Safety 2025 Keynote: Healthy Relationships Drive Safety Engagement
Shasta Nelson challenges safety leaders to prioritize connection, saying trust and engagement grow from three essential relationship habits.
- By David Kopf
- Jul 22, 2025
Engaged workers are safer workers, and strong relationships are what get them there.
That was the message relationship expert Shasta Nelson delivered to a packed audience at the opening keynote of the American Society of Safety Professionals’ Safety 2025 Professional Development Conference and Exposition, held July 22–24 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.
“When we feel connected, we are more engaged, we are happier, we treat people better,” Nelson said. “Without a doubt... when we have relationships in our lives at work, we are healthier, we are happier, we are more satisfied, we have fewer workplace accidents.”
Nelson, who has worked with organizations like Google and LinkedIn to build high-trust cultures, told attendees that cultivating healthy relationships isn't just good for morale—it directly supports training retention, collaboration, and safety engagement. The foundation of those relationships? Three simple but powerful habits: positivity, consistency, and vulnerability.
Positivity
This is about creating low-risk, high-reward environments where people feel good after every interaction. Nelson emphasized that positivity isn’t about sugarcoating everything—it’s about ensuring that people leave our presence feeling seen and safe. “Our job... is to make sure [the relationship] feels satisfying,” she said. A healthy ratio of positive to negative interactions helps make relationships durable and trustworthy.
Consistency
Trust, Nelson said, is born from predictability. That means showing up again and again. “You can have great chemistry with someone, but without 50 to 200 hours of shared time, you won’t move up the trust triangle,” she said. At work, that might mean regular check-ins, shared lunches, or rituals like end-of-week team huddles. These routines build familiarity and confidence, both essential to safety performance.
Vulnerability
Being known, Nelson explained, is a core human need, but many workplace friendships lack the deeper conversations that make people feel truly seen. “You do need vulnerability in your relationships,” she said. That might be speaking up about a safety concern, owning a mistake, or simply expressing stress or uncertainty. For leaders, modeling this kind of openness sets the tone for a culture of psychological safety.
Nelson left attendees with a challenge: choose one area, positivity, consistency, or vulnerability, and strengthen it in your own relationships. The result won’t just be better morale, but a more resilient, connected, and safer workforce.
About the Author
David Kopf is the publisher and executive editor of Occupational Health & Safety magazine.