Cindy Mercado: Humanizing Safety Training Across Florida
There are safety professionals who know the regulations, and then there are those who understand the people behind them. Cindy is the latter, and for the workers, communities, and students whose lives she touches, the difference is everything.
As a safety and health instructor at the UF Training, Research, and Education for Environmental Occupations (TREEO) Center, Cindy Mercado spends her days working directly with the people behind the regulations; bringing training, awareness, and real-world perspective to workers across Florida.
The Origin Story
Cindy didn’t plan to fall into safety work. When she finished her degree, she landed a Coast Guard internship with a clear enough plan: shadow the base’s safety manager, learn the ropes. On her first day, she found out he was on sick leave. They opened his office, handed her the keys, and essentially said, “we need help”.
Most people would have frozen. Cindy listened.
She walked through the programs, talked to employees, and tried to understand what they actually needed, not just what was written in a manual. Working with the facilities shop, she helped them choose the right PPE, spot hazards, and find practical ways to improve how they worked each day. But the job quickly expanded beyond the physical. They started talking about behaviors, stress, the way pressure and fatigue shape the decisions people make under real conditions.
“Safety stopped being a checklist, and started becoming something personal, something human, something that directly impacts how people think, act, and take care of themselves and each other.”
That moment – not a career milestone, but a shift in how she understood the work – is what has driven everything since.
What The Work Actually Looks Like
Ask Cindy to describe a typical week and she laughs. There isn’t one. This summer alone, she is presenting at the Florida Chamber Leadership Conference on Safety, Health & Sustainability, talking about translating rules into real action. As part of Florida Department of Transportation’s (FL DOT) Moving 14 Forward initiative, she is leading OSHA 10-hour construction courses for new employees entering the field, and running confined space trainings that go beyond the technical, focusing on how people think and make decisions under pressure.
She’s also spearheading TREEO’s participation in the OSHA Heat Illness Prevention Campaign, delivering talks and developing resources that bring awareness to life. And she’s hosting 40 girls from The Girls Place at the TREEO Center for a hands-on safety day. “It’s fun, it’s energizing, and it’s my way of giving back to the community and investing in the next generation, including my own daughter.”
That’s not a packed schedule. That’s a philosophy in motion.
“I thrive in variety,” she says. “Every week looks different, and that’s exactly what I love. What drives me is the challenge and knowing that the work I’m doing can have a direct impact on someone’s life.”
For Cindy, that impact isn’t abstract, it’s deeply personal.
“It can feel like a lot at once, but it never feels overwhelming, because it all connects back to the same purpose. For me, this work is about legacy. Every training, every conversation, every moment spent teaching safety is something I’m giving back to the community. These are our workers, our people. If I can help even one person make a better decision that keeps them safe, then it’s all worth it.”
But what looks like variety on the surface is something more intentional. It reflects something Cindy believes deeply: that safety can’t be taught from a distance.
“My work isn’t just about teaching regulations. Anyone can read a rulebook. For me, it’s about how people can stay safe while still getting the job done without slowing down operations. Because if safety feels like a barrier, people won’t follow it. But if it fits into their reality, it sticks.”
She describes a typical preparation process as one of active listening: hearing participants’ stories, understanding their specific challenges, then building training from scratch that speaks directly to them. The goal, always, is the same: get more people home safe.
Summer 2026: Safety In Action
Protect Partner Lead
Cindy’s work this summer touches every pillar of TREEO’s Safety in Action campaign: protecting workers through hands-on training, partnering with communities across Florida, and leading conversations that change how the state thinks about safety. Here’s a snapshot at what’s ahead.
From Impact to Action: Making The Case For Better Storm Response
Lead
When Cindy takes the stage at the Florida Chamber Leadership Conference on Safety, Health and Sustainability on May 14–15, she’ll be making an argument that emergency plans are only as effective as their execution, and bridging that gap is where the real work begins.
“A plan by itself is just a piece of paper.”
Heat Illness Prevention: Closing Florida’s Gap
Protect
Florida’s workforce faces heat every single day, and the way most workplaces talk about it isn’t keeping up with the reality. This summer, Cindy is bringing practical, accessible education directly to workers and supervisors across the state.
“There’s still a gap between talking about it and actually doing something effective.”
IFAS Partnership: Safety Where It’s Needed Most
Partner
When UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences reached out to TREEO, they needed support for the people most at risk after a storm — agricultural workers going back into the field before the damage is cleared. For Cindy, the partnership is personal.
“These are our workers, our people.”
The Girls Place: Investing In The Next Generation
Partner Lead
On June 17, forty girls will spend the day at TREEO. What Cindy wants them to walk out with isn’t just a lesson in safety — it’s a feeling. It’s one of the moments she’s most looking forward to this summer.
“What I really want is for each girl to walk away feeling powerful. Like ‘I can do this. I belong in any career I choose.’”
Building Safer Roads: Training the Workforce Behind Moving I-4 Forward
Partner Protect
As part of Florida’s Moving I-4 Forward workforce development initiative, Cindy is delivering OSHA 10-hour Construction training to workers preparing to enter one of the state’s most significant infrastructure projects.
“Safety has to start before the job does.”
What She’s Built, and What Keeps Her Up at Night
Across her career, Cindy has worked with people in construction, agriculture, manufacturing, aviation, warehousing, emergency services, hospitality, food service, transportation, and more — across industries, and across countries. What she feels most proud of isn’t a program or a credential. It’s the people.
“What stands out the most for me is the impact I’ve had on people. Not just in keeping workers safe, but in helping others see the value of this field and even inspiring some to step into safety as a career.”
But pride and worry often live close together in this work. When she reads about a forklift accident, a confined space fatality, she doesn’t move past it quickly. “I can’t help but think this was preventable. How do we reach those people before it happens?”
The answer, she believes, is rarely about resources alone. More often it comes down to behavior, awareness, and the small decisions people make under pressure or without fully grasping the risk. “The questions that stay with me are: how do we do better? How do we reach more people, earlier, in a way that changes how they think and act?”
At the end of the day, she says, that’s what this is all about. “Getting more people home safe.”
“Cindy has a unique ability to transform any safety topic into a dynamic, real-world learning experience that sticks with students long after they leave her class. Her genuine passion for health and safety combined with her decades of field experience create an engaging and interactive learning environment that not only educates but empowers students to be safety leaders in their workplaces.” – Melissa Hamilton, Program Manager, Asbestos, Health & Safety
Cindy’s work doesn’t stop when the training ends, and neither does the impact. Follow the TREEO Insider and connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn to see her work in action, from the classroom to communities across Florida.
Cindy is a Certified Safety Professional (CSP), a Certified Member of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (CMIOSH), and an OSHA-certified trainer for general industry, construction, and disaster worker safety. She brings over 20 years of experience in occupational safety across diverse sectors, including food and manufacturing, hospitality, healthcare, aviation, and pharmaceutical chemical analysis. Most recently at the University of Florida, Cindy played a pivotal role in transforming Environmental Health & Safety programs for clinics, laboratories, chemical safety operations, and risk management initiatives.
Beyond her professional work, Cindy volunteered as a Safety Official with the Puerto Rico Emergency Management Team, coordinating disaster response and community-driven preparedness efforts. She also supported the American Red Cross, applying her expertise to strengthen emergency preparedness and response in local communities.
Cindy holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and master’s degrees in environmental health and management. Throughout her career, she has served as a safety leader, consultant, and trainer, helping organizations implement robust safety programs and effective risk management strategies.