Shawn Galloway

Traditional safety programs still behave like the Tin Man—rigid,
mechanical, and slow to adapt—while work has become faster, more
complex, and less predictable. In this keynote, Galloway explores why
the next era of safety excellence demands that leaders think more like
an octopus: sensing weak signals, adapting in real time, and
empowering decisions at the edge of operations.
Drawing on global client experience, Shawn shows how to evolve
safety from a compliance-driven function into a living, learning
capability woven into everyday work. Attendees will learn how to:
1. Replace one-size-fits-all programs with flexible, context-aware
practices
2. Build “eight-armed” safety capacity across leaders, professionals,
and frontline teams
3. Shift from lagging indicators to dynamic learning and anticipation
This keynote is ideal for executives and EHS leaders ready to
modernize safety for a complex world.

Since 2008, the Bridge to Safety Excellence model has been a proven model
hundreds of organizations have leveraged to convey the precise elements to be
addressed to close the gap between compliance and culture, determine where they
are on the path to sustainable excellence, and develop a strategy to achieve it.
Based on the 2023 best-selling book Bridge to Excellence: Building Capacity for
Sustainable Performance, this keynote reframes safety as a business excellence
strategy, not a seperate initiative.
Using the Bridge as a simple visual, you will diagnose where you are today, clarify
what is truly creating your current results, and build a focused plan to strengthen
capacity. Participants learn the five capacities that must work together to produce
sustainable results: system, leadership, culture, engagement, and strategic.

Expect real-world examples, plain-language takeaways, and a shared vocabulary your
team can use to align priorities, reduce “only-when-watched” performance, and build
confidence in your ability to prevent, respond to, and recover from undesirable
outcomes.

Most organizations invest heavily in safety programs, messaging, and training, yet still see
uneven adoption, inconsistent behaviors, and “pockets” of excellence that don’t spread. Why?
Because the culture that shapes performance is built and protected inside frontline team
subcultures: the unwritten rules of “how we do things here,” the behaviors peers reinforce, and
what leaders consistently reward, or silently tolerate.
In this keynote, Shawn M. Galloway introduces a practical, frontline-ready approach to
strengthening safety culture by working where culture truly lives: at the crew and supervisor
level. You’ll learn how to spot and map subcultures quickly using four diagnostic questions
that reveal what’s rewarded, what’s tolerated, what people fear, and what they feel proud of:
insights that explain why people make the choices they do when no one is watching.
The session applies a powerful “fear and concern” lens to show how day-to-day leadership
habits strengthen or erode trust, psychological safety, and engagement. You’ll leave with five
proven leadership plays you can implement immediately to make ownership the norm, not
the exception. This keynote is designed for leaders who want action, not theory. You’ll walk
away with a clear, practical 30/60/90-day path to build shared ownership across teams by
changing the routines and reinforcements that drive daily behavior.

Most safety culture work stalls because organizations pursue activities before
choosing a strategy.
In this keynote, based on STEPS to Safety Culture Excellence, you will learn a
repeatable, internally led process to move from compliance to a culture that
sustains results after the campaign ends. STEPS, Strategic Targets for Excellent
Performance in Safety, breaks culture change into small, logical tasks that build
capability at every level.
We start where most programs skip: set the strategy first, then assess the current
culture to find the best path to execute it. You will see how the journey moves
through seven milestones, from building capability and credibility to creating
passion, focus, proactive accountability, measurement, and trust.
You will leave with a clear roadmap, practical diagnostics, and a shared language
leaders and frontline teams can use to prioritize, solve, and sustain the work and
new culture you’ll intentionally create.

Does your organization have the capacity to achieve
sustainable excellence in safety performance and culture?
For excellence to become a reality in any important area of
operations, especially safety, there are five vital capacities
organizations must develop, monitor, and synergize to adapt
and thrive in a fast-paced and ever-changing world: System,
Leadership, Engagement, Cultural, and Strategic.

Based on extensive cross-industry research and decades of
experience leading change in all major industries, this keynote
leads the audience on a thought-provoking journey balancing
case studies with practical execution guidance and matures the
thinking necessary for driving change at all levels of the
organization.

Workplace injuries and incidents can have far-
reaching consequences beyond an employee’s

immediate physical harm.
The collateral damage resulting from such incidents can
significantly impact various aspects of an organization
and the lives of those connected to injured individuals.
Leveraging the lessons learned from Deepwater Horizon,
Rana Plaza, Boeing, Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant,
Takata Corporation, Peanut Corporation of America, and
more, this keynote emotionally and unforgettably
explores how organizations can prevent and mitigate
the consequences of safety incidents.