Conference Day One
Tuesday, December 2, 2025
7:30 am Check In & Refreshments
8:30 am Chair’s Opening Remarks
Accelerating Safety Decision-Making
8:40 am Working With Design Teams To Embed EHS Considerations Early & Enable Safer Construction Execution
Synopsis
- Collaborating with design teams early in the project lifecycle to identify and eliminate potential hazards through thoughtful design choices
- Promoting design approaches such as prefabrication to take high-risk activities offsite and improve control over hazardous tasks
- Establishing a continuous feedback loop where safety lessons learned on current projects inform future design improvements to ensure evolving standards for safer construction and operations
9:20 am Fireside Chat: Improving Coordination With Construction Teams to Support Safe Sequencing of High-Risk Activites & Improve Project Phase Transitions
Synopsis
- Clarifying responsibilities and liability across project partners to improve incident tracking, accountability and ownership during project stage and phase handover
- Exploring how owners, operators and contractors can jointly develop schedules to map put critical activities to ensure sequencing aligns with safety protocols before crews arrive onsite
- Ensuring all teams understand daily risk profiles, site conditions and safe-to-start criteria, not just stop-work authority, to enable safe and efficient execution in shared work zones
- Developing clear turnover processes and communication protocol between construction, commissioning, and operations to eliminate safety gaps across phases
10:00 am Morning Refreshments & Speed Networking
Building Your EHS Dream Team
10:40 am Audience Discussion: Bridging Resourcing & Training Gaps & Strengthening Talent Retention To Develop Qualified EHS Teams
Synopsis
- Accessing project scope and associated risks to determine the appropriate ratio of safety processionals to other team members to ensure sufficient resource onsite
- Onboarding new hires through mentorship and structures EHS training programs to close experience gaps and prepare them for high-risk environments
- Understanding which tasks to perform inhouse vs hire third party services to ensure more complex tasks are executed safely
11:20 am Panel: Prioritizing Mental Health & Wellbeing to Support Your Workforce Beyond Safety Measures
Synopsis
- Creating psychologically safe environments where workers feel supported to speak up and access help without stigma
- providing onsite wellness resources and amenities to address pressures of long hours, shift work and time away from home
- Implementing peer support networks and positive recognition programs to value workers beyond productivity metrics
12:00 pm Rethinking Contractor Management to Strengthen Safety & Execution in Data Center Construction
Synopsis
- Understanding why traditional pass/fail prequalification falls short in fast-paced, large-scale data center projects where speed and market constraints demand a more flexible approach
- Implementing strategies to manage risk when working with smaller or less experienced contractors in emerging or rapidly expanding markets
- Establishing a continuous feedback loop from pre-construction through project completion to build safer, more resilient contractors through collaboration, performance monitoring and ongoing support
12:10 pm Lunch
1:10 pm Case Study: Exploring How Human & Organizational Performance (HOP) is Shaping the Future of Safety at Aldridge
Synopsis
- Putting people at the forefront of projects and embracing HOP to recognize work that doesn’t always go as planned, and not because people aren’t trying hard enough
- Understanding how we implemented a foundational element of our safety management system in our SHOK (Seriously Hurt or Killed) Program, which brings these HOP principles to life
- Moving from beliefs to actions to guide practices like planning for high exposure tasks, engaging workers in daily hazard reviews, coaching our teams and creating systems that protect people even when things go wrong
Reducing Incident Rates During Construction
1:50 pm Advancing Safety Excellence in the Data Center Industry: An Overview of the Data Center Safety Council and Key Project Workstreams
Synopsis
- Uniting data center operations professionals to collaboratively advance holistic health and safety from design through day-to-day operations
- Partnering with global operators, vendors and suppliers to address shared safety challenges and develop long-term workforce protection strategies
- Establishing consistent safety standards and cultural alignment across the industry to prioritize the wellbeing of all personnel onsite
2:30 pm Session Reserved for 3M
2:40 pm Afternoon Refreshments
3:10 pm Speed Learning Audience Roundtables
Synopsis
This session will divide attendees into focused groups to share insights and address role-specific challenges in EHS across Construction, Commissioning and Operations. Build a clearer understanding of EHS in the project stage most applicable to you and drive collective solutions for reducing risk, strengthening compliance and improving safety performance throughout the data center lifecycle.