Denver — As her eyes welled up with tears, four-time Olympian Chaunté Lowe explained just how big of an impact speaking to thousands of safety and health professionals was having on her personally.
Lowe told the crowd gathered Monday for the Opening Keynote of the 2025 NSC Safety Congress & Expo how her nephew had recently joined a boxing class. During an exercise, he was punched in the head and, her family suspects, no protective headgear was being worn while sparring.
“That blow took my nephew’s life,” Lowe, a four-time Olympic high jumper, told the safety pros in attendance. “This is the first time I get to be back on stage (since his death). I was so honored to be here and share with each and every one of you, because you understand the gravity of protection and safety. You understand the role that you play in everybody’s lives.
“Your work has meaning. It has purpose. It’s people like you that are able to prevent accidents. Thank you for the work that you do. I am going to challenge you to ask yourself, ‘How do we raise the bar?’”
Lowe shared the highs and lows of her life and career – from winning gold at U.S. Olympic Trials to finishing 28th in an Olympic Games, as well as battling breast cancer.
Through it all, she learned to prioritize her health and safety.
“As a champion and a medalist, and also somebody who has had to struggle with health battles, I have learned that prevention and safety were my greatest asset,” Lowe said. “The work that you do every day has a ripple effect that transcends this room and goes all the way out to the entire world.”
She encouraged attendees to celebrate their professional successes; be proud of themselves and others; be happy where they are; and to say, “You got this!”
Competing at an indoor world championships event, Lowe learned the value of that simple exercise.
While on her way to winning her first indoor world title, a teammate who was a first-time qualifier missed all three of her jumps and was devastated. Lowe noticed her teammate’s despair, stopped, shared how proud she was of her and offered her encouragement to keep going.
“Stopping and taking a moment to notice that she needed help and she wasn’t OK didn’t take anything away from me being able to compete,” Lowe said.
That same teammate was able to persevere through the disappointment and became Lowe’s Olympic Games teammate four years later.
“We can do amazing things on our own, but if we rally our collective strength, we have stronger teams,” she said. “Safety isn’t just a one-person sport. Safety takes each and every one of you collaborating together.”
National Safety Council CEO Lorraine M. Martin welcomed the safety pros in attendance to Denver – a first-time site for NSC’s premier event – and encouraged them to embrace change to enhance safety.
“When our data tells us that safety is improving but we’re not saving more lives today than we did a decade ago, that tells us we’re measuring safety wrong,” Martin said. “When something goes this stagnant, or upside down, the only path for us is forward to change and progress. It’s on all of us to usher in that change.”
Martin discussed the impact of serious incident and fatality, or SIF, prevention and how it can be part of safety’s evolution.
“Change isn’t easy, but it is inevitable,” she said. “We can’t stop it, but we can be part of it.”
Martin also encouraged the attendees to think of themselves not only as safety pros.
“You’re a lifesaver,” she said. “You’re an innovator. You’re a hero. You’re my hero.”
