Jenny Ferdinand-Stong was sitting in a Walgreens drive-thru when the phone rang.
On the other end was the news that she had been selected as ABC’s very first Health and Safety Professional of the Year—a new recognition and the latest addition to ABC’s construction workforce awards honoring the people shaping the future of the industry.
“I was very, very stunned,” says Ferdinand-Stong. “Humbled. It didn’t really set in until I arrived here this week.”
For Ferdinand-Stong, though, the award represents more than personal recognition. It represents an opportunity to reshape the perception of safety in construction.
“TikTok has this whole subculture of being unsafe is cool with the construction industry,” she says. “And I want to change that. I want safety to be cool.”
That mission has defined Ferdinand-Strong’s career for nearly 30 years.
BUILT BY EXPERIENCE
Ferdinand-Strong’s path into construction safety was anything but traditional.
Raised by her father alongside three sisters, she says she grew up learning to navigate the world with both toughness and adaptability.
“I was the eldest of four daughters,” she says. “He raised us like boys. So I do have a very strong personality, but also the feminine side. I know how to speak to people. You have to know your audience.”
That ability to connect with people would become one of the defining traits of her leadership style.
Her career began in the mid-1990s at an injection molding facility in Kansas, where she first noticed unsafe practices involving hazardous materials and heavy machinery. Rather than accepting those conditions as normal, Ferdinand-Stong started asking questions.
“We kind of created our own safety committee before work,” she says. “There were a lot of unsafe things that I was doing that I didn’t realize were unsafe, just because I was shown that.”
That curiosity—and refusal to look the other way—eventually led her into construction. After working in banking and finance, she joined a construction and electrical contractor in Indianapolis as a laborer before moving into facilities management and safety leadership.
Over the years, Ferdinand-Stong built a career around transforming safety culture. As safety director for a drywall contractor operating across seven states, she helped lead the company to four consecutive years with no lost time incidents and two of those four years with zero recordables.
Then, in 2021, she joined Gaylor Electric, where she currently serves as corporate safety manager.
MORE THAN A RULEBOOK
Ask Ferdinand-Stong what “health and safety” means to her, and she quickly explains that it is far bigger than policies or compliance.
“It’s so much more than just the book,” she says. “It’s about the person. It’s about the project. It involves production. It involves quality.”
She describes safety, quality and production as construction’s “holy trinity”—three priorities that must work together rather than compete with one another.
That philosophy is reflected in the way Ferdinand-Stong approaches her work at Gaylor Electric. As one of three corporate safety managers, she oversees companywide safety programs, develops field leaders, integrates safety into project planning and maintains an active boots-on-the-ground presence across jobsites.
“A lot of times, safety is brought in after the fact,” she says. “But safety needs to be built into the planning of the project.”
That means spending as much time listening as correcting.
“I can walk around and say, ‘Hey, put your gloves on,’ and walk past you,” she says. “But if I don’t circle around and ask why, maybe you’re having difficulty finding a tie-off point. Maybe your glasses hurt your nose. You have to understand the bigger picture.”
It is a people-first philosophy that has made Ferdinand-Stong a familiar and trusted presence in the field.
“One of my biggest accomplishments is when people remember me on the jobsite,” she says. “Or when someone who used to fight wearing safety glasses finally says, ‘Hey Jenny, look—I finally got my prescription safety glasses.’ Those little things are the biggest accomplishments.”
EVERYONE IS A SAFETY LEADER
Perhaps the message Ferdinand-Stong emphasizes most is empowerment.
“The number one priority is making sure everyone knows they are a safety leader,” she says. “It does not matter your title or your experience. If it’s your first day, you are a safety leader.”
She teaches every employee—from apprentices to superintendents—that they not only have stop-work authority, but also the responsibility to protect the people around them.
“You have accountability for your own safety,” she says. “But you also have a responsibility to your brothers and sisters in the field.”
For Ferdinand-Stong, safety culture is built through coaching and mentorship, not fear or punishment.
“It’s not about being a safety cop,” she says. “We have to coach these people and give them the tools so they can become safer workers and get their jobs done.”
That mindset extends beyond physical safety into mental health and total human health—a core value at Gaylor Electric. Ferdinand-Stong regularly checks in on employees’ mental and emotional wellbeing, recognizing that personal stressors can directly impact jobsite safety.
“A jobsite is a small town,” she says. “People know what’s going on in each other’s lives. You have to understand the whole person.”
Her approach combines empathy with accountability, helping employees feel supported while also reinforcing shared responsibility.
CHANGING THE FUTURE OF CONSTRUCTION
Ferdinand-Stong is deeply passionate about expanding opportunities within construction—especially for women.
“There are so many possibilities for women in construction,” she says. “Whether you want to be on your tools, an engineer, an architect, a safety professional—there are so many paths.”
She points to the industry’s workforce gap and the need to introduce students to construction careers earlier.
“We don’t just need to hit high schools,” she says. “We need to hit middle schools.”
Ferdinand-Stong also sees technology playing an increasingly important role in construction safety. She is currently collaborating with university professors on innovations that integrate safety directly into BIM models, allowing teams to identify high-risk hazards before work even begins.
“Technology can help us ask, ‘How are we going to install this safely?’ before we ever get into the field,” she says.
Still, even with advances in equipment and predictive tools, Ferdinand-Stong believes the future of safety ultimately comes down to people mentoring people.
“There is an age gap in this industry,” she says. “We need to make sure mentorship is there. It’s not just about enrolling people—it’s about following through.”
That commitment to mentorship, leadership and culture-building is exactly why Ferdinand-Stong was selected as the inaugural recipient of ABC’s newest workforce honor.
“The only way to obtain the elusive ‘zero’ we all talk about is for everyone to truly commit to to a zero-recordable culture.Safety, quality and production all work together,” she says. “And if we can get everyone to see themselves as safety leaders, it changes everything.”
