Stop Reacting, Start Building: A New Mindset for Safety Leaders

Is your safety culture reactive—or intentionally designed to prevent the incident before it happens?

For over two decades, I’ve walked the path of a safety professional—across industries, leadership styles, and teams. One pattern I’ve seen repeat far too often is this: safety becomes a priority only when the pocketbook gets hit.

It’s a reactive mindset. One that waits for the incident, the injury, the citation—before action is taken. And while common, it’s not sustainable. It’s not ethical. And it’s not the kind of culture I’ve committed my career to building.

Today, I’m fortunate to be part of a company that shares this belief. A place where safety isn’t a cost center—it’s a core value. We don’t wait for something to break before we fix it—we build systems that anticipate what’s coming. We lead with transparency and build with intention. And we take a holistic approach—one that integrates people, processes, and technology into a unified system of care.

The Reactive Mindset: When Safety Is a Response

Reactivity in safety often looks like this:

• A near miss triggers a flurry of meetings.

• A recordable injury prompts a new policy.

• A compliance audit reveals gaps that suddenly become urgent.

These reactions aren’t wrong—they’re often needed. But when they become the pattern, we’re no longer leading. We’re chasing problems instead of preventing them. In that chase, we lose trust, time—and sometimes, people.

The Holistic, Productive Mindset: Safety as a Strategic Function

A productive safety culture doesn’t wait. It anticipates. It plans. It builds systems that are proactive, not punitive—and integrated, not siloed.

We use ISO 45001 as more than a benchmark—it’s a blueprint for building systems that engage people, not just enforce rules.

• Risk-based thinking over rule-based reaction

• Leadership engagement over top-down enforcement

• Continuous improvement over one-time fixes

  
  

We don’t treat safety as a standalone department. We embed it into every function, every project, every conversation. Because real-world safety lives in the gray—where decisions aren’t always black and white. And that’s where transparency, collaboration, and courage make all the difference.

Tools That Support a Holistic Safety Culture

This isn’t just a mindset shift—it’s an operational one. We’ve built a safety ecosystem that’s fully integrated into how we work:

• Project management platforms with embedded safety milestones and risk reviews

• Dashboards and digital tickets for real-time visibility and accountability

• Field apps that empower teams to report, track, and resolve issues on the go

• Motivosity as a community board where safety wins and learnings are shared

• 360Learning as our LMS—making development continuous, not compliance-driven

These tools make safety visible. They make it actionable. And most importantly, they make it everyone’s job.

Final Thought: Let’s Stop Reacting. Let’s Start Building.

If you’re a safety professional reading this, I challenge you: take a hard look at your culture. Are you reacting—or are you building?

Because safety doesn’t start with an incident. It starts with intention. With systems. With people. With a mindset that sees safety not as a barrier—but as a bridge to better outcomes for everyone.

Let’s stop reacting. Let’s start building.

About the Author

Jacob Buckner is the Compliance & Safety Officer at Premise One, where he helps shape a safety culture that’s proactive, integrated, and built to last. With over two decades of experience across diverse industries, he brings a steady, systems-driven approach to balancing safety, quality, and day-to-day operations. Jacob believes that when safety is built into how we work—not layered on top—it becomes a foundation for better outcomes across the board.