Joshua Scott, PhD, MS

Building Social Capital: How Safety and Health Culture Affects Public Image ​

​Creating a contemporary and holistic safety program and work culture not only creates empowered and ethical performers, but also serves the communities in which you operate and where your employees live. Oil and gas leads the way in industrial safety, because it is the right thing to do for the “work family” and it supports good business. When safe, healthy, and inspired employees leave work, they are engaged community members and outspoken advocates for their company. Conversely, employees who experience workplace injuries, low motivation, and a lack of connection to the work family are adversely impacted at home and can damage company image. Understanding the community interests in an oil and gas producers current and future work is important and helps to create and sustain beneficial and authentic relationships. 

Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health
Colorado School of Public Health

Why do you think this topic is critical in the oil and gas industry at this time?

We are just beginning to understand the impact home and community life have on work and vice versa.  An injury at work affects an employees’ capacity to support home life and stress or poor sleep at home affect production, quality and safety at work. Oil and gas is a significant employer in many communities across Colorado and the Western United States. As such, there is a significant opportunity to demonstrate the positive and wide spread impact employment in oil and gas has across a community beyond simply economic benefits.

What do you expect to be the key takeaways from the panel discussion?

I expect to hear stories of the deep-rooted impact oil and gas companies have on the lives of their employees and more broadly in the community.  I also expect to hear about how oil and gas employers are all using very different and very innovative strategies to engage employees more holistically in everything from safety culture to well-being. 

August 28th is the last day of The Energy Summit, and also our closing evening event at Coors Field. Who will you be rooting for – Rockies or Red Sox?

Is this a real question??? ROCKIES!
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How do you personally stay current on this topic?
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You have to be questioning, searching for multiple sources, and understand your own biases.  A healthy mix of personal anecdotes from the oil and gas community mixed with solid research from peer reviewed journals is a good place to start.  When I hear agreement between those two sources, I feel more confident in the information.  When I hear disagreement, I see an opportunity to dig a little deeper and try to understand the differences.  

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About Joshua Scott

​Joshua Scott, PhD, MS is a professor of Environmental and Occupational Health in the Colorado School of Public Health where he teaches courses in Total Worker Health®.  Josh is also the associate director of community and professional education for the Center for Health, Work & Environment. Josh was formerly a occupational health research consultant for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and a faculty member at the University of Notre Dame. He has a MS in exercise physiology and a PhD in Interdisciplinary Health Science from Western Michigan University. 

Panel: Building Social Capital: How Safety and Health Culture Affects Public Image ​​

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