Straight Talk Safety

Straight Talk Safety doesn’t aim to be a traditional construction-focused safety consultancy. You won’t find a huge library of virtual training courses to trudge through, there aren’t any certificates to earn, and we certainly haven’t got any products, dashboards or programs for you to buy.

Instead, Straight Talk Safety offers the skills, knowledge and expertise to support and enable your in-house safety teams and field workforce to be the best they can be.

Agile and dynamic, the Straight Talk Safety approach can be tailored to suit almost any situation. Through expert facilitation and co-creation, Straight Talk Safety works intimately with your safety teams and field workers to draw out what really matters and help you take that next step in improving your jobsite safety.

Why work with Straight Talk Safety?

• Our academic credentials ensure you’re drawing on the very latest in safety research and science from around the world.
• Our industry experience guarantees any plans will find an excellent fit with practical operations, baking in the quirks and challenges of construction jobsites and high-hazard operations.
• Most importantly, working collaboratively with your safety teams and field workforce means folks are fully engaged and already signed up to the plan as it’s developed.

About Dr Fred Sherratt

Straight Talk Safety is the creation of Dr Fred Sherratt MCIOB C.BuildE MCABE AMICE

Fred started her construction industry career at 18 as a site secretary in the UK, working on large (£20m+) commercial projects. It wasn’t long before her curiosity, energy and love of building things meant she had gone from making the tea and answering the phones in the trailer to running things out on the jobsite as the Superintendent. Fred had many happy years working on some awesome projects around her hometown of Manchester, England, and she’d still be out in the rain doing just that had a global recession not got in the way. You can find out a bit more about Fred’s industry experience .

Fred pivoted to academia where she finished up her PhD (researching construction site safety, of course!) and progressed from hourly-paid lecturer to full Professor in just ten years. She has led Construction Management undergraduate courses, a Professional Doctorate program for built environment industry professionals, and also served as Deputy Dean for Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Science and Technology at Anglia Ruskin University in the UK. Find out more about Fred’s academic credentials – including some of her ‘Greatest Hits’ in safety research! .

In addition, Fred has always made sure to also make a voluntary contribution to the betterment of the construction industry and worker safety throughout her career. She currently co-leads the international CIB Working Commission W099 for construction worker safety, health and wellbeing and has served on health and safety committees for Professional Bodies. The CIB even made a YouTube ‘In Conversation With…’ Fred sharing her backstory if you want to check that out! Find out more about Fred’s volunteer service to construction safety .

Fred relocated to Colorado in the United States in 2022 to work at the Construction Safety Research Alliance (CSRA), headhunted for her strengths as an internationally recognized, world-leading academic in the field of construction safety.

She has since branched out on her own, and can now bring her unique brand of Straight Talk Safety directly to your safety teams and field workers. Fred’s ambition is to help your organization be the best it can be when it comes to safety, working towards the shared goal of eliminating Serious Injuries and Fatalities (SIFs) from our industry as a whole, whilst also keeping workers as safe as we can in the field.