The Safety Coach®
The Safety Coach®
For IN-PERSON EVENTS, the exact fee falls within the fee range on this page, unless this is a “Call for Fee.”
For VIRTUAL EVENTS, the fees can vary depending on how the presenter is used (example: virtual keynote, workshop sessions, multiple video messages, etc).
To learn the exact fee, complete the “Check Availability” form or call us (at 973-313-9800), email us at [email protected], or chat with one of our team members on LiveChat.
We look forward to helping you.
David J. Sarkus, MS, CSP, is the Chief Servant Leader and Founder of David Sarkus
International Inc., a leading health and safety management consulting and training firm based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. David is a motivational safety speaker who delivers keynotes, training, and consulting in various industries. His experience, education, and leadership qualities have allowed him and his firm to successfully apply strategies and tactics within a large variation of mainstream work processes for over 30-years. His customized safety interventions have produced improvements in key performance indicators from 35% to more than 85% over the previous year. He’s proven that results like this are possible, scalable, and sustainable.
Sarkus holds master’s degrees in safety management and organizational psychology. He is a recognized leader in safety management and has written cover stories for major industry magazines, including Professional Safety and Industrial Safety & Hygiene News. ISHN has recognized him as one of the “Top 50 Leaders” in the field. He has also written five books and over 100-evidence-based articles. Sarkus works with some of the worlds biggest and best-run organizations and can help you move toward—and embrace—sustainable excellence in safety.
Great organizations want to achieve sustainable excellence in many ways,
including safety, but who doesn’t? But what does it take to get to that point? For
starters, it takes excellent leadership, coaching, and engagement. This inspiring
keynote, which parallels servant leadership principles, is infused with humor and
will reveal three contemporary and research-driven forms of influence that will
move individuals and groups from superficial compliance to deeper and more
durable forms of personal commitment to safety and production.
You’ll leave this talk with actionable ways to:
Mental toughness is a very hot topic that needs to be embraced in order to reach higher levels of individual and group performance. It’s about getting knocked down and getting back up with greater resolve, focus, and energy. But it takes a certain mental fortitude or resilience not to cave into self-defeating thoughts that tell oneself not to “quit” or “take another path or shortcut.” It’s about not giving in to the possibilities of failure or quitting. Successful athletes, workers, managers, and executives need to have a well-developed mental edge, tenacity, and competitive drive that catapults them to higher levels of personal achievement and greater success in safety. Can it be learned or developed? You bet! Mental toughness can be strengthened, refined, and embraced as an individual and collective resource and your organization needs to know how.
Leaders drive culture and zero-incident success in safety but how is it accomplished? This talk addresses three primary categories that relate to leadership, engagement, and culture as well as more than 20 related strategies and tactics. These proven strategies and tactics have been used by numerous world-class organizations to reach zero and stay there for many, many years of sustainable success. These “behind the curtain” strategies and tactics will help your leaders develop a unique platform and execute a robust plan for your own zero-incident success!
Many leaders think that feedback is feedback and will eventually lead to long term changes with regard to workers’ safety-related attitudes and actions. Well, that’s simply not true and all feedback and communications is not alike. In fact, different kinds of feedback will lead to different kinds of changes in the beliefs (attitudes) and behaviors (actions) of your workers. If you are looking to move people to deep and lasting changes, there’s a formula for success. In fact, David discusses three kinds of changes you should be seeking along with the specific types of communications that will aid in having “critical conversations.” These critical conversations are part of the feedback that leads to durable and lasting changes in your peoples’ lives – at work and away from it!
Being a part of something bigger than yourself or your dreams takes courage, strength, and persistence. And it takes courageous men and women to be safety leaders within their own companies. It takes courage to step-up and be different and at times, go against the grain. Workers draw courage and strength to be a part of vision for excellence in safety when they are appropriately challenged and given the principles to move forward. This talk will make you and your people laugh, learn, and step-out to be a courageous safety leader. You’ll hear an engaging and motivating message about being a coach, a caring leader, and a visionary — someone who can be an integral part of a zero-accident culture.
Leaders often struggle to find a sense of identity and purpose within their organizations. And it is a dilemma to fully understand what kinds of leadership principles and practices lead to outstanding safety results. Good leadership doesn’t have to be left unveiled and murky – it can be made clear and full of purpose. In this inspiring talk, David shares the core beliefs and principles that many leaders have discovered will impact the bottom-line in ways they never thought possible. Servant Leadership and safety are here to stay and this talk discusses why it works and that you can expect great results!
Change is a constant within industry that often leads to fear frustration, and resistance from individuals and groups. How can organizations and their people work through various levels of safety-related change? David shares a simple three-step approach learned from his 20 years in safety that will inspire employees to embrace change and achieve greater results!
One of the biggest reasons organizations fail to reach their safety potential is the lack of teamwork. Many organizations don’t recognize the key elements for team success. David reveals the five most important components that will bond people together and catapult organizations to world-class status!
Safety professionals understand that workers don’t always take personal responsibility for their safety and the safety of others. And at times, they are prone to not paying attention to the right kinds of things! But what separates your better safety performers from those who are less than safe? Often it’s “how” and “what they pay attention to” at work and at home. Elite athletes and outstanding safety performers in industry share a common formula for success — their ability to take control of their own thoughts and actions and to pay attention to the right things. These higher-performing individuals have the ability and know-how to pay attention to what’s really important. In this talk, you and your people will be inspired and will learn about three critical safety-concentration channels and how to use them. They will also learn how to take personal control at all times and to work through distractions. When your people understand that they need to take control of their own safety, and how to do it, great success in safety is sure to follow!
“I have had the great fortune to have met and worked with David ‘Coach’ Sarkus. David’s message has helped me truly understand how to exert ‘influential leadership’ and effectively teach and help operational leaders to become ‘Safety Coaches.’ His approach and material content has changed the way I manage safety in a way that has created durable and lasting change. If you want to dramatically improve the safety performance of your organization, you should strongly consider working with David Sarkus, The Safety Coach®. Don’t accept the impostors!”
“Just a quick note of thanks for the tremendous job you did at our four Leadership Conferences. Our participant evaluations told the story – our participants graded us out above the 97th percentile in achieving conference goals… David we will be calling on you in the future, as a key element in our leadership development program.”
“David is a passionate and talented speaker who can bring out the best in the leadership team. His real world examples and straight forward delivery kept our whole group engaged for the whole session. I would highly recommend David to any organization.”
“I had followed David Sarkus for many years before he came to speak for my company, Alta Forest Products. His story often inspired me to press further with safety and leadership. In 2015 Dave spoke at the Washington Governor’s Conference—the first time that I saw his speak at a live venue. His message was powerful and hit home to the group of safety committee members that I had brought with me. I finally had the opportunity to have Dave speak for Alta Forest Products, and he delivered his story in his usual manner—with power, emotion, excitement, and influence. He will have you laughing one minute and crying the next. Most of all, he will have you taking a hard look at how you view safety and leadership. He will push you to change your paradigm about safety. He will push you to make your culture for safety one that others will talk about – positively of course. Finally, he will make you think about how you lead others toward creating a lasting impression for safety. I cannot recommend Dave Sarkus enough.”
“As a Kruger board member, but primarily as an interested party, I wanted to complement you on an excellent presentation. You really related with the audience and they listened to what you said. Not bad for a kid from ‘Bituminous Coal Country’. Great job!!!”
“David spent a few hours with our leadership team to talk about the importance of safety and ways that we could get our employees more engaged in our safety program. His passion and expertise really had an impact on our group and a year later we have cut our TRIR in half and have a number of facilities that have gone more than a year without a recordable incident. David’s presentation was the catalyst and a great kickoff for our renewed emphasis on safety.”
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