Beyond compliance and diversity: building a proactive safety culture

In this episode, Melissa Mark-Joyce, Vice President of HSE at Smiths Group, shares her career journey, which spans over two decades in the oil and gas industry and more recently, in manufacturing and pharmaceuticals.

She reflects on her early passion for health and safety, rooted in her time working in the North Sea, a region known for its advanced safety culture following the Piper Alpha disaster.

Melissa explains how significant incidents, such as the Macondo oil spill, further highlighted the importance of safety in high-risk industries and shaped her understanding of health and safety's critical role in business success.

Having recently transitioned to a global role at Smiths Group, Melissa, a big believer in standardisation, emphasises the transferable nature of safety practices across industries and the need for continuous learning and collaboration to improve workplace safety worldwide.

Melissa also discusses the evolving nature of health and safety, moving beyond compliance-driven mindsets toward a more holistic, proactive approach that prioritises employee well-being and engagement, as well as leadership participation across different areas of the business.
She stresses that empowering individuals and fostering a strong safety culture directly contributes to business success, as motivated, healthy employees drive performance.

If I have a strong and impactful safety culture, I'm going to have a good business. It's going beyond compliance.

Melissa also touches on her own experiences with diversity and inclusion (E,D&I) as a woman and a person of colour, noting that while diversity has become more visible in recent years, inclusion remains the bigger challenge.
She indeed advocates for creating psychologically safe workplaces where diverse voices are heard and valued, as this inclusivity enhances decision-making and innovation.

Her insights underscore the critical role of leadership in driving safety and inclusivity within organisations, as well as the importance of learning from both successes and failures within organisations and between organisations, in creating safer, more effective workplaces.