About

Experience

I have served as Safety Director at Pankow Builders, a California contractor that self-performs concrete, and as Senior HOP Advisor at Quanta Services, a Fortune 300 energy infrastructure company with decentralized operating units across the U.S., Canada, and Australia. At Pankow, I led safety for projects ranging from small commercial jobs to large, complex builds, gaining deep experience in insurance, regulatory compliance, and risk management. Earlier in my career, time as a project manager shaped my belief that safety and operations must work hand in hand. At Quanta, I helped leaders put HOP, high-energy hazard recognition, and operational learning into practice across diverse organizations and industries.

What I Help You Do

Most companies have heard of SIF prevention, HOP, and Learning Teams. The challenge is knowing what’s next—how to move beyond concepts into day-to-day practice.

That’s where I come in.

I help you:

See clearly — where your systems are strong and where risks remain hidden.
Take the next step — moving from hearing about Learning Teams to running them effectively, from talking about SIFs to recognizing and managing them in the reality of everyday work.
Strengthen your people — training supervisors, managers, and safety professionals at the right level so they can carry the work forward.
Model in the field — I work alongside your crews and leaders to show how operational learning looks in action, not just in a classroom.

Why This Matters for You

Focus where it counts — shift energy toward preventing serious incidents, not just checking boxes.
Stronger conversations — give leaders and crews practical tools to talk about risk before and after work.
Support that fits — whether you need a short boost to get started or longer-term mentoring to grow your own people, I adapt to your needs.
Fresh perspective — sometimes an outside view helps uncover both blind spots and strengths you can build on.

What You Can Expect

If you’re just getting started, I can lead or co-facilitate your first Learning Teams and help build comfort with the process.
If you want custom training, I tailor it to field supervisors, managers, or safety professionals — so each level learns what’s practical for them.
If you need hands - on help, I’ll spend time in the field, listening, observing, and modeling how to apply HOP, SIF prevention, and high - energy hazard recognition in real work.

What I Deliver

I cut through theory to help companies prevent serious injuries by strengthening safety systems, sharpening leadership, and tackling high-hazard risks head-on.

Program Assessments: Reviews of safety systems, HOP maturity, and culture. Expose blind spots and create clear roadmaps to reduce SIF risk and embed learning.

Learning & Facilitation: Lead Learning Teams, workshops, and operational learning training/HOP Training. Shift leaders from compliance to a culture of listening, adapting, and improving.

High-Hazard Risk Tools: Provide energy hazard recognition, bow-tie analysis. Make hidden risks visible and manageable before incidents occur.

Field Support: Deliver audits and field evaluations that close the gap between written procedures and real work.

Resources & Suggested Reading

What I’ve Found Helpful

A collection of books, podcasts, papers and websites that have shaped my journey. These are starting points, there are many more great ideas and voices out there.

Books

Conklin, Todd. Pre-Accident Investigations: Better Questions. CRC Press, 2012.
Conklin, Todd. The 5 Principles of Human Performance: A Contemporary Update of the Building Blocks of Human Performance for the New View of Safety. CRC Press, 2019.
Dekker, Sidney. The Field Guide to Understanding Human Error. CRC Press, 2017. (First edition 2006).
Dekker, Sidney. The Safety Anarchist: Relying on Human Expertise and Innovation, Reducing Bureaucracy and Compliance. Routledge, 2018.
Edmondson, Amy C. Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well. Atria Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster), 2023.
Edwards, Bob, and Andrea Baker. Bob’s Guide to Operational Learning: How to Think Like a Human & Organizational Performance (HOP) Coach. 2020.
Müller, Jerry Z. The Tyranny of Metrics. Princeton University Press, 2018.
Schein, Edgar H. Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2021.

Podcast

Pre-Accident Investigation Podcast

Hosted by Dr. Todd Conklin, this podcast explores human and organizational performance, systems safety, and safety culture. Each episode features practical insights and conversations with experts, focusing on how organizations can learn, adapt, and improve rather than blame.

Listen here: Pre-Accident Investigation Podcast

A HOP Podcast (With No Name)

A lighthearted, insightful podcast hosted by Andrea (Andy) Baker and Matt Florio. They explore the practical use of Human & Organizational Performance (HOP) concepts in our personal and work lives.

Listen here: A HOP Podcast (With No Name)

Freakonomics Radio

This long-running podcast applies economic thinking to everyday problems, uncovering the hidden systems and incentives that shape how people behave. From a Human & Organizational Performance (HOP) mindset, Freakonomics Radio encourages us to look beneath the surface, challenge assumptions, and explore the context behind decisions. Much like HOP, it emphasizes that human behavior usually makes sense once you understand the system around it.

Listen here: Freakonomics Radio

White Papers

The Statistical Invalidity of TRIR as a Measure of Safety Performance

By Dr. Matthew Hallowell and colleagues (2020)

This paper takes a deep look at the Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR), the most common safety metric in construction and industry. After analyzing over 3 trillion worker-hours of data, the authors show that TRIR is mostly random, doesn’t predict future performance, and has no real connection to serious injuries or fatalities. The big takeaway: comparing companies or projects based on TRIR is misleading. Instead, organizations need better ways to measure what really prevents serious harm.

Read the full paper (PDF)

Websites

The HOP Hub

HOP Hub is a consortium of advisors dedicated to helping organizations advance their Human & Organizational Performance (HOP) journey. It offers foundational training, learning tools, virtual workshops, podcasts & other resources aimed at reducing serious injury & fatality outcomes. https://www.hophub.org

Community of Human & Organizational Learning (CHOL) is a collaborative network dedicated to advancing human and organizational learning through shared experience. It offers webinars, publications, resources, and events focused on improving how organizations learn, grow, and transform.

https://www.cholearning.org

Contact

Start the Conversation

I stay engaged with clients through every step. If you’d like to discuss an estimate or explore how I can support your work, I’m just a call or email away.

Shawn Connick - Construct Strategies

9515 W Napier St, Star, ID 83669, USA

(415) 716-8104 constructstrategies@connick.cc

Construct Strategies

Shawn Connick, CSP Senior Safety Consultant

My Focus

Where I Work: Construction, Energy, and Beyond