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    Scott Lyall’s Safety Storytelling: Bringing Humanity to High-Tech Workplaces

    Scott Lyall transforms traditional safety training by blending storytelling with scalable technology, creating buy-in, boosting engagement, and turning compliance into culture, He champions “omni-training” for today’s learners, infusing humanity into safety protocols, and aligning safety with company-wide efficiency.

    Redefining Ergonomics with Linda Miller

    Linda Miller helped make ergonomics a workplace standard, now she’s designing jobs around people, not forcing people to fit the job, her approach blends tech, empathy, and prevention, reshaping how we think about safety, productivity, and human-centered design.

    ASTEC Safety Named Member of the Year by Utility Safety Partners

    Home Blog ASTEC Safety Named Member of the Year by Utility Safety Partners Recognition like this doesn’t come easy. By Aldynne Belmont Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Each year, Utility Safety Partners (USP) honours the people and organizations raising the bar in damage prevention and utility safety. This year, ASTEC Safety—led by COO Jeff Mulligan —was named 2024 Member of the Year, jointly recognized alongside Global Training for their industry leadership, advocacy, and commitment to safety excellence. Why It Matters ASTEC’s approach to safety training isn’t just about compliance—it’s about real-world impact. From their field experience to the systems they help shape, ASTEC has earned a reputation for showing up, speaking up, and backing it all with action. They’re also a long-time training partner in the BIS network, with their expertise playing a role in the development of some of our most widely used safety content—including courses approved by USP. This recognition from USP—the very organization that governs utility safety training in Alberta—is a testament to the quality and integrity ASTEC brings to everything they do. Congrats to Jeff and the entire ASTEC team—this award reflects not just a moment of success, but years of meaningful, boots-on-the-ground work in making Canadian job sites safer, which is definitely something worth celebrating. BIS Social Media Stay connected with BIS Safety Software for the latest in safety innovations, training tools, industry insights, and company news. Click any icon below to follow us and keep BIS updates just a tap away. 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By Aldynne… Read More The Problem With Old School Safety April 25, 2025 Home Blog The Problem With Old School Safety Some safety rules save lives. Others? They just make work harder—and sometimes,… Read More Safety First – Is it True? April 25, 2025 Home Blog Safety First – Is it True? Does the most common phrase in safety hold water? By Aldynne Belmont… Read More

    Shaking Hands with Einstein’s Legacy

    Home Blog Shaking Hands with Einstein’s Legacy Why Ignoring Injuries Leads to Bigger Problems How Danny Sellers wired his way to the edge of space-time—with safety at every step By Luke Hillenbrand Facebook Twitter LinkedIn High Voltage, Black Holes, and Building a Culture of Safety Danny Sellers started in the deep South. Wiring up petrochemical plants, wrangling high-voltage power systems. Now? He helps humanity hear the universe. Space science.  Growing up in Louisiana, Danny was surrounded by heavy equipment, industrial know-how. His family members who worked with their hands. One of those family members owned one of the largest electrical instrumentation contract companies in the southern United States.  This gave Danny a front-row seat to the world of high-risk, high-skill trades. “Spending summers at the shop helping out, I kind of was determined I was going to go in that field anyway,” he says.  By the time he graduated high school, he had already completed parts of his electrical training. He was working in petrochemical plants at 18, and he was learning. About power distribution, process control, instrumentation. “You learn quick in that kind of environment,” he says. “You’re working around systems that can kill you in a second if you don’t respect them.”  He spent years traveling from site to site across the United States. “I’ve worked at, you know, the Big Dig in Boston, Eli Lilly Pharmacy—you know, just all around. You see a lot of different practices out there. You learn real quick the importance of staying sharp, especially when you’re working around high voltage or confined spaces.“ Daniel Sellers  –  Founder Eventually, the constant travel gave way to something else: a desire to settle down. He joined Dow Chemical, working on high-voltage distribution and cogeneration systems. But even in that more stable role, safety was never an afterthought.  “A lot of your large petrochemical industries actually generate their own power,” he says. “It’s just cheaper for them to do that. So we have Cogen plants, natural gas turbines and stuff.” He added that working in those environments meant managing both the energy systems and the safety risks that came with them.  But the routine wore thin.  “Plant work didn’t really suit me. It was just kind of the same thing every day,” he says.  So he changed course again.  Lasers, Gravity, and a New Way to See the Universe In 2002, Danny took a contractor job at a relatively obscure facility in Livingston, Louisiana: LIGO. His first task? Helping control the HEPI system, a complex hydraulic isolation setup. It keeps the facility’s delicate instruments undisturbed by vibrations from the outside world.  “I was actually working on what we call here our HEPI system—a hydraulic isolation system—doing controls for that,” he says. “Probably after about two years, I was invited into the director’s office… they slid a piece of paper to me and said, ‘How would you like to come here and do this?’”  And just like that, he was in.  LIGO—the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory—isn’t your average workplace. It’s where Danny went from contractor to full-blown cosmic detective. His job? Help run a machine so precise it measures changes in space smaller than a proton.  “We shoot a laser beam down two 4-kilometer arms and measure differential length of space and time,” he explains. “The wave we’re looking for? It changes that distance by about 1/1000th the size of a proton. It’s pretty much the finest measurement ever made by man.”  That wave isn’t just any ripple. It’s a gravitational wave from massive cosmic collisions. Black holes smashing into each other, neutron stars spiraling to their deaths.  And the system to detect them? It’s safety-critical on every level. “When you’re dealing with that kind of sensitivity, everything matters. The procedures, the lockouts, the calibrations. There’s no winging it. Everything has to be documented, verified, and double-checked.” Daniel Sellers  –  Founder Einstein Said It Couldn’t Be Done Einstein predicted gravitational waves in his theory of general relativity—but even he didn’t think we’d ever detect them.  “Even then, he said, ‘No one will ever be able to build a detector or a machine that could pull this off,’” Danny says.  But LIGO proved him wrong. After years of fine-tuning, upgrades, and grueling testing, LIGO made its first official detection of gravitational waves in 2015. That ripple in space-time confirmed a key part of Einstein’s theory and helped win a Nobel Prize.  Danny was there for it. Running shifts. Locking the detector. Helping keep the whole system stable enough to make the most precise measurement in human history.  “Training here is constant,” he adds. “Everyone gets trained on operating the detector, understanding hazards, and following procedures. We don’t just read manuals—we live them.” Working With Giants—and Lasers This isn’t a desk job.  Danny trained on locking the detector, ran night shifts, and worked alongside Nobel laureates like Rainer Weiss. Weiss, an MIT physicist, conceptualized LIGO.  “This is a man that… only took on one or two students a year,” Danny recalls. “I’ve spent, Lord knows how many hours—2:00 in the morning with him—personally working on the side.”  At LIGO, knowledge flows freely. It’s a place where someone can go from a petrochemical plant to collaborating with the brightest physicists in the world. Want to learn something? “There’s a specialist or somebody here who has done their thesis or PhD in that subject… and it’s free,” Danny says. “Whatever you want to know, someone here knows it. You just have to ask.”  His role expanded beyond electrical work. He dove into optics and lasers. He ran operations on the detector floor. He learned how to lock, align, and monitor sensitive systems. These systems can pick up passing trucks on the highway—or earthquakes on the other side of the planet.  And through it all, safety remained central.  “We’re not building widgets. We’re listening to the universe,” Danny says. “But we’re doing it with protocols and systems designed to protect the people and the science.” What’s Next? Danny’s path wasn’t planned.

    Jody Young vs. Workplace Tragedy

    Home Blog Jody Young vs. Workplace Tragedy A Career Spent Fighting for Safer Jobs Young on cultures of “top-down safety”. By Luke Hillenbrand Facebook Twitter LinkedIn “Every worker should go to work and come home in the same shape they left.” Jody Young has spent 35 years in health and safety. She has shaped policies. She has enforced compliance. She has made a real impact on workplace safety in Canada. Her career spans both public and private sectors. That gives her a unique depth of experience. Now, she leads Workplace Safety and Prevention Services (WSPS). Over the years, she has watched safety regulations evolve. She has seen the challenges companies face in protecting their workers. And she knows what happens when they fail. She has witnessed the ripple effects of unsafe workplaces. The long-term consequences don’t just impact injured workers. Families suffer. Communities feel the loss. A single lapse in safety can lead to lawsuits, financial ruin, and immeasurable grief. For Young, this is more than just a job. It’s a quest to make a difference through prevention. From Environmental Science to Safety Leadership Young was an environmental science student at the University of Toronto. She took a summer placement in a mining company’s environment and health and safety department. That experience changed everything. She saw how safety could mean the difference between life and death. She started out in industrial hygiene testing, both underground and in surface plants. WHMIS was just being introduced, and she helped with surveys and training. Over time, employers sought professionals who understood both environmental and safety compliance. That demand worked in her favor. She landed key job opportunities and spent years in the private sector. Mining. Abrasives manufacturing. Construction. Waste handling. Paint manufacturing. Each industry had its own risks. She saw workers injured. She saw how preventable incidents disrupted lives. When safety failed, workers – and their families – paid the price. Then she moved into the public sector. She worked for labour ministries in Ontario and Alberta. That’s when she saw how big an impact compliance and enforcement could have. ————————————————————————— “I felt that I could actually make a bigger impact in safety. The results were immediate, and you could see the difference.” Jody Young ————————————————————————— She saw it firsthand—investigations, fines, court cases, and families left broken by a single moment. Every injury, every fatality, reinforced her mission. Her work didn’t stop at enforcing laws. She worked with businesses to help them improve safety practices. She connected employers with best practices. Following regulations wasn’t enough. They had to build safer workplaces. She connected businesses with government agencies. Together, they built a stronger safety culture. A Personal Mission For Young, safety isn’t just a career. It’s personal. “My own father suffered a life-altering accident in his workplace. I’ve always only known my father with one leg,” she says. That reality shaped her perspective. She understood what workplace injuries did to families. Her work as an investigator made her passion even stronger. She has sat with families who lost loved ones. She has guided them through investigations and court cases. She has been in their homes, held their hands, and seen their grief up close. These moments fueled her mission. No worker should suffer because an employer cut corners or simply lacked awareness. No child should grow up without a parent because a company ignored basic safety measures. Young has also worked with injured workers. She has seen the physical and emotional toll. People who once thrived in their jobs now struggle with pain, disability, and financial instability. These stories stay with her. She believes the best way to prevent tragedies is to foster a culture where safety is valued from the top down. That means pushing for strong leadership commitment. Encouraging open dialogue about risks. Creating policies that go beyond the bare minimum to truly protect workers. The Role of WSPS in Ontario’s Safety System Today, Young leads WSPS, a key player in Ontario’s health and safety system. She describes WSPS as part of a three-legged stool. The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) handles compensation and return to work and supports prevention. The Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development sets, communicates and enforces occupational health and safety requirements. WSPS’ role is to focus on providing training and consulting services to prevent workplace injuries and illnesses. “We have an important mandate set out in legislation,” Young explains. “We are part of the prevention system funded by employer premiums collected through the WSIB.” WSPS works directly with businesses. They help develop safety programs. They conduct risk assessments. They offer hands-on training. The goal is simple—stop accidents before they happen. WSPS provides guidance on everything from machine safety and robotics to workplace violence and harassment and mental health. They help small businesses create safety programs that are legislatively compliant. WSPS’ sector specific training programs and onsite services teach employers and workers to spot risks early. The goal: stop tragedies before they happen. Young emphasizes that WSPS doesn’t just offer services—it builds relationships. Companies that work with WSPS get expert assistance in building their safety programs. Safety isn’t just a checklist. It becomes part of how they operate. She sees it firsthand. Companies that embrace safety run better. Workers stay longer. Morale improves. Productivity rises. A Moral Obligation Young has one core belief: Every worker should go to work and come home in the same shape they left. She sees safety as a duty, not a burden. ————————————————————————— “It’s not just about avoiding fines. Employers must protect their workers. The cost of failure is too high. People’s lives are at stake.” Jody Young ————————————————————————— Safety isn’t just about compliance. It’s about culture. Workers need to feel safe speaking up. Leaders need to act before accidents happen. Companies that invest in safety see fewer injuries. But they also see higher morale and better productivity. She knows that some businesses still resist safety measures. They see them as costly. Time-consuming. Bureaucratic. But she also knows that

    Virtual Reality, Real Safety

    Home Blog Virtual Reality, Real Safety Jennifer Lastra’s Mission to Save Lives Lastra talks psychology, VR, and AI in workplace training. By Luke Hillenbrand Facebook Twitter LinkedIn “Compliance doesn’t equal competence. We have to do better.” Jennifer Lastra started her career as an electrician in the US Navy. She spent years working in shipbuilding and manufacturing as boots on the ground. She worked as a contractor in shipyards, frequently operating in high-risk environments with minimal supervision. This was real work, alongside people who did dangerous jobs every day.  Then she saw the gaps—massive gaps in how safety was taught, understood, and retained. “I didn’t even realize how unsafe shipboard construction was until years later. The challenges go beyond just the hazards of working with electricity inside a steel vessel floating on water. And yet, we weren’t taught about self-awareness or situational awareness the way we should have been. We were just thrown in.” Jennifer Lastra Today, Lastra is on a mission to change that. As the Co-Founder and CEO of 360 Immersive, she’s pioneering the use of virtual reality (VR) in safety training. Her firm creates deeply immersive experiences. This is training that forces workers to engage, react, and remember. Her philosophy is simple: traditional training isn’t working. And if the fatality rates prove anything, it’s that the industry is long overdue for disruption.  From the Navy to Night Vision to VR After the Navy, Lastra moved into shipbuilding. After that — manufacturing, making night vision goggles for military and emergency responders. She loved the sense of service—helping those who protect others. But eventually, she felt the pull to do something on her own. She wanted to build something. And in 2014, she saw her opportunity: virtual reality. “We started being able to pair cell phones with VR viewers,” she says. “Even if it was just cardboard headsets, I knew this technology had the power to completely immerse someone. And if you can immerse them, you can have the ability to modify their behavior.” Jennifer Lastra But Lastra isn’t a tech person. She never set out to be one. What drew her in wasn’t the hardware—it was the potential. “It was the perfect storm,” she says. “Entrepreneurship, powerful technology, and the chance to fix something I knew was broken.”  She took that vision and started building. At first, there were skeptics. Some dismissed VR as a gimmick, a novelty. But as more companies saw the results, they realized she was onto something. “When workers go through VR training, they retain more. They react faster. They make better decisions under pressure,” she says. “It’s not theory—it’s science.”  Related read: Do you own a business in the insurance industry? Check out how Artificial Intelligence is transforming the insurance industry. Fixing the Gaps in Safety Training For Lastra, the problem with traditional safety training is that it’s passive. Workers sit through hours of slide decks, printed manuals, and video lectures. They check a box, take a test, and move on. But does any of it stick?  “Most safety training today is outdated and ineffective,” she says. “We’re giving workers information, but we’re not engaging them. And when the moment comes—when they’re in a real situation—what do they actually remember?”  She experienced the challenge firsthand early in her career. As someone with dyslexia, she struggled to translate technical training into real-world applications. “I could pass any test you threw at me,” she says. “But when I got to the fleet, I had no idea how to apply it.”  That disconnect drives her work today. 360 Immersive doesn’t just build training programs—it builds experiences. Using VR, workers are placed in hazardous environments. They react, make decisions, and see the consequences of those decisions play out in real time.  “The goal is to meet learners where they are,” she says. “a scenario they’ll never forget. ”Some people learn best through reading, others hands-on, or a combination of both. VR bridges the gap, blending learning styles creating a more effective, engaging, and memorable experience.”  And it’s not just about skill development. VR can replicate real-life pressures. Confined spaces, operating machinery under stress, reacting to an unexpected hazard. VR goes beyond technical skills – it’s ideal for simulating low-incident, high-risk scenarios like confined space rescues or warehouse fires, where mistakes have cost lives. “It’s a powerful tool for developing decision-making and critical thinking skills without actual consequences,” Lastra says. “The emotional connection makes training unforgettable and deeply impactful.” The Next Big Fight: Psychological Safety For Lastra, safety training isn’t just about hazard recognition and compliance – it’s about mindset. She believes psychological safety is the most overlooked factor in workplace safety. “Early in my career, I was often the first – or only – woman on the team, which made me feel like an outsider. I didn’t feel safe enough to raise my hand or ask questions. How many people still face this same challenge today?” She argues that fear prevents workers from speaking up about unsafe conditions – fear of asking a “stupid” question, fear of retaliation, fear of rejection. “People don’t speak up if they don’t feel like they belong. If they don’t feel safe,” she says. Her approach integrates psychological safety, mindfulness, and situational awareness into safety training. Instead of just teaching PPE regulations, we have an opportunity to dig deeper to understand, ‘Why aren’t you wearing it?’ or ‘Why did you skip inspecting it?’ Maybe it didn’t fit, or they were rushing to finish a task. Powerful storytelling in VR goes beyond compliance by illustrating the root causes of unsafe behaviors. By immersing learners in realistic, relatable scenarios, they build self-awareness, confidence, and the ability to speak up, take responsibility, and make safer decisions – key elements of a psychologically safe workplace. “If we can create emotional connections to training, we can change behavior. That’s the missing piece.” Jennifer Lastra The Fight for Better Standards Lastra isn’t just battling outdated training methods—she’s fighting complacency. “While yearly numbers fluctuate, the overall trend of workplace