Tim Page-Bottorff, CSP, CET is a Senior Consultant for SafeStart.
SafeStart is a company that provides a safety training process for personal, 24/7 safety skills. This process and the skills it helps to build reduce injuries 30 to 70 percent in 6–18 months—a process that more than 2,500 clients in 50+ countries have undergone.
SafeStart was developed by (and is owned by) Electrolab Training Systems. The parent company, now owned by second-generation Wilson’s, Barb Tait, Don Wilson and Larry Wilson, is proud to be a global leader in workplace safety.
Tim is an inspirational and motivational Safety Hero. He has more than 20 years of occupational health, safety, and environmental experience. He has received the coveted ASSP Safety Professional of the Year for Region II, for the Arizona Chapter and The Individual Society-Wide award.
As a United States Marine, he earned the Humanitarian Service Medal and is a veteran of Operation Desert Shield/Storm. He started his safety career in the Marine Corps and is very proud of his continued grassroots approach.
He has been published in industry magazines and online, including in Safety Decisions, Coatings Pro Magazine, Professional Safety Magazine, the Journal of Environmental Management, and by the Water Environment Federation. People who attend his training sessions benefit from his enthusiasm and unique ability to immediately put his audience at ease through humor and personal life experiences.
Today, Tim is the Region II Vice President for ASSP. Keep reading to see what he says is his superpower and how he continues to learn about safety to this day.
How did your career in safety start?
My career started in the Marine Corps with Operation Desert Storm and morphed into safety after working as a firefighter. Safety quickly became job number one and now I consult for a living making safety fun, memorable and more engaging.
How have you learned about safety over the years, or have you had any mentors over the years who have helped shape your approach to safety?
I learned most of my safety minded stuff through self-study, but I got my push into safety from my friends at Motorola. Including, Jeff Buntrock, Tom Steeves, Chris Hansen and Jeff Heaps. Ellie Vargas was the one who got me hired at Motorola and I am forever grateful she gave me a chance. ASSP gave me additional education and got me to network through opened doors I never thought possible.
Have you ever had an experience, incident, or situation shape your approach to safety?
I haven’t had an incident that has changed my approach to safety, but I have had a series of training that has shaped my attitude towards safety. Most of these classes were either drab or dreary. I started to do research on how to make safety training more effective. Once I completed the research, I started to apply my applications to deliver safety in ways that were never thought of before. For example, most classes are thought in lecture mode, roughly 80%. Ironically, the same percentage of people prefer different modes training facilitation. But, why do we continue to lecture if our students prefer something else? I wanted to do the something else. It has been very effective, and I am grateful for it.
What is/are your superpower(s)?
My superpowers are connecting bridges between workplace safety and safety 24/7 and making safety habitually fun.
