Meet Your Next Motivational Safety Speaker
Introducing, Ricky Rollins…
About Ricky
Since the beginning of his career as a motivational speaker, Ricky has traveled across the country, sharing his heartfelt stories and the lessons he’s learned along the way.
Ricky deeply cares about safety in the workplace and wants everyone to safely come back to their families after a day of work. He puts all of his and his friend's experiences into his stories and speaks from the heart, rarely leaving a dry eye in the room.
Ricky is a masterful storyteller that will interact with the audience, ask for their participation, and keep them engaged the entire presentation. He will get them to laugh and maybe even shed a tear.
We're lucky enough to forget our day-to-day, but when somebody is seriously injured, that's the day we will remember for the rest of our lives."
— Ricky Rollins
Ricky’s Life-Changing Story
Having experienced a severe head trauma that almost cost him his life during an accident at work on December 30th, 1995, Ricky has learned an important lesson that he now is willing to share: Every action we take, every choice we make could have consequences that we might not want to have to live with.
That day Ricky didn’t evaluate a hazard and just wanted to get the job done and get to the next one putting his and his colleague’s life and wellbeing in jeopardy. The job didn’t go as planned – a large piece of slag fell and struck Ricky in the head fracturing his skull, causing him to nearly lose his life – and his family- a father, a husband, a brother, and a son.
Thankfully Ricky lived, and until this day, he remembers December 30th, 1995 as the luckiest day of his life. Sure he was lucky to survive, but most importantly, he was lucky to have the man running the man lift that day, Dale Baldwin, who trusted him as an experienced supervisor for his safety, was not struck with the piece of slag that day. If something had happened to Dale that day, Ricky couldn’t blame anyone but himself, and how could he continue living knowing that the things he almost cost his family, he almost cost another man’s family those same things.
That day caused Ricky to realize that we all hold more than our own wellbeing in our hands. That day could have caused a tragedy in two families, all because of Ricky not taking time to evaluate the job and recognize the hazards and if you think about it, it sure wasn’t worth it. He realized that life's occurrences don't just touch us, they affect everyone who cares about us, and we need to take precautions and prevent accidents from happening to our best abilities.
“Safety is about more than protecting yourself. It is about protecting your coworkers, your friends, and your family from a life without you.
— Ricky Rollins
About Ricky’s Speech
What’s it About?
Not only does Ricky share his own experience, but he also shares 4 more stories from the perspective of a father, husband, brother, friend, co-worker, supervisor, and department manager of things that have affected his Circle - some good and some not so good. Ricky now shares his takeaways from each occurrence to teach and reach as many people as possible.
Who’s It For?
All of us. Our health and wellbeing are the most important things we have in this life. Our lives are important yet so fragile, and we must take care of them every step we take. Ricky’s speeches are far more than lifeless lectures on workplace safety; instead, Ricky’s mission is to get every single person to realize that safety doesn’t start or end on the job - it’s a way of life, 24/7, 365.
Why Does it Matter?
“It only takes a second to make a choice, yet the choice made in that second can have ramifications for a lifetime.” There is at least one thing each of us can do every day to stay safer and protect those around us. Ricky invites his audience to take responsibility for their actions and acknowledge that in their hands lies the power to save or end a life.
With Ricky’s storytelling style and ability to keep an audience engaged, his presentation not only is great for company safety events and conference keynotes but also for company meetings and leadership training.
Merging Stories to Paint The Full Picture
Ricky artfully weaves together 5 impactful safety stories to drive home lessons.
"Listening to Ricky's stories was like watching a talented seamstress take several pieces of material and sewing them together to make a beautiful quilt."
- Paul Crisafulli, Safety Advocate for National Grid
Learn more about Jim’s Story Below….
Jim Harris’ Story
One of these stories is about Jim Harris – an electrician in the melting department that Ricky was the department manager of at the steel mill where they worked.
On February 18, 2009, Jim was volunteering to fill in for another electrical that had been given days off for not doing his job for a lockout tag-out violation. Jim responded to an electrical issue and had completed the repair. He was leaving the area and a ladle erupted sending 3,000-degree steel and slag throughout a large area, burning over 40% of Jim’s body.
The eruption that day was caused by a co-worker putting production ahead of written Standard Operating Procedures for Safety. That was the second event of someone not doing their jobs that lead to Jim’s burns.
That day, a doctor told Ricky and Jim’s family there was a chance Jim would not survive his burns. Ricky will never forget that moment when he heard the consequences of their actions at work could have caused Jim’s wife to lose her husband, his children their father, all because they didn’t do their job twice.
There is one place Ricky hopes no one ever has to be – telling someone at that time not knowing if their loved one will survive or not, that it was their fault.
Ricky will never forget how he felt having to tell Jim’s wife the accident happened because we didn’t do our jobs. Jim lived and came back to work full force. But that was a “Life-Changing Accident for Jim Harris”.