At Air Products, safety meetings often began with stories.
Employees were encouraged to share observations not only from the lab but from everyday life—something they noticed in their neighborhood, during volunteer work, or at home. The goal was simple: reinforce the idea that safety awareness should not stop when employees leave the workplace.
During one meeting, a colleague described how his wife narrowly avoided a serious eye injury while doing yard work. Because she had chosen to wear safety glasses, a flying object struck the lenses instead of her eye. The story had nothing to do with laboratory procedures, but it resonated deeply with the group and drew a standing ovation.
For leaders, the moment represented something important: safety awareness had extended beyond workplace policies and procedures and into everyday behavior.
“The goal isn’t just to create habits at work,” says Scott Hanton, group editorial director at Lab Manager and a former laboratory leader with more than 30 years of experience, including at Air Products. “It’s to build individual values. When people carry those values outside the workplace, that’s when you start to see real culture.”
Encouraging employees to think about safety beyond the lab can reinforce behaviors in ways traditional training alone cannot.
Why safety habits carry beyond the lab
Safety behaviors develop over time, being shaped by repeated awareness and decision-making across different environments. When individuals routinely assess risk and use protective measures in everyday activities, those same habits become more natural in the workplace.
Anthony Appleton, PhD, who recently retired as leader of Colorado State University’s Research Safety Culture Program, often helped researchers recognize this connection during safety discussions. In Fort Collins, where outdoor recreation is woven into daily life, many scientists spend their free time mountain biking, hiking, or skiing in the nearby Rocky Mountains. Those hobbies frequently provide a natural starting point for conversations about risk awareness.
“If someone tells me they go mountain biking, I’ll ask how they prepare for that,” Appleton says. “They immediately describe risk assessment, planning, and protective equipment. Then I connect that back to the lab and show them they already know how to think safely.”
Framing safety this way helps researchers recognize that the same decision-making skills they use outdoors apply directly to laboratory work.
“If people understand how to manage risk in their personal lives—whether that’s driving with a seat belt or preparing for outdoor activities—it becomes easier to apply those same behaviors in the workplace,” Appleton says.
From habits to values to culture
At Air Products, where Hanton worked as a research scientist and section manager from 1990 to 2010, leaders intentionally designed their safety strategy to move beyond simple compliance. Hanton describes safety culture as a progression: forced activities become habits, habits evolve into values, and shared values ultimately create culture.
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“Compliance tends to be backward-looking—we learn from mistakes,” Hanton says. “Culture is forward-looking. It’s asking ‘what if’ before something happens.”
In the early stages, organizations may rely on structured activities to reinforce expectations. Over time, repeated activities can become habits that follow people beyond the workplace. “Work and personal life aren’t separate when it comes to safety,” Hanton says. “The individual is the connector between those two environments.”
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Hanton says those early experiences continue to shape his own routines years later.
“When I’m mowing the lawn now, I automatically reach for ear protection,” he says. “No one is telling me to do it. It’s just something I do.”
Moments like this illustrate how safety habits can evolve into personal values—an important step in building a lasting safety culture.
Making safety personally relevant
Connecting safety discussions to employees’ lives outside work can make the message more meaningful. Appleton often reframes safety training in terms of the real-world impact injuries could have beyond the lab.
“Instead of focusing only on compliance, you can connect safety to what matters in someone’s life,” he says. “If you get hurt today, it affects your personal life. Who’s going to pick up your kids? Who’s going to take care of your dog? Who will take care of your parents?”
For early-career researchers, Appleton sometimes raises another question.
“I ask whether a shortcut today is worth risking 40 years of your career,” he says. “When you put it in that perspective, people start thinking differently about their decisions.”
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How lab managers can encourage a whole-life safety mindset
Reinforcing safety awareness beyond the workplace does not require elaborate programs, but it does require intentional leadership and consistent activities that encourage employees to discuss safety experiences.
Managers can begin by sharing their own stories and inviting employees to reflect on safety decisions in everyday situations. These discussions help normalize risk awareness and strengthen communication within teams.
“The leader has to go first,” Hanton says. “When leaders share their own safety experiences, it shows people it’s safe to participate.”
Appleton emphasizes that leaders should also respond visibly to employee input.
“When employees bring forward ideas, pick one that matters to them and implement it,” he says. “When people see that their manager listened and acted, that’s one of the fastest ways to strengthen safety culture.”
Leadership, psychological safety, and resources
Open conversations about safety depend on psychological safety—the confidence that employees can speak honestly without fear of embarrassment or punishment.
“People have to feel safe telling their stories,” Hanton says. “If they’re worried about being punished or humiliated, they won’t speak up.”
Leadership behavior plays a central role in creating that environment. Visibility, empathy, and consistency reinforce credibility and trust.
“I’ve worked with a lot of very smart people,” Appleton says. “But sometimes we forget that empathy can be more effective than the best plan. When leaders show they care about people, it’s much easier to rally teams around safety.”
Creating that environment also means giving employees the tools they need to act on safety concerns. Leaders must ensure that systems, processes, and protective equipment are in place so staff can work safely.
“As a lab manager, you have to enable people to be responsible for safety,” Appleton says.
Organizations must also back safety messaging with visible investment.
“If a company says safety comes first, it has to invest in it,” Hanton says. “Otherwise, people quickly realize the message isn’t real.”
Safety as a lasting mindset
Ultimately, extending safety awareness beyond the workplace supports the final stage of Hanton’s framework. When repeated activities become habits and habits evolve into personal values, safety stops being something employees do simply because they are told to.
Instead, it becomes part of how they think and operate everywhere.
When that mindset takes hold, the habits developed in the lab influence decisions at home, and the awareness built at home strengthens behaviors in the lab.
Sometimes the clearest evidence that culture is working is a story shared in a meeting room—followed by a room full of colleagues standing to applaud.
