William “Jack” Jackson has been in the safety game for a long time. That’s particularly remarkable, given that he never set out to become a safety professional. Rather, he says he “fell into safety through the process of osmosis” when a safety-related job opened up in his workplace at the time. He quickly came to love the job and, as his career in the field developed and grew, his desire to keep people safe only strengthened.

Along the way, Jack received many accolades, with his most recent—and perhaps most impressive—coming from the National Safety Council, which named him as one of five recipients of the 2025 Distinguished Service to Safety Award.

The award is the highest honor granted by the NSC and was presented at the Council’s national conference in Denver.

As a senior safety consultant at SafeStart, Jack has helped countless clients improve their safety management systems and address the human factors that put their employees at greater risk of injury. An accomplished trainer and trusted safety advisor, Jack is also a highly regarded conference speaker who has appeared on some of the nation’s biggest safety stages, captivating audiences with his masterful storytelling abilities and demonstrating the life-saving power of appealing to workers’ hearts and minds.

In its commendation of Jack, the National Safety Council sums it up perfectly:

A prominent safety thought leader and top-rated speaker, Jack has spent decades transforming the safety culture of some of the most dangerous industries. He has maintained himself as a prominent mentor in the field, empowering over 90,000 professionals worldwide while being ranked in NSC’s Top 10 speakers for nine consecutive years.

Everyone at SafeStart has had the opportunity to see the positive contributions to safety that Jack makes, and so we’re all delighted—but not at all surprised—to see Jack receive this public recognition that he so richly deserves. Congratulations, Jack!