From Paperwork to People: Rethinking Safety Program Design with Ashley McKie
In this episode, Ashley McKie, Director of Health and Safety at Inland Truck and Equipment and a three-time Top Woman in Safety honouree, joins to share her perspective on what it really takes to design safety programs that grow with people, not paperwork.
Drawing from her experience leading large, multi-jurisdictional safety programs across Canada and the United States, Ashley offers an honest look at the realities of building safety cultures that can scale. She talks about finding the right balance between compliance and culture and explains why regulations should be viewed as a starting point rather than the ultimate goal.
Ashley highlights how understanding human behavior is the foundation of effective safety leadership. She explores ways to make training resonate in an era of shrinking attention spans, strategies to prevent complacency once performance improves, and methods for maintaining engagement when business pressures increase.
Listeners will gain practical insights on how to:
- Build one consistent safety program that works across multiple regions
- Turn front-line feedback into better, more responsive systems
- Design safety programs that prioritize people, not paperwork
- Use smart design to make the right choice the easy choice
- Leverage AI and microlearning to modernize safety training
- Build mentorship networks and sustain long-term motivation in a demanding field
Throughout the conversation, Ashley blends strategy with empathy. Her insights show what it means to lead safety in fast-moving, high-pressure industries while keeping people at the center of every decision.
This is an episode for anyone guiding teams through complex safety challenges. It is for leaders who want to move beyond compliance checklists and build programs that truly connect, engage, and last.
