Candace Carnahan

Candace Carnahan is a top conference speaker on workplace safety.

Candace Carnahan’s path as a safety advocate resulted from a devastating workplace incident in which she lost her leg at the age of 21. That day could have taken her life, and it was completely preventable. One step changed her life.

Since that day 20 years ago, more than half a million people have heard her message of workplace safety. Her advocacy reaches into every layer of an organization – from corporate offices to manufacturing and production environments. +

With nothing more than a microphone and a breadth of stories, Candace captivates. She is just as at home on conference stages as she is on offshore rigs, or production facilities – anywhere employees are making decisions about their safety.

Candace believes that the best way for companies to maintain or improve their safety culture is through stories. From keynotes to customized sessions in the workplace, Candace inspires teams to find their voice, and to look at everyday decisions as directly related to the potential impact on workers and their families.

Candace has worked with multi-national corporations across a number of industries including manufacturing, healthcare, oil and gas, transportation, and has trained CEOs, government departments, and employees to think about safety differently.

Relating her stories and experiences to the challenges, obstacles and goals of the organizations she works with, Candace moves her audience to put caring into action. Her mantra – See Something. Say Something™ – concludes every time she speaks and leaves all in attendance motivated and poised for change. Igniting the Courage To Care. To Act. To Be Safe.

She has had the pleasure to share the stage with other well-known speakers including Peter Mansbridge, Buzz Aldrin, Chris Hadfield, and Theo Fleury. --

Virtual or Live Presentations:

The First Step +

Candace has learned what she believes to a crucial life lesson the hard way: ‘The first step in not getting hurt is knowing that you can be.’ She believes that avoiding needless injuries through day to day life and activities can be achieved just by simply realizing that the potential for injury exists.

Candace challenges the “invincibility factor” which, for her, is the most troubling hazard facing working youth – the belief that injuries won’t happen to them. In her one hour presentation, Candace speaks about her typical life as a university student, working summers to pay for school in the fall, and how one step in the wrong direction changed the course of her life forever.

Candace’s energy and enthusiasm is contagious, and through her many stories, she sends a message that reaches far beyond that of workplace health and safety. Candace encourages her audience to use their education, knowledge, experience, and awareness to expand on the importance of safety within their day to day lives. Candace inspires her audiences to ‘stand up for safety’ (both figuratively and literally) and to ‘say something’ when they ‘see something.’ --

It Could Happen to You +

Candace believes that “The first step in NOT getting injured is knowing that you CAN be.”

Her unimaginable experience dispels the myth that we are invincible; what you don’t know, in fact, can hurt you – lessons Candace learned the hard way.

Candace shares her very personal account about the day that changed her life forever, after suffering the loss of her lower left leg to an unguarded conveyor belt system.

With her ever present sense of humour and passion for her message she emphasizes that when an injury happens, there is rarely only one cause or contributing factor – emphasizing the countless opportunities to intervene in the name of safety.

In guiding audiences through her fateful day, she recounts her thoughts or ‘distractions’ and talks about her then subconscious belief that nothing “bad” could ever happen to her.

Candace’s presentation focuses on identifying the many contributing factors (insufficient training, unguarded machinery, unsafe culture, etc.…) that led to her injury, while assuming  responsibility for her own role in the incident.

Candace encourages people to take a leading role in their own health and safety! Encouraging them to embrace, and even celebrate, their right to an injury-free and healthy environment.

Combating complacency, and encouraging people to “focus on focus!” are key components to Candace’s message. Her story is a reminder that safety isn’t 9-5 – rather, it’s a state of mind, an attitude that we must carry with us throughout our day to day lives. --

See Something. Say Something! +

We all know the right things to do to keep safe, so why aren’t we doing them?

Candace has developed a plethora of mantras throughout her 17 years in the safety industry – but none are as powerful, effective, or as energizing as her call to action for her audience to ‘SEE SOMETHING. SAY SOMETHING!’

By referencing the many contributing factors that led to her workplace incident, she ignites a desire in her audience to answer this call.

Candace uses her own experiences, and encourages her audience to join her by ‘logging into life’ and actively seek out situations where speaking up changes a life for the better.

Perhaps this is reminding someone to buckle up, or simply asking someone how they are doing.

Candace believes that it’s the little things done on a day to day basis that facilitate huge changes. By reminding people that until we achieve ZERO injuries, we can each do ‘one thing safer’ – a challenge accepted by audiences around the world.

It takes ‘Courage to care!’ Speaking up isn’t easy, and peer pressure isn’t something we leave behind when we finish high school – it’s a reality in our workplaces and can cause us to remain silent when our voices need to be heard. Candace encourages her audience to tap in to their “courage to care,” and to act on it, with the realization that each and every day, we all have the capacity to change a life – or maybe even save one. --

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