ASSP Safety 2024 Closing Session Focused on Innovation
Author and speaker Kyle Scheele emphasizes the power of constraints to drive innovation in safety practices.
- By Robert Yaniz Jr.
- Aug 13, 2024
The American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP)’s annual event, Safety 2024, has come to a close. But before the record-breaking number of attendees shuffled off, the event closed with an emphasis on approaching safety with creativity and innovation.
At ASSP Safety 2024, guests heard from author Kyle Scheele during the closing keynote. Titled "Thinking Inside the Box: How Tough Times Fuel True Creativity & Innovation," the session focused on how constraints such as limited resources or support drive innovation and creative problem-solving in organizational safety practices.
Drawing on examples like the Apollo 13 mission—where engineers creatively adapted square filters to fit round tubes—Scheele illustrated how limitations can be transformed into opportunities. His message was clear: reframing challenges and embracing constraints can lead to better, more innovative outcomes in the workplace.
Throughout his keynote, Scheele shared practical tools for overcoming creative blocks, encouraging safety professionals to rethink their approach to problem-solving. Attendees left the session inspired to apply these insights to their own organizations, with the goal of improving safety outcomes by leveraging creativity across their teams.
Known for his unconventional ideas, Scheele earned the nickname “the patron saint of crazy ideas” for his projects, and his keynote at Safety 2024 reinforced his reputation for challenging conventional thinking in the hopes of sparking discussion among attendees.
About the Author
Robert Yaniz Jr. is the Content Editor of Occupational Health & Safety.