by connecting it to livelihoods and life outside work
- Build relationships before asking for behavioral change
That last point is deceptively powerful. Jared shared a tactical habit that many safety leaders skip because they feel rushed to make changes before building care and rapport with the people they are meant to protect. Ask about the person. Their job. Their world. Their family. Then talk about safety.
It signals care, and care creates openness. Openness creates honesty. Honesty is where hazards surface.
Why “Positive” Does Not Mean “Soft”
Jared’s positivity isn’t motivational-poster optimism. It’s a method for correcting risk without turning the worker into a problem.
He gave a common scenario: you see someone missing PPE or standing too close to an excavator. The unsafe act must be addressed, but the approach determines whether the person learns or resists.
His pattern is consistent:
- Connect first
- Highlight what’s going well
- Address the specific risk and what needs to change
- Offer support and confirm understanding
- Close with encouragement and availability
This aligns with a basic behavioral insight: people are more likely to adopt safer behavior when they feel respected and capable, not embarrassed or attacked. A harsh correction might win the moment, but it often loses the long game.
Jared’s goal is that the worker walks away feeling empowered, not “disciplined.”
The “Superpower” That Makes Safety Work
When asked what he does best, Jared leaned humble. That’s where Samuel Michon-Bonneau added an external observation.
“Jared has a very kind, strong heart and you feel the warmth in every interaction. Don’t get emotional, but you feel the warmth. We talked about the transactional aspect of every interaction within a business setting. People who are able to transcend that naturally is a rare talent, and especially in health and safety because outcomes are real. They are very real. Not diminishing other business outcomes, but we’re really on the human level here. And that integrity and that honesty and that authenticity when it transpires effortlessly, by itself… that’s a rare gift.”
Samuel described Jared’s standout strength as warmth. Not surface friendliness, but genuine, steady care that makes interactions feel human rather than transactional.
In safety, that matters because outcomes are real. People either tell you what’s really happening, or they don’t. They either report hazards, or they stay quiet. They either admit uncertainty, or they pretend to be confident.
Warmth builds trust, and trust creates the conditions where the truth comes out.
The Field-Experience Gap, and the Fix that Always Works
Jared also addressed a tough but common industry reality: safety professionals who begin without trade experience often face a credibility barrier.
He does not frame that as a permanent disadvantage, but he is clear about the solution:
Spend time at work.
Job sites. Tools. Processes. Equipment. People. Ask questions. Watch how the work is actually done. Learn what workers do when the plan doesn’t match reality.
This is the core idea behind “work as imagined vs. work as done.” Safety programs are often written for the imagined version. Incidents happen in the done version.
Jared’s message is practical: if you want practical safety, you need real exposure to real work.
Raising the Standard Across Construction
When asked what he wishes was more widely adopted in the construction industry, Jared didn’t point to a single checklist. He pointed to a broader issue: uneven safety expectations across sectors.
Some high-risk industries and major projects push hard for safety excellence; others don’t, even when physical risks are similar.
He also flagged a structural challenge that affects national companies: provincial differences in regulations can create complexity without reducing hazard. Working at height is working at height. Yet the rules can vary in the details depending on where you are.
Jared noted early conversations around harmonizing safety standards across provinces and argued that consistency would make safety simpler to understand and apply. And when safety is simpler, people follow it more reliably.
Measuring Participation Before Incidents Happen
Jared also shared one of the most concrete parts of Englobe’s safety approach: measuring proactive engagement through leading indicators.
In 2025, Englobe established company-wide safety goals to increase participation in proactive safety activities such as:
- Reporting hazards (field, lab, or office)
- Observations and safety conversations
- Supervisor-led safety meetings
- Other proactive activities that strengthen habits
To track progress, the company uses a metric Jared described as Safety Activity Frequency, designed to reflect how often employees are completing proactive safety actions relative to work hours. The point is simple: more proactive activity means more conversations and more visibility of risk, before incidents occur.
Samuel added that these habits are reinforced at the corporate level too, not just in the field. Safety moments, safety minutes, and internal campaigns help keep safety front-of-mind even for office-based teams. He also mentioned personal, values-based initiatives that connect safety to why people want to stay well, family, passions, and the lives they want to protect.
Radical Care that Shows Up in Decisions
To Jared, what makes Englobe’s safety journey meaningful is that it is tied to an operating value, not just a program.
He spoke about Radical Care as something that influences decisions across the company and supports real follow-through, not just statements. Samuel echoed that cultural strength shows up when you start seeing safety ambassadors across levels, and when recognition programs reward not just technical competence, but daily behavior that reinforces safer work.
The Takeaway that Sticks
Jared’s approach is not complicated. It is disciplined.
Show up with energy. Build relationships. Keep corrections constructive. Learn where it happens. Measure the proactive behaviors that prevent incidents. Make safety personal.
Because safety culture is not built in a policy binder. It is built in daily moments when people decide whether safety matters enough to act.
If people don’t sense your passion and desire to help them improve, you’re behind from the start.
