As an Authorized OSHA Outreach Trainer in both General Industry and Construction, Linda has provided real world, meaningful safety and health guidance to thousands of individuals throughout the nation – helping them to reduce the number of workers’ compensation claims.

With over 20 years of occupational health and safety experience, Linda provides safety solutions for industries ranging from healthcare to hospitality, education, manufacturing and more.

Why did you choose your profession?

I was working in health promotion at a comprehensive occupational safety and health company.  I realized that I was interested in the complete picture, not just in personal safety and health, so I broadened my scope to worker safety and health. I also was interested in the regulatory component and wanted to know and understand more of that aspect, so I could work with companies to better understand compliance issues.

What is the most important thing to do to be effective in your role?

Emphasizing ongoing effective safety training is crucial.  It is not just about going through the motions of training. We need to make sure the training is retained and applied. That is what will make the biggest difference in safety programs.

Have you ever had an incident that changed you, and how did you approach it with your role?

Yes. I used to believe it was essential to make sure safety professionals know and understand the specific regulations that affect their companies. Then I realized it doesn’t matter what they know if they cannot communicate it effectively. So now I focus on effective communication as much as I do on understanding safety principles that create a safe workplace.

What do you want everyone to know?

Safety is an ongoing journey. As long as you have people in your workplace, safety is needed. So we need to consistently evaluate how effective programs are by looking at how things are working, not just at whether or not we do it. That is especially true with continued safety training. It is not about going through the motions of training; rather, what is the result of our training.

What is your superpower? 

I have a knack of taking what is perceived to be dull, boring, complicated and confusing regulatory information and sharing it in a way that makes sense. Using plain language and real life examples, so people can understand the application and spirit of intent of these regulations.