“My personal strategy,” adds Vassilopoulos, “has always been to focus and emphasize the awareness piece – the awareness that comes with the benefits as well as the awareness of the consequences. Having a communication strategy within a safety management system that that allows for time, for engagement, for involvement and digestion of risks as well as controls consequences is really crucial.”

Blending mental and physical

For Vassilopoulos, he says in Canada – where workplace health and safety committees are not only encouraged but regulated – there’s a commitment to growing safety capabilities within an organization.

“Another mechanism of expanding those committees is using them as an avenue to not only identify risk but more importantly the avenue and medium of communication to our workgroups,” he says. “The peer-to-peer communication has a completely different impact when it comes from top down. At the end of the day, from a leadership perspective, this should be supported. And I’ve been very, very grateful, especially in my current organization where I’ve had that type of leadership.”

An integral part of this leadership strategy involves bridging the historical gap between mental and physical safety. Vassilopoulos notes that while the connection between mental wellbeing and physical safety is increasingly recognized, this was not always the case.

“My history is in the military,” says Vassilopoulos. “[Here], a psychological safety connection with our physical connection was paramount. Being mentally ready for our task at hand, so that we can be physically ready – that’s how the two tie in. The way that we can grow that connection is through a true open-door policy and sharing of testimonials so that people can see that [they’re] not alone, [they’re] not the only one.”