Safety culture across contractors and supply chains depends on treating every worker as part of the same team, regardless of who pays their wages. Organisations that build trust, encourage open communication and create shared ownership of safety are better placed to manage risk across increasingly interconnected workforces.

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Introduction

Modern organisations rarely rely solely on permanent employees. Facilities teams, maintenance contractors, agency workers, specialist suppliers and project partners all play a vital role in keeping operations running.

That creates an important challenge for health and safety leaders. How do you build a consistent safety culture when the people carrying out the work belong to different organisations?

In this Safety Roundtable, Christian Harris speaks with Wyatt from Avetta, winner of the American Society of Safety Professionals’ Safety Professional of the Year award for 2026. Together they explore how organisations can create stronger safety cultures across complex supply chains, why leadership matters more than ever, and what practical steps managers can take to encourage people to speak up before incidents happen.

Why today’s workforce demands a different approach to safety

Most organisations have always relied on contractors in some form.

What has changed is the scale.

Specialist suppliers, outsourced services and temporary labour now make up significant parts of many operations. Construction, facilities management, healthcare, transport and manufacturing all depend on networks of organisations working together.

Wyatt argues that describing these relationships as simply “connected” understates the reality.

Instead, organisations should think of themselves as interconnected systems.

Every supplier affects another supplier.

Every delay has knock-on effects.

Every decision can influence safety elsewhere in the chain.

This systems perspective matters because safety problems rarely have a single cause. They emerge from multiple interactions between people, processes and organisations.

For safety leaders, this means looking beyond individual incidents and understanding how work is actually organised across the wider system.

Stop treating contractors like outsiders

One of the strongest themes from the discussion is that organisations often create barriers without realising it.

Separate badges.

Separate language.

Different treatment.

All of these reinforce the idea that contractors are somehow less important than permanent staff.

That creates distance at precisely the time organisations need collaboration.

Wyatt’s advice is refreshingly simple.

Treat everyone involved in the work as members of one operational team.

That does not mean ignoring contractual boundaries.

It means recognising that everyone contributes to the same outcome and shares responsibility for completing the work safely.

When organisations reinforce shared goals instead of organisational labels, communication improves naturally.

People become more willing to ask questions, raise concerns and support each other.

Safety culture extends beyond organisational boundaries

Culture does not stop at the company logo.

As Wyatt explains, the moment people begin working together, they begin creating a shared culture.

That culture is influenced by everyone’s previous experiences, training and expectations.

For organisations managing contractors, this means safety culture cannot be limited to direct employees.

It has to include everyone involved in delivering the work.

Wyatt highlights an example from the Ontario Line Transit project in Toronto.

Rather than treating culture as something each contractor managed independently, project leaders required every joint venture to complete annual culture assessments and use the findings to drive continual improvement across the entire project.

The principle is straightforward.

If organisations want consistent safety performance, they must measure and improve culture across the whole delivery team rather than within individual businesses alone.

Why psychological safety matters in complex projects

Psychological safety has become a widely used term, but Wyatt is careful not to oversimplify it.

Drawing on researcher Gareth Lock’s work, he describes psychological safety as a shared belief that people can contribute, question decisions and admit mistakes without fear of criticism, judgement or exclusion.

For managers, this has practical implications.

Workers need confidence that speaking up will not damage their reputation.

Contractors need confidence they will be listened to.

Temporary workers need confidence they belong.

This becomes especially important on large projects where teams form, change and disperse regularly.

Psychological safety should not be treated as another campaign.

Instead, it should become part of everyday leadership.

Leaders create it through consistent behaviour.

They encourage learning.

They respond constructively to concerns.

They demonstrate that raising issues leads to improvement rather than blame.

Combined with a clear just culture, this creates an environment where people feel able to contribute fully.

Measuring what actually improves safety

Many organisations want to move towards leading indicators.

Wyatt believes the industry still has work to do.

Too many organisations measure activity rather than outcomes.

They count inspections.

They count observations.

They count meetings.

These figures may demonstrate effort, but they do not necessarily show whether risk is reducing.

A more valuable question is whether organisations are eliminating significant hazards before someone gets hurt.

This approach becomes even more important when contractors enter unfamiliar environments.

Permanent staff often develop local knowledge over time.

They know which floor areas become slippery.

They know which shortcuts to avoid.

Temporary workers do not.

Addressing known hazards before contractors arrive creates wider protection across the workforce.

This reflects a broader principle familiar to Slip Safety Services.

Many organisations focus on responding after risk appears.

Instead, prevention starts with understanding the hazards already present.

As our CHIMES framework demonstrates, slip risk depends on contamination, footwear, individuals, maintenance, environment and the surface itself.

Managing these proactively reduces exposure for everyone working on site, whether permanent employees or contractors.

Leadership starts with helping others succeed

Early in the discussion, Christian asks Wyatt about winning the Safety Professional of the Year award.

Interestingly, Wyatt says the recognition has shifted his focus away from personal achievement.

Instead, he wants to help develop future leaders.

That includes mentoring award applicants, supporting new writers within the profession and strengthening local safety communities.

He also introduces an important distinction between mentoring and sponsorship.

Mentors provide guidance.

Sponsors actively create opportunities.

They promote people in rooms where those individuals are not present.

For organisations trying to strengthen safety culture, this idea extends beyond career development.

Leaders should advocate for their teams.

They should create opportunities for others to succeed.

When people know their leaders support them, trust grows naturally.

That trust becomes the foundation for stronger communication, better learning and improved safety performance.

Build one team, not competing organisations

Perhaps the simplest takeaway from the discussion is also the most powerful.

Every organisation involved in a project should see itself as part of one team.

Different employers may have different contracts.

Different reporting lines may exist.

Different logos may appear on high visibility clothing.

None of that changes the shared objective.

Everyone wants people to go home safely.

Everyone wants the work completed successfully.

Creating common goals, regular briefings and shared ownership helps break down unnecessary divisions.

It also makes it easier for workers to raise concerns regardless of who employs them.

That mindset is increasingly important as organisations continue relying on larger and more complex supply chains.

Safety performance no longer depends only on what happens inside your organisation.

It depends on how effectively everyone works together.

Pull quotes

“The idea of sponsorship, though, is the idea of who’s promoting you in spaces that you may not even be in.”
Wyatt

“People want to show up at work and be valued. They want to feel significant.”
Wyatt

“Stop treating external staff like the enemy, or like anything less than a critical component of your operational success.”
Wyatt

Show notes

Episode summary

Christian Harris is joined by Wyatt from Avetta to discuss how organisations can strengthen safety culture across increasingly interconnected workforces. The conversation explores contractor management, psychological safety, leadership, organisational culture and why businesses need to think beyond traditional organisational boundaries if they want lasting improvements in safety performance.

Guest

Wyatt is a safety leader at Avetta and the 2026 American Society of Safety Professionals Safety Professional of the Year. His work focuses on contractor management, organisational culture, leadership and supply chain safety.

Key moments

• Wyatt reflects on winning the ASSP Safety Professional of the Year award and why leadership now means developing others.
• Why organisations should think of supply chains as interconnected systems rather than isolated contractors.
• How safety culture extends beyond organisational boundaries.
• Practical ways to build psychological safety across mixed workforces.
• Why leading indicators should focus on meaningful outcomes rather than activity.
• The one change every organisation should make when working with contractors.

Resources and names mentioned

• Avetta
• American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP)
• ISO 45001
• Gareth Lock
• Amy Edmondson
• Hudson’s Safety Culture Maturity Model
• Ontario Line Transit Project
• David Marquet, Leadership Is Language
• Turn the Ship Around!

Take the next step

If you’re responsible for safety across multiple sites, the first step is understanding where hidden risks exist. Take the Slip Risk Scorecard to identify potential gaps in your current approach and see where you could strengthen your slip prevention strategy before incidents occur.

Internal link suggestions

• Slip Risk Scorecard: Take the Slip Risk Scorecard
• Slipology pillar guide: How to Prevent Slip Accidents Through Measurement and Grip Management
• Book: Prevent Slip Accidents with Slipology