About Todd Hudson
Todd Hudson helps organizations achieve safety excellence by giving safety professionals the know-how to be great safety trainers.
With thirty years as a knowledge transfer expert and extensive experience in safety, Todd Hudson is on a mission to close a critical safety gap: How do you move knowledge from safety managers to employees in ways that will not only stick, but also measurably change behaviors and improve safety outcomes?
His comprehensive Maverick Safety Training program goes deeper and wider than simply giving better PowerPoint lectures. It shows
based on decades of real-world experience, is a customized experience for safety pros that combines online learning with one-on-one coaching they work on real-world training projects. Always with the goal of producing measurable improvements.
Todd works with organizations of all sizes. Whether you have one or 100+ safety trainers, he can help you.
A Maverick Thinker
As a former high-tech factory manager, Todd quickly discovered that training a 24/7, multi-national, multi-lingual, and multi-generational workforce to work safely while surrounded by hazardous chemicals and machinery was a huge challenge. His training professionals had extraordinary SAFETY expertise, but they had difficulty transferring that expertise into safe behaviors on the factory floor.
Seeking a better way, Todd began experimenting with applying the Lean methodology to training and knowledge transfer. The results were so powerful, he founded the Maverick Institute (now Maverick Safety Training) in 2006 to bring his new methods to a wide range of organizations.
Since then, as a knowledge transfer consultant Todd has helped organizations measurably improve their training with his Lean-based methods. He has helped improve safety training at copper mines in Arizona, hospitals and laboratories in Tennessee, private schools in Oregon, and warehouses in Washington, to name just a few.
Speaker, Facilitator, Author, and more…
Todd is a frequent speaker and workshop leader at conferences, a guest on training podcasts, and a writer with articles in publications such as Chief Learning Magazine, the New York Times, and The Portland Business Journal.
He volunteers as a training coordinator for Oregon’s Clackamas County CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) program and is a State of Oregon-certified Basic CERT Trainer. He is also a certified instructor in First Aid, CPR, and AED.
Todd holds an M.S. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a B.A. in Chinese from Connecticut College, a certificate from Stanford University’s Executive Program in Strategy and Organization, and a Black Belt from the Motorola Lean Program. He’s also an avid home cook, kayaker, cyclist, prog-rock enthusiast, and superfan of The Big Lebowski.
A Trainer Who Isn’t Afraid to Get His Hands Dirty (and His Feet Wet)
One of the best examples of Todd’s Maverick philosophy of learning goes back to when he was director of operations for Wacker Siltronic in Portland, Oregon.
When he learned that many of his employees in the factory were still scared of the safety showers, even after being trained in how to use them, he shocked the entire plant by showing up and demonstrating the shower on himself.
In Maverick Safety Training, this concept is called generating “Emotional Connection” and when applied correctly (and safely), it can be a powerful asset in the safety training toolbox. It’s just one of many methods that participants learn in our program.