Safety in Action: What This Summer of Training Taught Us
TREEO Safety & Health instructor Cindy Mercado set the pace for this summer, and the rest of us just tried to keep up.
It started at Disney’s Contemporary Resort on May 15, where Cindy took the stage at the Florida Chamber Leadership Conference to talk post-storm recovery: From Impact to Action. Just three days later, she was back in Gainesville hosting a TREEO Talk on heat illness with guest speaker Dr. Diaz, and just like that, the Safety in Action Campaign was underway. A conference stage one week, a heat illness talk the next, that was the summer’s rhythm from day one.
That TREEO Talk did more than open a heat illness series, though. One attendee walked away from Dr. Diaz’s session, which was detailed, practical, and easy to follow, and couldn’t stop thinking about it. The session resonated enough that they followed up afterward to ask if TREEO could bring the same training to their organization.
That kind of momentum was the whole point. Safety in Action was about building real safety awareness, not just delivering courses, and showing up for the organizations across Florida who need that help. The campaign chased that across three pillars: Protect, Partner, and Lead.
Protect: The Core of What TREEO Does
The Protect pillar is the credentialed, expert core, and this summer pushed it further than it had gone before. In July, TREEO ran its newly-developed in-person 8-Hour HAZWOPER Refresher in Gainesville, complete with a hands-on decontamination scenario and a direct response to student feedback asking for more practical, hands-on training.
Heat illness threaded through the Protect pillar all summer, from the kickoff TREEO Talk through a six-part blog series covering everything from symptom recognition to the cost of heat illness for employers. Across the safety & health course lineup, one pattern kept surfacing: safety training has to go beyond checklist compliance. Acclimatization, in particular, remained a challenging concept for participants to grasp and, more importantly, translate into a practical day-to-day plan. While awareness was clearly present, the key opportunity was helping participants turn that awareness into a workable routine.
Partner: Showing Up Where the Work Happens
The Partner pillar took Safety in Action out of the classroom and into the field. TREEO’s IFAS collaboration expanded from Farm Day into a first-of-its-kind Emergency Response training for extension agents and staff, bringing in FlaWARN and the Red Cross to cover post-storm hazards like downed power lines, floodwater mold, PPE, with real interest from IFAS in taking the training to other counties.
The Florida Department of Transportation (DOT) training continued its run in Tampa and Jacksonville, funded through I-4 workforce development dollars and helping connect construction students directly to jobs. And in June, TREEO hosted a Girls Place Camp with roughly 40 fourth-grade girls rotating through hands-on stations. Activities included learning everyday safety rules and proper PPE, as well as a“rescue Bernie from a tunnel” harness exercise, giving participants a fun, hands-on introduction to the trades and helping them explore the possibility of a career in the trades.
The original goal for this pillar was training in three Florida cities. Safety in Action reached five: Wesley Chapel, Tampa, Gainesville, Clearwater, and St. Augustine.
Lead: Setting the Standard, Not Just Meeting It
The Lead pillar is where TREEO’s work becomes a little more forward-looking: not just meeting the standard, but helping shape what better safety training can look like. Cindy’s May conference talk put that into practice on a stage in front of a safety-focused audience TREEO’s Safety & Health program doesn’t usually get in front of, but the more telling version of leadership happened back in the classroom.
Based on direct student feedback that safety training needed more hands-on practice, TREEO restructured its HAZWOPER program this summer, moving the 8-hour refresher onto the same week as the 40-hour course so students got two chances to run the practical scenario instead of one. This kind of responsive programming reflects our commitment to actively listening to student voices and using their insights to enhance course design. By continuously incorporating feedback into our curriculum development, we create more engaging learning experiences that help students retain critical safety knowledge long after they leave our classrooms.
Why Reinforcement Matters
Across all three pillars, one consistent opportunity emerged: safety knowledge is strengthened through regular reinforcement, while heat-related risks require particular attention because symptoms can develop gradually over multiple shifts rather than appearing suddenly with clear warning signs.
The biggest success story of the summer was the one this post opened with: the attendee who, after Dr. Diaz’s Heat Stress talk, didn’t just retain the material but acted on it, asking for a dedicated session at their own site. That’s what training built for retention actually looks like: not a certificate filed away, but someone deciding the material was worth sharing with their colleagues. TREEO leans on a few things to make that the norm rather than the exception: instructor style that respects the material’s difficulty, peer accountability that builds a lasting safety culture, supervisor modeling, and regular check-ins during high-risk periods that keeps safety practices sharp when they matter the most.
“This summer reinforced that heat safety doesn’t have to be a choice between protecting workers and keeping work moving. The most effective approach is practical, proactive, and built into the way work gets done.” — Cindy Mercado
By the Numbers: Safety in Action, May – August, 2026
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9 safety & health courses across Wesley Chapel, Tampa, Gainesville, Clearwater, and St. Augustine.
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75 students trained in-person, plus a newly-developed in-person HAZWOPER Refresher.
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2 TREEO Talks, reaching 99 attendees, including the heat illness talk that kicked off the campaign.
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5 Florida cities reached against an original goal of 3 beyond Gainesville.
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Community reach extending to roughly 40 students at Girls Place Camp and a new first-of-its-kind IFAS Emergency Response training.
What’s Next: Carrying This Into Fall
Safety in Action doesn’t end when summer does, it continues into the fall with new ways to support safer workplaces. TREEO is expanding its library of online Safety & Health short courses, making it easier for employers and workers to fit training into busy schedules and keep building their safety knowledge throughout the year. Fall programming will also turn toward hurricane season safety and the National Emphasis Program (NEP) protecting warehouse and distribution center workers.
TREEO will be on the road as Cindy Mercado was invited to speak at two industry conferences this fall: the Florida School Plant Management Association (FSPMA) conference and the Florida Section of AIHA Fall Conference.
If your organization sends people into the field, the heat, or the aftermath of a storm, this is an open invitation: let’s talk about what Safety in Action could look like for your team. Contact Melissa Hamilton at melissajhamilton@treeo.ufl.edu to start the conversation.