🧱 The Ex-Crim Who Kept It Real: Why Safety Needs Straight Talk, Not Sugar-Coating
- Rob Hubbard
- Jul 23
- 2 min read
You don’t need a whiteboard full of buzzwords to build a positive safety culture.
Sometimes, you just need someone like Trev — 50-something, solid build, ex-prison time, and doesn’t give a damn about your acronyms.
Trev wasn’t hired for his people skills. He’s blunt, says what he thinks, and he definitely doesn’t sing Kumbaya around a campfire. But on site? Trev had something we couldn’t train - credibility.
🧍♂️ No fluff. No fear. Just honesty.
One day, we had a young lad rushing a prestart. Tools everywhere. Bit cocky.
Trev steps in — calm as you like — and goes:
“You wanna lose a finger or a job, mate? 'Cause that’s the choice you’re lining up.”
No shouting. No forms. Just a hard truth, delivered by someone who knows what consequences look like — from both sides of the bars.
The kid stopped. Adjusted. Learnt.
🤔 Why does this matter?
Because sometimes, your most effective safety influencer isn’t the one with the clipboard or the certificate.
It’s the person who:
Has real-life scars, not just PowerPoint slides.
Knows what it’s like when someone doesn’t come home.
Speaks in a way others listen — not because they have to, but because they want to.
🧠 Lessons from Trev (no kumbaya required):
Safety doesn’t need sugar. Straight talk sticks. Wrap it in honesty, not fluff.
Real stories win. Trev shared what he saw inside — crushed hands, amputations, mates who never made parole. It wasn’t pretty, but it was real.
Credibility > Charisma. Not everyone’s a motivational speaker. But people respect those who’ve lived it.
Own your past, shape the future. Trev never hid where he came from — but he used it to change the outcome for others.
🙌 Give your Trevs a voice.
Every crew has someone like him. Maybe he’s rough around the edges. Maybe he swears too much. But maybe — just maybe — he’s the reason someone doesn’t end up on workers comp.
If we want to build a positive safety culture, we need to value real humans, not just policy compliance.
Safety isn’t always about training courses and glossy posters. Sometimes, it’s about a bloke in hi-vis who’s seen what happens when things go wrong — and isn’t afraid to say “Nope.”
Got your own “Trev” on site? Listen to him. Learn from him. Back him.
Because real talk saves lives.
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