Mike Hourigan your Safety Motivational Speaker

Safety Motivational Speaker says Falling Off a Stage is No Barrel of Laughs

A few years ago, I was asked in my role as a safety motivational speaker to speak at a major food industry tradeshow. One of the aspects of the tradeshow was that it was honoring women who had contributed to the industry.
Indeed, as a keynote and break-out session speaker on safety I have met many women who have had outstanding careers in the safety prevention area. I am proud of them for having risen to important safety roles in a heretofore male dominated aspect of manufacturing. They have literally saved countless lives.

Climbing the Stairs
Speaking on safety, I have learned to be aware of the safety issues all around me. However, I didn’t start my safety awareness lecturing career in a fancy office setting, but in construction and manufacturing.

I saw, first-hand, what happens when bad accidents occur. They can be tragic. We can read all the safety statistics we want, but when I was working in construction, I experienced co-workers getting badly hurt.

When I was asked to deliver a motivation speech on safety and the fact that safety is an ongoing negotiation, I recalled accidents that involved vehicular accidents, burns, terrible lacerations, major back injuries and falls. As I bounded up the stairs to the platform where I was to deliver my motivational safety speech, I couldn’t help but notice that the three steps that led up to the platform were disconnected from the platform. Even worse, there were no safety rails.

Walking down those steps after delivering my safety keynote talk, I realized how dangerous those conditions were. I remembered that after the wine and cheese reception, several of the women were being given awards and I knew someone was heading for a terrible fall.
I sought out the meeting planner and I immediately warned her of the dangerous conditions. To her credit, the meeting planner got hold of the exposition service and they replaced the steps with attached steps that had a railing.
The meeting could have been tragic; fortunately, safety awareness took front and center.

What Do You See?
Earlier in this piece I recalled being in construction and manufacturing and seeing terrible accidents. Some of those accidents were so severe my co-workers were forced to change careers or have extensive rehabilitation. Every one of those accidents could have been prevented.

The truth is, most accidents occur before they happen. What do I mean by that? For example, I have heard of terrible accidents in factories where workers walked around grease and oil spills but failed to immediately clean them up; I have witnessed workers suffer major back injuries because they were too stubborn to ask for help in picking up a heavy object; a close friend related to me the story of a worker who had a compound leg fracture after he fell from an unsteady ladder.

The real issue was that a virtual safety motivational speaker could have said: we need to clean up this grease now; this is too heavy for me; I need help or that ladder looks unsteady, let me hold it for you.

  1. Safety and Listening Skills Training are an ongoing negotiation and as a keynote speaker and breakout speaker on safety, I have learned that a safety statistic is not just a number, but a person. We must watch out for another because at the end of the day, all we want is to get home.

To book Mike Hourigan, safety keynote speaker, for a virtual or in-person presentation to your organization, contact Mike today at (704) 875-3030 or fill out the form below.

Safety Motivational Speaker

Safety Motivational Speaker

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    Mike does much more than present one-of-a-kind keynote speeches - he provides fun and fact filled breakout sessions as well as dynamic training programs for numerous organizations like Marriott, Disney, Harley-Davidson and even the U.S. Army.