Speakers

Steve Rae is a Director of Fortitude – Action Beyond Compliance and a leading safety influencer with more than 40 years of experience in the offshore sector.

Having entered the offshore industry as a technician in 1982, Steve found himself onboard Piper Alpha on July 6th, 1988.

After surviving the horrific and life-threatening events of that night, he chose to continue his career in the industry where he had a long and successful career, which included presidential, management and senior operational roles in the UK and internationally.

Steve offers a unique approach to learning which allows him to draw on personal and professional experience providing an in-depth perspective on safety culture, effective team leadership and workforce engagement from “boardroom to worksite.”

Since Piper Steve has been relentless in his pursuit of an incident free workplace using his personal mentorship, company and trade association leadership involvement and numerous voluntary activities. As Chairman of IADC’s North Sea Chapter from 2008-2010, he played a vital role in raising the profile of the organisation, in 2010 he was the first recipient of the Val Hood Award for his significant Safety leadership. 

Steve became a Fellow of the Energy Institute in 2019, more recently he was recognised for his continued efforts in this regard at the Offshore Achievement Awards (OAA) 2024 where he was conferred the Significant Contribution award by the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

Steve is Chairman of the Pound for Piper Memorial Trust which raises funds to support the upkeep of the Piper Alpha memorial gardens in Aberdeen.
  
In 2020 he was recognised by Aberdeen City Council as one of the cities ‘everyday hero’s’. In 2022 he was also inducted into the city’s Guild of Burgesses for his contribution to local society.

Delivering keynote talks on ‘Choices and Consequences’, Steve shares his Piper Alpha experiences and lessons that everyone involved in Major Hazard Environments need to learn from. The following quote received by an attendee at one of his talks sums up how his involvement has inspired and motivated others to question their own commitment to safety: 
 
“Steve’s talk should be mandatory for all those working in our industry and is the most impactful training experience I have had in my 20-year career”.