A LEADING safety influencer will bring a unique perspective to businesses seeking to strengthen their safety culture by sharing his career-long experience.

After strengthening the brand, reputation, and membership at Step Change in Safety, Steve Rae has stepped down from his fulltime role as executive director at the member-led organisation to focus on his work as a Director with Fortitude – Action Beyond Compliance.  Here he will continue to offer his unique “choices and consequences” approach to learning, which allows him to draw on personal and professional experience gained over more than 40 years.

From starting out as an offshore technician, Steve went on to develop a long and successful career as a senior leader and executive within global organisations.   In his new role, Steve will continue to provide hard-hitting yet empathetic, thought-provoking presentations which organisations can use to reset, revitalise and reaffirm their safety values.

A survivor of the Piper Alpha disaster, Steve’s relentless commitment to keeping safety at the top of the corporate agenda has seen him accrue a wealth of experience in a range of UK and international senior operational, management and presidential roles across engineering, drilling, project management, health and safety, and as a management consultant.  He is also a former chair of the North Sea Chapter of the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) and a fellow of the Energy Institute.

Key to Steve’s unique offering is the depth of learning which can be unlocked in the question-and-answer segment of his presentation.  Here, frank and honest communication opens the door on conversations using Steve’s experience and insights to encourage delegates to think differently about their own safety culture.

Fortitude – Action Beyond Compliance is a leading consultancy service that combines Steve’s expertise with that of his wife Maryann, an HSE professional with considerable cross sector experience, to deliver impactful and insightful safety leadership events from boardroom to on and offshore worksites.  The company was created in 2020 post-Grenfell to support organisations involved in onshore construction in assessing their safety culture by looking beyond compliance and legislation, encouraging them to emotionally connect with employees to positively influence safety culture.

Commenting on his new role, Steve said: “What I experienced on Piper Alpha, the world’s worst offshore disaster, will remain with me always and I feel passionately that it should still sit at the forefront of conversations around safety, offshore and elsewhere, ensuring that a legacy of driving change in attitude and action pervades across the generations.

“For many companies and individuals there is often a tendency for their approach to safety to become reactive, and this is why it’s so important that we take the time to re-visit and assess our safety culture to ensure proactive measures can be developed and implemented.  This will assist with ensuring the correct safety mindset is deeply ingrained within corporate DNA.  Approaching safety with conviction and integrity will undoubtedly enhance any forward-thinking safety journey.”