Designing a Safety Operating Model: How Leaders Build Strategies for Reliable Safety Performance
Many organizations invest heavily in safety initiatives but struggle to govern decisions consistently. In this master class, Ellis Jones and Eric Pfeiffer introduce a practical Safety Operating Model leaders can use to design, govern, and sustain safety performance.
When Ellis Jones and Eric Pfeiffer met by chance at a conference, they quickly recognized a shared concern: many organizations lack a clear operating model for how safety decisions are made, governed, and sustained over time. As a result, even well-intentioned safety efforts often become fragmented, inconsistent, and difficult to defend at the leadership level.
In this master class, Ellis and Eric introduce the Safety Operating Model they co-created and teach leaders how to apply its three pillars – Structure, Environment, and Capability – as an integrated operating model rather than a collection of disconnected initiatives.
The session focuses on how leaders implement this model in practice, applying it consistently across board, executive, and operational levels to support sound judgment, visible accountability, and reliable safety performance in complex, high-risk environments.
In this session, you will learn:
How Structure, Environment, and Capability function together as a single Safety Operating Model
Why safety performance breaks down when pillars are improved in isolation rather than governed as a system
How strategy and governance shape culture by aligning people around a shared definition of success
Where data, digitization, and emerging technologies belong within an operating model, not as standalone solutions
How to assess safety maturity through an operating-system lens and identify where leadership intervention is required
Speakers
Ellis Jones
Executive Director - Safety Innovations
Rhythm Innovations
Ellis brings extensive business expertise with a background spanning accounting, finance, manufacturing operations, sustainability EHS, and business continuity. Throughout his career, Ellis excelled in revitalizing underperforming teams and operations, leveraging his leadership, business acumen, and diverse competencies to drive consistent business improvement.
In his former role as, Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, Ellis led the integration of sustainability into corporate strategy resulting in the creation of Goodyear’s first sustainable material tire and rapid sustainability maturity. Additionally, Ellis oversaw environmental, health, safety, and business continuity, guiding Goodyear through a safety culture transformation focused on the elimination of serious injuries. Ellis also led Goodyear through the COVID-19 pandemic. During this unprecedented time, Ellis’ leadership was recognized for its impact on operational effectiveness and employee engagement.
Prior to his role as VP and CSO, Ellis served as Manufacturing Director for race tire operations, achieving a 55% earnings improvement through implementing operational excellence strategies. His leadership earned recognition from the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME), resulting in the organization receiving the AME Excellence Award.
Ellis’ early career includes leading finance and accounting teams across various functions and businesses including Manufacturing, Purchasing, Supply Chain and Goodyear’s Commercial Tire business. Ellis provided strong financial leadership and fostered a high-performance culture within his teams.
Ellis holds a BS in Accounting from Hampton University and a Masters in Operational Excellence from Ohio State University. Ellis earned his coaching credentials from Case Western Reserve University.
Eric Pfeiffer
Vice President - Environmental, Health, Safety & Security
Babcock Power
Eric Pfeiffer brings nearly 30 years of leadership experience in environmental, health, safety, and security across high-risk, high-consequence industries including power generation (fossil, nuclear, and renewable), heavy manufacturing, construction, engineering services, and chemical operations. Throughout his career, Eric has been recognized for building strong governance systems, unifying complex organizations, and translating safety strategy into consistent operational execution.
In his current role as Vice President, Environmental, Health, Safety, & Security at Babcock Power, Eric leads enterprise-wide EHS and security strategy across diverse business units and operating environments. His work focuses on strengthening accountability, maturing management systems, and embedding safety governance into leadership decision-making to support sustained performance and serious injury prevention.
Previously, Eric held senior EHS leadership roles at global organizations including The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and Babcock & Wilcox, where he led large-scale cultural and systems transformations. His leadership contributed to measurable improvements in safety performance, management system maturity, and leadership engagement across multi-site and multinational operations.
Eric began his career in industrial hygiene and safety engineering, progressing through increasingly senior leadership roles while developing deep technical expertise alongside strong business and operational acumen. He is known for his practical, systems-based approach and his ability to align leaders at all levels around clear expectations, roles, and accountability.
Eric holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Hygiene from Ohio University and is a Certified Safety Professional (CSP).
