Building a Safety Culture That Sticks

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Lee Travis, Vice President of Health, Safety, and Environment at Equix, discusses how organizations can move beyond compliance and embed safety into their culture. He shares how leadership visibility, effective communication, and personal connection make safety training more meaningful—and how every role in an organization plays a part in keeping people safe.

 

Show Notes:

Lee Travis has more than 30 years of experience in the health, safety and environment training area and shares best practices for empowering team members to make safety a priority every day. Here are some of his key takeaways.

• Safety Culture Starts with Leadership: Creating a strong safety culture takes effort—and then more effort. Leaders must be visibly engaged, empower employees, and reinforce safe behaviors to embed safety into the DNA of the organization.
• Make Safety Personal: The most impactful safety training connects to people’s lives. Lee encourages people by asking, “Why do you work safely?” to tap into personal motivations, making training more meaningful and behavior-changing.
• Bridge the Gap Between Office and Field: Everyone plays a role in safety, even if they’re not in high-risk environments. Real stories—from control room operators to credit card admins—show how cross-functional awareness builds a unified safety mindset.
• Micro-Training and Tailgate Talks Work: Traditional training has its place, but short, focused sessions in the field (like morning tailgates) are also effective. These bite-sized interactions keep safety top-of-mind and relevant to daily tasks.
• Use Tools That Empower Learners: Centralized training records and self-service access to learning platforms help close compliance gaps. When employees own their training progress, completion rates rise and accountability increases. 

Learn more about d'Vinci's custom eLearning and LMS work in the safety and damage prevention industry.

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Transcript

Susan Cort: [00:00:00] To be effective, safety training needs to be more than a requirement. It has to become a part of a company's DNA.

Lee Travis: Because if you create the energy, people will want to be a part of that energy. And then suddenly training development and the way we work with our safety culture suddenly becomes, this is the way we are as a company.This is the way it works here. 

Susan Cort: That's Lee Travis. Vice President of Health, Safety and Environment, at Equix. Lee joins d’Vinci Client Solutions consultant Angeline Evans and me to share how leaders can build a culture where safety isn't just a role, but a mindset. Next on Powered by Learning. 

Announcer: Powered by Learning is brought to you by d’Vinci Interactive. d’Vinci's approach to learning is grounded in 30 years of innovation and expertise. We use proven strategies and leading technology to develop solutions that empower learners to improve [00:01:00] quality and boost performance. Learn more@dvinci.com.

Susan Cort: Training plays a critical role in keeping team members and the communities they serve safe. Joining me now are d’Vinci Client Solutions consultant Angeline Evans and our guest, Lee Travis, vice President of Health, Safety and Environment at Equix, a company that helps strengthen and develop North America's infrastructure.

Lee, thanks for joining us today.

Angeline Evans: Lee, it's so great to see you again. 

Lee Travis: Hey, pleasure to be here and I'm really excited about having this conversation. 

Susan Cort: We are too, Lee. Start out by sharing a brief overview of your background and tell us about your current role. 

Lee Travis: Thank you for that. You know, one thing that, um, is in my heart and is my soul is safety.

And I've been a safety person for a better part of 30 years. Started out in the fire service, went into mainstream safety in the oil and gas industry, and have worked in the infrastructure industry for a number of years. And one thing that has always been core or [00:02:00] central to that is training. And so, with this opportunity, I really feel like I've got something to offer people, um, uh, at least my experiences and where I came from and what I'm passionate about.

So, I really appreciate being here and, and look forward to our conversation today. 

Susan Cort: That's great. I know you're going to have some inspirational, uh, comments and good advice for our listeners. 

Angeline Evans: Yes, I'm super excited. So you said you've been in HSE for 30 years, so it's safe to say, you know, your stuff probably.

Um, so you've done regulatory training to building a safety culture. So I'd love to hear in your experience, what really makes a strong safety culture. Stick. 

Lee Travis: That's a, that's a great question and I won't mince words. It takes effort. And then when you've given it effort, give it a little more effort. 

Angeline Evans: More effort.

Lee Travis: More effort. Yeah. From the simple fact that, um, it's not just something that happens or something that it self-creates, it has to be created. So when, when you think about leaders and employees and safety culture, there's, there's a [00:03:00] couple of things that I always lean into when I talk with leaders and with employees and the first thing, especially with leaders, is that visible engagement. You know, it's easy to be as a leader, to get stuck behind the desk or be in the office or be in meetings. Really, if you want to help people understand safety culture and what it means to you, you gotta get out with the teams. You gotta get out with the workforce.

In their environment, whether it's the excavation, whether it's on the side of the roadway or it's the, um, manufacturing floor, whatever it is, that visible engagement with people, um, really makes safety culture stick. 'cause people see leaders are, are committed to it. And one thing that a leader can do. Is when they're interacting with the employee is make sure that they empower them and give them ownership of safety.

Um, that conversation that sometimes people don't always say, yes, I do it because I'm told, yes, I'm doing it because I was trained to do it this way. But when a leader actually empowers an employee to [00:04:00] own their own safety, own the safety within the organization. It's really a powerful thing because then they're another advocate for it.

And you know, one thing that that plays a role between leaders and employees and its strong safety culture is good, clear communication. Whether it's setting the right vision, you know, engagement, who has the accountability and I can't say enough about positive reinforcement. And when you've given positive reinforcement around safety culture and how people are working and what we're doing as an organization, give 'em a little bit more positive reinforcement because people build off of that.

And the last thing, I think foundational to that messaging, that vision and that interaction between leadership and employees. There's always training and development and building safety, culture mandates, vision, and that positive reinforcement into any training that we do or the development of that training.

Angeline Evans: That's wonderful. So you would say it really boils down to leadership's presence there, the way they empower [00:05:00] their staff. Um, the accountability that they're giving their staff to actually own up and, and practice those, um, uh, safety best practices, good communication, positive reinforcement and training.

Does that, does that sum it up? 

Lee Travis: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, because remember, leaders are built when they're in engaging with the workforce, you're actually building the next leaders and it's easy to connect with safety, with everybody can connect with safety, um, 'cause everybody doesn't wanna get hurt. So whether it's a leader, it's an employee, and how we build people and strengthen people to own it, um, really hams through those conversations.

Susan Cort: I think too, what you're saying is, it also sounds like never make it feel like it's a check the box kind of thing. This what you're describing seems like genuine, ongoing commitment to safety training.

Lee Travis: Genuine on ongoing commitment is exactly right. I. And then with a, with a, and this is me, a little bit of energy with it.

Yes. You gotta get [00:06:00] people excited about it. You gotta get people in that you're enthusiastic about it. And a lot of that goes with that positive reinforcement that I talked about. Because if you create the energy, people will want to be a part of that energy. And then suddenly training development and the way we work.

Our safety culture suddenly becomes, this is the way we are as a company. This is the way it works here. 

Angeline Evans: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I think that's something that's often overlooked in training or just even in leadership. They forget what a role they play in empowering and even looking at their staff as future leaders.

I think that's something you forget that they're gonna be stepping. Stepping up soon. So building on that, so I know you're passionate about safety. So side note, I met Lee, um, he was on a committee of subject matter experts that I worked with, um, on the Common Ground Alliance. And soon as I met him, you could tell he was passionate about making safety.

So I was super excited when you joined the team. Um, and I'd love to hear, you know, building off of how leadership needs to connect with the people. When you look at it from a [00:07:00] training angle, how do you connect the. Training to the people doing the work. So making it beyond just, you have to follow these policies, you have to fill out this paperwork.

Um, how do you bridge that gap between making training feel real and relevant to those in the field? And to what Susan said, checking, not just checking a box. 

Lee Travis: You know, it's, it's, it's a great question because there are gaps out there when it comes to, um, people understanding what it is to be safe in the field or what it's, what it is to be safe in the office, and I.

It, there's very much a, a perspective that, hey, I'm, I'm in the field. I have to do safety because, you know, I'm in a high-risk activity. You get office-based people that may say that, Hey, I'm just in an office. It's low risk. I mean, what am I worried about? A paper cut or, or an open drawer? Mm-hmm. And, and, and, and suddenly 

Susan Cort: Those are dangerous things though.

Lee Travis: And then, and suddenly, you know, there's, there's this gap that opens up and that gap of [00:08:00] responsibility or how safety applies. All those different positions can be closed through training, and it's making it, um, relevant to how those parties support each other. And let me give you an example that I, I, I did an a safety culture survey a number of years ago and we identified this gap between office and field base.

And so we implemented some safety culture training. And it was really classroom training where we had conversations and discussions. We gave them, you know, some concepts and then we talked about how those concepts apply to them. And I had a couple of people say to me, you know, Lee, I'm a control room operator.

I sit in a at a desk, I've got monitors. I monitor this pipeline system across hundreds of miles. How do I affect the safety of the guys in the fields? I'm not there. And I said, great question. And I appreciated the person asked the question 'cause they walked right into what I wanted to really, really wanted them to understand.

Do you ever call the folks out in the middle of the night because you got a pipeline upset? Yes, of course. Do you ever have to talk [00:09:00] with them before they do work? Um, and they execute work when they go on the site in the morning? Yes, absolutely. That happens every day. Do you stop and ask them how was their trip in?

How are they feeling? Are they fatigued? Are they frustrated? Are there any hazards associated with the work that they see? Because you make that connection with them and suddenly you bridge the gap. You know that gap may have been, um. Something that we talked about in training or that, you know, we've talked about the hazards and the work that needs to be done in training, but when you really connect the, the conversations between someone that is in the field, to someone that's in the office and how they can support each other.

Beautiful things happen. Wow. And then the gap of how, um, it's relevant or that training is relevant, suddenly disappears because someone understanding that, Hey, I sit in an office. Why do I have to go through driver training? When you start asking about driver training and how a person's drive-in [00:10:00] was into the field and how it was safe or unsafe because of road conditions or traffic or anything like that, suddenly you can make those, make those closures and.

You build relationships between people that have two totally different perspectives. 

Angeline Evans: Yeah, that's an extremely good point. I love looking at safety training from the perspective of building relationships among team members, because that's not an angle that folks often take. And really when you build that relationship, you wanna make sure each of you are safe, so then you, you automatically step up and take accountability for all of those responsibilities.

Lee Travis: Absolutely. And if I've got time, I just got one more. I had the same question from the la I had the same question from the lady that runs the credit cards for the company and she asked me the question 'cause we were in this safety culture training and she says, I run the credit cards for the company.

I've got 4,000 credit cards I look for, look after I'm in the office, how does that affect safety in the field? And I said, great question. Thanks for [00:11:00] stepping into my office.

The guys in the field, do they have to fuel their vehicles? Yes. And do they pay for that on their credit card? Yes. Can they buy safety supplies with that credit card? Yes. Can they make sure that they, if they need a hotel room or pay for expenses when they're traveling, um, on their credit card? Yes. If that credit card doesn't work and they can't purchase those things, does that impact their safety?

And she stopped and she paused and her eyes got big. And she said, I never looked at it from a safety perspective. I always looked at as from a transactional perspective. Yeah. Not from the transactions actually being safety related. And she says. Wow. I'm gonna start asking people about their safety when I talk to them on the phone, when they say their card isn't working or it needs to be authorized, or whatever.

And it was another one of those beautiful moments where you make that connection between why safety. Training and safety culture training is important to all parts of the organization. 

Angeline Evans: Mm-hmm. And what an incredible way to remind [00:12:00] them how important their job is. Right. It's, it's not, you know, you get lost in your day-to-day tasks, but it truly is important.

Lee Travis: Yes. I mean, I, I travel a lot. I live and die by a credit card. Mm-hmm. And if it doesn't work, suddenly. I'm concerned, right? And that's stress and that's fatigue, and that affects my ability to drive or travel safely and in a calm, relaxed manner. It's, it's amazing how some of the smallest things actually impact safety and the realization of, of how those smaller things, I think comes through a lot of good core safety training, as long as it's built into that TRA safety training and then safety culture training as well.

Angeline Evans: So let's shift gears over to more traditionally dangerous job roles, like pipeline projects where, you know, like, you know, safety is forefront. What are some of the biggest safety challenges you run into, which I'm sure there are dozens. And how did you leverage training to make sure those employees were equipped on the [00:13:00] job? And prepared? 

Lee Travis: That's a great, it's a great, it's really a great question because, um, in larger projects, even in smaller projects, especially when you've got a mainstream company that uses contractors or subcontractors, and then they bring in, you know, inspectors maybe from a different organization that ends up being their representative, or you have your own internal superintendents, foreman and work.

Crews that may be working with contractors, you've got a variety of different perspectives. And some of these people, this may be the first day that they have ever met or they've never worked together. Mm-hmm. And suddenly they have a whole host of different experiences, beliefs, expectations, that all come into this.

And now we have to work together and we have to do this work safely in accordance with. The company requirements and the company requirements come in the form of policies, procedure, contract requirements, specifical, technical work. You know, especially if you're talking, [00:14:00] working at heights or welding or um, working with cranes.

Everybody has a different perspective and. Safety training, orientation, um, conversations about how we do our work on this given day at this given point, and having somebody be able to lead that conversation through a safety meeting or a tailgate meeting or through a micro training session brings people to the same understanding because if everybody works independently from their own perspective and you don't align those, um, ideas or beliefs or work requirements.

You're gonna have a problem and it's usually gonna show up with people being frustrated or the work not getting, getting or being executed, um, in a proficient manner and or someone getting hurt. And that's the cost associated with that. You know, one thing that um, goes along with all of this is, is when you pull people together and, and [00:15:00] addressing the challenges of everybody's different work experiences.

And what they have to work today is, is empowering them that if it does not work well or if everybody's not aligned or there is, um, difficulty in understanding everybody's expectations, or it feels like it's slowing down because not everybody's aligned. Have people use that stop work authority or that stop work responsibility.

That and, and I'm not talking about stopping the whole entire job and shutting the job site down. Mm-hmm. I'm just saying that work crew saying, Hey, can we stop a moment? Can we talk about what we're doing and what the next steps are and how we're working together and what the requirements are so everybody's on the same page, but it's really hard for people to stop work 'cause they don't want to be known as the person that slows up the work or interferes with the work, or, Hey, I'm the new person, I, mm-hmm. I don't want, I, maybe I'm, maybe this isn't right, maybe I just don't know. But helping people to, to stop work, um, overcomes that challenge when, [00:16:00] um, people just forge ahead and that's when the risk open up and where people can actually get hurt.

Susan Cort: That probably all starts with that foundation of building that culture, that safety culture. Mm-hmm. Building that trust between team members so that if and when there is a problem, there's that, that relationship and that trust in place to be able to stop and do that analysis. 

Lee Travis: I'll go back to what I said before, stop work takes effort because it's an internal dialogue that people have or an internal challenge that people have because you're, you're interfering with progress and when you stop work, but really you need to, because we need to realign, recalibrate, reset, and we'll actually be more effective and efficient. However, people find it very hard to do because they don't want be looked at that as that person that, Hey, I'm holding up the work, or I'm the problem, or I'm interfering with, with getting the work done. 

And that can be a real internal struggle for people, but opening that door and [00:17:00] building the right foundation that it's okay to stop work and have that conversation. Mm-hmm. And this is what we do here is goes a long way to helping people to be able to execute that stop work when it's appropriate.

Angeline Evans: Absolutely. Making it the norm and not, you know, not the exception. Mm-hmm. Yep. Yes. Especially with that dynamic of working with new people because you don't necessarily have that rapport with everyone on the job and that, you know. Social, anxiety wise could, could affect anybody, right? And so even just being uncomfortable around some of the people you're working with, 'cause they're new, could prohibit you from speaking up.

Lee Travis: Angeline, you just took me into a whole new realm that we could spend a whole other session. 

Susan Cort: That's the next interview, Lee. 

Lee Travis: The social concept and is even with the young people that are coming into the workforce. Mm-hmm. They don't know how to work with this environment and how this environment work.

And it does take time to help people understand this is the norm, this is not the norm, and this is when to speak up. This is when you can, when you don't need to speak up. 

Angeline Evans: Yeah. [00:18:00] So, looking at training in general, so you've talked before about training, not always reaching everyone it needs to, and sometimes only hitting 60% of the workforce.

Why do you think that happens? And do you have any remedies to fix that? 

Lee Travis: Absolutely. Um, it's a great question because I lived this one about three and a half years ago when I started here at my present company. Um, I was told that yes, we have training. Yes, we do training every year. We pull everybody out of the field for a day.

We pull people together. We have core training, we have safety training, we have compliance training, and everybody, um, spends time training. So yes, we've got a. Training approach and everybody gets trained and then I ask the question, where's all the training records? Well, we have a database over here. We have an Excel spreadsheet over here.

Well, we have a file folder or SharePoint over here. And I'm going like, well, that's interesting. So they're not all in one spot. Well, no, but we're, we're trying to get 'em into the database. So we took a hard look at how we actually, um, manage our training [00:19:00] records and we, we. Quickly realized that we needed an application and we went out and looked and we got an application, we brought it in, we took the time, we loaded all the records into the, the safety training database, really our learning management system.

Mm-hmm. And then we did an assessment of where we were actually at. We looked at what our safety training matrix, here's the core competencies that we need for people. Here is, um, OSHA mandated training. Here's the nice to haves. Mm-hmm. What, where is everybody at? And that's when we realized that we had a 40% gap.

People were, were, were not there. Mm-hmm. Um, and suddenly was like, wow, we didn't think it would be that big. And we then put in some effort, let said, let's close the gap. Mm-hmm. Um, we started taking different approaches to training and we got people up. To up to where they need it, first of all, especially on the compliance side and then the nice to haves and right now we're operating probably only about two to [00:20:00] 4% that are overdue.

And now overdue is a behavioral issue. Yeah. That's when we send a note to the area manager and say, this person's overdue. Actually, the system does this automatically, but it helps people keep on track. The other thing that we did with closing that gap. We gave everybody access to their records so they could look to see where they're at.

Are they missing training, are they overdue? Is there anything that's coming up that they're gonna have to take? Because some of it has to be done every year. Some, some of it is done every three years. Um, when we, once we gave them access to their training records, we gave 'em ownership. Mm-hmm. And when we gave ownership, they're responsible.

And it's easier for our leadership team and our managers to say. Hey, did you look at the system? Yes. Do you know you're behind? Yes. Get it done. And then they go ahead and get it done. Something. But a lot of times they go ahead and self-manage it, and it works so much better for us and it is so much more efficient.

It's, it's saving us dollars and cents, uh, off our bottom line. 

Angeline Evans: What a phenomenal effort to get [00:21:00] all of that into a learning management system and benchmark everyone. 

Lee Travis: It was not easy, especially when you're talking paper records. 

Angeline Evans: Yeah. I'm like, I'm, I'm, I'm picturing it and I'm thinking, holy moly. Yeah. You 

Lee Travis: know, one of the other benefits that we got out of it was we gave all of the employees access to this, and the system actually allowed any course that they take, they can actually print a certificate that they completed and what a great way to acknowledge what they've done.

Or they can take it home, they can give it to their family or to their, if they leave us, they can actually take it with. Them to their next employer. So it was some way of rewarding them for putting the effort in. 

Susan Cort: That's a great motivation to stick with it. 

Angeline Evans: Yeah, it sure is. Since you mentioned compliance training, I will ask so.

In the learning and development world, compliance training is like an awful word because no one wants to take compliance training. And um, we know that oftentimes it truly doesn't move the needle because most folks, like when they know they have to take it, and it's not necessarily tied it to safety, it's just compliance.

They can be checked out in the [00:22:00] experience, whether it's in person or online. And so that's why you're not moving the needle. They're, it feels like they're forced. So I'm curious from your, in your experience, how do you think folks can make compliance training more impactful? 

Lee Travis: I think anybody that listens to this and sees this has experienced bad training and they've also experienced a good training and compliance training can be bad.

It can be good. Um, and it's also a need that has to be done. So one thing that we try to do is always attach a good story with the training. And I've got a couple. Mm-hmm. Of, um, of, of training folks that I've interacted with in my career that are really good storytellers. One was actually a communications person that he writes stories and plays, and the other one is actually a Marine, two totally different personalities, but they have real live personal stories that they can add into compliance training.

Mm-hmm. That makes it. Impactful. Yeah. As soon as you can connect people to real life events or to a story, suddenly it [00:23:00] becomes not about you, shall you must you have to. This is the way we do it. And the regulations in the law says, which just makes people. Wanna sit back and roll their eyes into the back of their head, taking those things and applying us.

Good story and a personal example to 'em that make it relevant and livable. People will engage, people will buy in more and people will enjoy that training so much more than, than just being told what to do. 

Angeline Evans: I completely agree. Storytelling is underrated and it really should be used in training. Um, as much as possible, but especially real stories like you had mentioned, bringing in real, like you can certainly animate a story and put it into a specific scenario and, and make it come to life, but hearing an authentic, real story firsthand, just, just a game changer.

Susan Cort:  Yeah. Makes it more relevant. 

Lee Travis: for sure. Mm-hmm. And everybody's got stories. Yeah. But people just sometimes don't know that they how to tell the story. So maybe that's a training module, how to tell stories and make it relevant to safety training. Maybe that's the [00:24:00] next training story, part of culture training or something you just created 

Susan Cort: more work for yourself, Lee.

Angeline Evans: Yeah. Um, so this kind of ties in, but I know I've heard you say it before, that at the end of the day, safety's really about making sure people get home to their families. And so I wanted to talk to you today about how you take that message and make it personal enough that people actually change their behaviors.

And it kind of goes into what we're just talking about with stories. 

Lee Travis: So yeah, it, it, it is, and it's a great question because. If you really engage with people and understand who they are and you make that connection, they will do things for you or it allows you to do things for them. And one way that I do this, because sometimes I go out to the field and I may have never met these people before.

I mean, these are tool and hand time people. Um. Our company is spread out over a whole bunch of different states. I show up on site and suddenly, oh, it's the, the vice president and they get all nervous. And uh, you know, I try to break [00:25:00] those barriers down and one way that I break those barriers down, I simply ask the question, why do you work safely?

I. What motivates you to work safely and it's amazing the answers that you get. Hey, I've got a house payment. Hey, I wanna be able to go hunting or fishing. Hey, some of the younger guys will say, I got a truck payment, but I really like my truck. Or I've got a boat, or, Hey, I'm trying to put a my kids through college.

It's amazing the reasons why people work safely in all saying, in in, in saying that though, I still have some people that. Really don't know how to approach it, or they get a little concerned that why is this person asking this question? And then I turn the question kind of around the other way. What impact would you, would it be to you if you get hurt or injured on the job and you couldn't work for six to eight weeks?

Mm-hmm. And usually that's when they will stop. They'll stop working, they'll lean on the shovel. You can tell their mind starts working and you can see almost a shift. It goes [00:26:00] from their mind to their heart. And they suddenly will say, well, it would affect my family, it would affect me, my kids. It would affect my ability to pay the bills.

And it becomes suddenly real for them. 

Lee Travis: then you can turn that almost, um, precious little moment that's very serious into what are the things that you really enjoy doing. And then it's like, well, I enjoy hunting or I enjoy fishing, or I, I enjoy boating with the, with the, with the kids. And then you can turn that back around to that positive.

Sometimes you almost have to ask it both ways to get people to actually engage with you, but as soon as you make it personal, you've actually tapped into their internal motivation. And once they're internally motivated, they'll do it for themselves as well as for the company. 

Susan Cort: That's great that you can make them search for their own personal why? Because once you understand the why, then the what is that much more meaningful? 

Lee Travis: Yes. 

Angeline Evans: I cannot agree more. So let's shift gears and we ask all of our podcasts. I. Guess this question is about what's next [00:27:00] in your realm. So I'd love to hear what's on the horizon for safety training in your world. Are there any new approaches you're trying, technologies, strategies you're exploring? Tell us more. 

Lee Travis: We, we absolutely are. And you know, training is. Is passionate to me. 'cause I spent 18 years doing a lot of regulatory training and in the oil and gas industry and making it live for people. And you know, back in the, back in the day, that was, that was the way we, we, um, connected with people today.

I think there's a whole host. Of opportunities or maybe tools in the toolbox that we can use to make it more efficient, to make it more relevant. Some of the things that we're, we're doing is micro training sessions and micro training sessions necessarily aren't on an app or, or online or anything like that.

It's about a dialogue that occurs, that a morning briefing are a morning tailgate meeting. You know, sitting people, our, our workforce that goes out in the field is tooling hand time standing up, working all day long, taking them out of the field and sitting 'em in a classroom is almost [00:28:00] torture at. And if we can stop for 10 or 15 minutes at a morning briefing and talk about one small topic in a micro training session about here's the risk, here's the hazards, here's the procedures, here's the way we want you to do the work, and this is how it applies to your job.

So much more impactful. It's almost more value added. If we do one or two of those in a week, then actually pulling everybody out and sitting in them in a classroom for for an hour.

We're going down is quality work aids, how work should be done. Maybe it's with a specific tool. We use a lot of cutoff saws. Um, and if we've got a work aid that shows pictures, here's the risk, here's the hazards, here's how the, you need to use the tools or things that you need to check before using the tools or how you need to, the safety equipment you need to wear whilst using the tools.

It's, it's a reference almost for them. Mm-hmm. But they can also use that for the new person that's coming in. Here is how we use this tool. And [00:29:00] then so it goes from that formal training to one-on-one training, from worker to worker training. And in certain ways the employees don't even realize that they're actually doing training because it's just about this is, how we gotta get the work done.

Um, the other thing that we're doing, we're spending time with, 'cause we have a lot of people where English is their second language. Um, we train, we're, we're moving training into their native language so that, um, they feel more a part of the company and the fact that we've actually, um, connected with them in their language, we've gotten a lot of value out of that.

And the last thing that I'll talk about that we're, that I'm starting to look at, and it makes me a little nervous and I'm a little nervous about it all, is course AI or artificial inte intelligence and how we, yeah, we knew that. 

Susan Cort: We knew that's what you were gonna say. 

Lee Travis: Yes. How that all works. It's a little bit of a mystery, you know, it's out there and I've done some exploration into it.

I think it'll be another great tool for us. Um, but I'm still in the learning stage and I know some of my [00:30:00] folks that work for us are still in the learning stage and how we can leverage it to the best before we, um, misuse it. For and impact our, our people inappropriately or not correctly with it. I think we've got some more learning to do, but.

I'm excited about it, uh, because I think it can really make training and the environment, the learning environment, so much more impactful for people. Um, whilst I try to be enthusiastic and, and, and put a lot of energy into the training that I do, um, people get tired of listening to Lee, so maybe that's not true.

Susan Cort: We're, we're not tired of listening to you. 

Lee Travis: Maybe this is a way that we can connect with people, um, on a reoccurring, very consistent and dynamic way. 

Susan Cort: Lee, we have some great resources that, uh, Angelina and I'll send to you when we're done. Uh, da Vinci's, uh, thought leaders have written an awful lot about how to use AI and learning and development, and we've also done a number of interviews with other podcast guests about how their organizations [00:31:00] are using it.

So, um, we'll make sure to send those to you in case they're, uh, a help on your AI journey and your company. 

Lee Travis: I appreciate that because for as much as I like training and involved in safety. It's not always what I lay awake at night thinking about. And sometimes reaching out for PE with people that are in the training realm and can make it live and exciting and, um, top-notch with good quality is, is what people need to do, uh, in order to really.

Connect with their people on an appropriate level. Remember, we've got a whole new generation coming into the workforce that has YouTubed it, toed it or whatever, and, and they expect that, that as part of the way their training will look. Mm-hmm. And the more that we can connect with people on different training mediums, all the better for us.

And it's something that, once again, that journey will not stop with me. And I rely on folks like you to help us make that, get that accomplished. 

Susan Cort: We appreciate your insights today and definitely while the focus was on safety training, everything you said really works [00:32:00] across any industry, so I know, uh, your words will be inspirational to those who are listening for sure. 

Angeline Evans: Yeah. It, it truly does. And I loved when you were talking about what's next in your world, the training funnel that you described from formal training to small group standups, to one-on-one, to making sure you're being inclusive and meeting your learners' needs. And just everything you shared for me tied back to how important relationship building is in the workforce.

Like I, I mean, I. Prior to this conversation, I, that was not something I thought I was gonna take away from this conversation related to safety training, but it's. An incredible asset. 

Lee Travis: It's, thank you for sharing that and I'm glad you got that out of this session because I learned that a lot of years ago when I was doing classroom training and I had someone that maybe wasn't the most, that came into the classroom, was maybe a little eclectic or an interesting character that would came, that would come into the classroom, and I always made it a point to walk up them and welcome them and say, thanks for being here.

What's your name? [00:33:00] And barriers broke down right away. And that person would participate and share, um, even if it's a senior leader, walk up. Hey, welcome to the training, training today. And say, you know, I'm glad that you're, you're here. You've got a great perspective to share. I want you to share that throughout the whole entire session.

It just breaks down those barriers and the environment suddenly becomes, um, a cohesive environment for everybody to participate in. 

Susan Cort: Well said. It all starts with those relationships and we're glad that we, uh, have forged a relationship with you, Lee, and appreciate that you came on Powered by Learning with us.

Thank you. Thank you. My thanks to d’Vinci, Client Solutions Consultant Angeline Evans and our guest, Lee Travis, Vice President of Health, Safety and Environment at Equix for joining us today. You can learn more about d’ Vinci's work in the damage prevention and safety training industry by visiting us at dvinci.com/safety training.

And don't forget that you can subscribe to Powered by Learning wherever you listen to your [00: 34:00] podcasts.