Business Voice: Why did you choose Halifax?

Stephen Sayle: Our founders have lived and worked extensively in numerous countries around the world, but are passionate about raising our families and growing our business in our home province of Nova Scotia. Halifax has all the excitement of a big coastal city, but with small town charm and hospitality. We want to be confident that the next generation, including our own children, are inheriting a safe and prosperous economy here. Halifax is the ideal launching ground for our “Safety Culture movement.”

Business Voice: Tell us one thing people may not know about your business?

Stephen Sayle: We bring attention to the importance of a strong Safety Culture towards building the economy. As the leading Safety Culture authority, we develop online training programs and intuitive apps to enhance the beliefs, attitudes and practices that form safe behaviours. A safe and healthy workforce is a pillar of the ONE-NS Action Plan — and our business addresses that need, including the link between mental health and workplace safety. A strong safety culture results in strong businesses and a strong economy.

Business Voice: What is your proudest accomplishment?

Stephen Sayle: The feedback on our “Safety Culture movement” has been overwhelmingly positive. We’ve had young to seasoned workers saying it should be compulsory training in high schools, universities and colleges. Several of our clients now make it mandatory within their supply chains as that sets the safety culture expectations with their vendors and contractors, while also getting all the benefits such as winning more contracts, improved mental health, lowering insurance rates, increasing productivity, and most importantly, eliminating incidents and injuries.

Business Voice: Do you have any tips for people who are thinking about starting their own business?

Stephen Sayle: To paraphrase Steve Jobs: “Simple is much harder than complex.” Wow, is that ever true! You must keep things as clear and crisp as possible, and this takes enormous focused effort. It took us countless revisions to refine our app and launch our online course with adult learning outcome techniques to optimize comprehension and retention by all levels in the workforce. Our “safety culture movement” enhances OHS training, HR onboarding/orientations and the intrinsic link between workplace safety and mental health.

To review the interviews provided by the other finalists click on this link: http://halifaxchamber.com/publications/january-2017/