Mark MacLellan

SafeStart is often associated with manufacturing and high-hazard environments, but the human factors behind mistakes, lapses in judgment, and unwanted outcomes show up anywhere people work. In office, service and even retail settings, the hazards may look different, but the same states and critical errors still affect performance, quality, customer experience, and yes, safety. This fireside chat explores how SafeStart concepts can be applied in environments where traditional safety risks may be less obvious, but where rushing, frustration, fatigue, complacency, and mind not on task still influence daily outcomes. Drawing on real-world examples from Plato’s Closet retail operations and experiences with global client teams, including accounting, sourcing, and customs/export, participants will join the conversation on how human factors influence far more than injury prevention. Participants will also share their own challenges and leave with practical ideas for increasing awareness, improving engagement, and using SafeStart language to strengthen performance and accountability across a broader range of roles. This session will challenge assumptions, broaden perspectives, and reinforce a simple idea: if people are involved, human factors are involved.

Building on the Reducing Injury Risk by Noticing Change flex unit, this session looks at a simple idea with big implications: change increases risk, not because change itself is dangerous, but because it’s easy to miss and humans are surprisingly good at missing things that are right in front of them. When people are operating on autopilot, small changes in the environment, the task, or the people around them often go unnoticed until something goes sideways. This session explores how routine can help us, but also how it can work against us when familiarity leads to assumptions, reduced awareness, and mind not on task. Using real examples, recent work with management teams, and interactive demonstrations, participants will explore why change often increases injury risk, how the automatic mindset makes it harder to notice, and practical ways to get better at recognizing and responding to change before it creates a problem.