Aecon Group Inc. – Safety Without Slogans: What Actually Reduces Risk on the Job With Darren Varga
Prefer To Watch?
Many organizations repeat “safety first,” but Darren Varga says the phrase is meaningless if the system is not credible to the people doing the work. When workers stop trusting the process, they stop speaking up, and hazards start accumulating in the background.
In this episode of The Safety Spotlight, Darren explains how his foundation in ergonomics and biomechanics, combined with experience as a Ministry of Labour inspector and an international consultant, shaped a straightforward safety philosophy: measure risk clearly, redesign tasks to fit real conditions, and respect workers as the primary source of operational knowledge.
We also unpack what “safety culture” looks like on an actual jobsite. Darren’s view is direct: no metric, poster, or slogan can manufacture it. Culture changes when trust is earned through listening, creating real channels for worker input, and acting on concerns consistently, including the ones that seem minor.
We discuss:
- Why building “stacked” capability across roles and industries makes safety professionals more effective
- How simple floor-level conversations surface risk faster, including Darren’s go-to question about the hardest part of the job
- How ergonomic improvements become easier to approve when risk is quantified and tied to productivity and efficiency
- Why adoption improves when tools are practical, useful, and endorsed by the workforce
- What safety culture is actually built on: trust reinforced by consistent follow-through
- A workable voice-of-worker process, including QR-based reporting that connects to safety teams and the Joint Health and Safety Committee
- What fills the gap when workers feel unheard, and how costs rise through conflict, complaints, and operational drag
- Leading first-of-their-kind projects with stronger readiness, clearer communication, and direct access to decision-makers
- Mental health in construction, the Ambassador Program model, and why “tough it out” norms create risk
- Leadership approaches that hold up in the field, including servant leadership, Maxwell’s framework, and dignity as a daily standard
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darren-varga-65774b88/
