Safety Heroes - the Health, Safety, and Environment Podcast
The Health, Safety, and Enviroment space is made of everyday people who are real-life heroes, committed to creating a safe environment and engaging safety culture within their companies. Their priority is to ensure each and everyone of their employees gets to return home after a day’s work unharmed, and that both wellbeing and the planet are a core consideration: they are unsung heroes.
In fact, you never hear about them when they do their jobs right!
We want to celebrate these everyday people and inspire others in that space to look at things differently, improve their safety management plans and overall learn as a collective; making “HSE” a cornerstone of every company’s culture.
So let’s celebrate those leaders from the Health, Safety, and Environment space who stand on the frontline and the emotional/human implications of working in the safety space.
Safety Heroes - the Health, Safety, and Environment Podcast
Bringing AI and Empathy to the frontline: Declan Davis on why safety Is human
Declan Davis isn’t just leading safety from the top—he’s walked the path from the site to the boardroom. As Health and Safety Director at Ferrovial, Declan brings a deeply human approach to leadership, shaped by years of hands-on experience in the field. In this episode of The Safety Heroes Podcast, he reflects on his journey from site engineer to safety director, sharing how his passion for connecting with frontline teams has become the foundation for everything he does.
Declan talks candidly about the moment he realised traditional approaches to safety—long documents, top-down processes, and complex systems—weren’t working for the people most at risk. That moment sparked a shift toward humanising safety: making it simpler, more personal, and rooted in the real experiences of workers on site. He explains how this philosophy drives his adoption of tools like immersive learning, AI-powered training, and multilingual communication strategies that break down barriers and build trust.
One particularly powerful part of the conversation explores the emotional power of storytelling in safety training—how placing a worker in a simulated incident, even virtually, can create anchor moments that stick for months and shape real-world decisions. Declan and Mousa discuss the neuroscience behind memory and retention, and why the combination of technology and empathy is such a game-changer for the industry.
They also reflect on how safety teams can bring frontline workers along the innovation journey—not just as end-users, but as co-creators and champions of change. Declan shares practical insights from his own experience: how to nurture buy-in, how to find internal champions, and how to scale solutions across a global, multilingual workforce without losing the human touch.
Whether you’re a safety leader, technologist, or someone passionate about improving workplace culture, this episode is a masterclass in what’s possible when you blend heart, strategy, and innovation. It’s a call to reimagine the future of safety—one that starts with people, and scales with purpose.
-
If you like this podcast episode, subscribe here and follow us on LinkedIn for the latest from our HSE community and guests. Connect with our CEO and host, Mousa, today to stay updated on Safety Heroes, Pixaera, and more.
Do you want to be a guest on Safety Heroes, or know someone who would be a great fit? We’d love to hear from you. Send us a message on LinkedIn or email podcast@pixaera.com.
