Are You Willing? The Meaning Behind the Question that Drives Our Passion and Commitment for Valuing Safety Every Day

At Cardinal Compliance Consultants, we don’t just check boxes or recite regulations. We live a question that drives everything we do: Are you willing?

It’s not just a slogan—it’s a challenge. A mindset. A heartbeat. And it applies to everyone—our team and our clients alike.

If you’ve attended one of our training classes you may have heard these words, but what do they really mean and why are we as a company so passionate about them?

The Inception of “Are You Willing?”

At the beginning of 2024, Cardinal Compliance Consultants embarked on a mission to improve our business model, operations, and service efficiency. Our President and CEO, Richard Barcum, CIH, CSP, CHMM, introduced us to EOS, an Entrepreneurial Operating System designed to help us reshape the way we look at our business through six key components:

EOS Six Key Components™
  1. Vision – Identifying who we are, where we want to be, and how we will get there
  2. Data – Performance tracked through scorecard measurables
  3. Process – Standard operating procedures (SOP) documented and followed by all
  4. Traction – Setting and meeting timely goals, or “rocks”
  5. Issues – Issues list and identifiers
  6. People – Right people, right seats

While working on our Core Focus within the Vision component, our leadership team was challenged with reexamining why we do what we do. What makes us get out of bed every morning and keep working in this field? What’s our passion? And oddly enough, our answer began with a question that we had to ask ourselves, “Are you willing?”

Are You Willing: Risks We Take at Home

Before we dive deeper into the meaning behind, “are you willing?”, we first have to talk about risks.

At Cardinal, the services we provide all revolve around the health and safety of workers. And when it comes to compliance, or rather striving for more than compliance, it’s all about evaluating levels of risk. Every day, we’re making decisions that calculate the level of risk we’re willing to tolerate. Whether we realize it or not, our inner monologues are in overdrive at home, at work, during commute, etc.

  • “Will my dog will be okay off-leash? It’s just a short walk.”
  • “I’m just going to respond to this text quickly. I’m on a country road; I’ll be fine.”
  • “I know this contractor isn’t certified but he’s offering a really good price.”

Every day we make hundreds of tiny decisions and sometimes a few big ones. Risk is just a part of life, but as we all know, we can’t always predict what’s going to happen, so we need to condition ourselves to make smart choices.

Are You Willing: Risks We Take at Work

What we’ve come to understand through much research is that humans are all creatures of habit. And it’s easy for the tiny risks we take at home to bleed into our train of thought and influence our decisions at work too.

  • “I can’t find my safety glasses. I’ll be fine without them.”
  • “I don’t think he performed lockout tagout correctly. But he’s a supervisor, so he knows what he’s doing.”
  • “I clipped my finger on this machine last week, but I don’t want to make a big deal about it so it can wait. I’ll bring it up at our next quarterly meeting.”

Taking small risks at home is one thing, but taking risks in work environments with heavy machinery, hazardous chemicals, high voltage, or hundreds of feet in the air on a scaffold takes risks that may seem small, to a whole other level. Risk perception at work is often misguided greatly because workers forget to take into account their extreme environments, tools, and the ripple effect of their actions.

What Are You Willing to Risk?

Our team knows the level of risk that’s associated with making poor choices. We see it every day. That’s why this simple question motivates us to do better, to live better. At Cardinal, “Are you willing” reminds us to speak up when we see hazards beyond our scope and to be transparent in our conversations with our customers. Our guarantee is to provide honest and open communication always, which means having hard conversations sometimes. It leads us to reminding safety leaders that compliance is distinctly the bare minimum. Our end goal is to do the right thing, aiming higher than compliance, and doing better for the health and safety of all workers.

Pyramid of business safety standards

Our guarantee is to provide honest and open communication always, which means having hard conversations sometimes. It leads us to reminding safety leaders that compliance is distinctly the bare minimum.

How to Use “Are You Willing” with Your Team

What we like the most about our passion is its versatility. It’s built to withstand multiple applications. It’s a powerful question/phrase that serves as a tool; a reminder to make safe choices. We find it’s best used for these two main reasons:

  • Helps leaders begin important safety conversations with their team — this short question is easy to remember, customizable, and requires accountability from all team members.
  • Makes it personal for employees — rounding out this question to include something personal for each employee reminds them what they would be giving up when choosing not to make smart choices.

Example Questions:

  • Are you willing to live with a fatality on your conscience?
  • Are you willing to risk an injury because you don’t want to wear the necessary PPE?
  • Are you willing to risk the consequences of not speaking up sooner?
  • Are you willing to just do the bare minimum even though you know your employees deserve to be protected better?
  • Are you willing to miss your child’s next birthday?
  • Are you willing to miss walking your daughter down the aisle?

Are You Willing?

Choosing safety isn’t just about compliance — it’s about conscience. It’s about the moments you’ll never get back if you stay silent. Are you willing to trade a lifetime of memories for one careless moment?

Because we’re not. We’re not willing to risk our safety or yours.

Instead, we’re willing to hold ourselves to a higher standard. We’re willing to have tough conversations, to stand firm on what’s right — not just what’s easy. We believe professionalism is more than a dress code. It’s a commitment to honesty, to passion, to doing the right thing even when no one’s watching. And above all, we believe in transparency — because the truth doesn’t just protect reputations. It saves lives.

We ask every client and every colleague to reflect on this question: Are you willing to do what it takes to send everyone home safely — every shift, every day?

Because we are.

Company Passion, Niche, and Values at Cardinal Compliance Consultants

Does This Message Align With Your Goals?

If this question aligns with your goals as an organization and you want to discuss what Cardinal can and are willing to do for you, contact us today.

To stay connected to more content like this, remember to follow us on LinkedIn and tell us in the comments what you’re not willing to risk.



from Cardinal Compliance Consultants https://cardinalhs.net/blog/are-you-willing-passion-commitment-safety/
via Cardinal Compliance Consultants

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