Today we’d like to introduce you to Tommy Rebecchi, PhD, CSP.
Tommy, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Tommy Rebecchi is an Environmental, Health, and Safety Professional with over 10 years of experience in environmental, safety, and emergency response programs, procedures, and regulations. Tommy’s introduction into the environmental and safety fields began in 2008 when he served as the Hazardous Material Site Manager for the 8th Engineer Support Battalion (8th ESB) in the United States Marine Corps. After being honorably discharged from active-duty military service, he attended the University of Missouri, Kansas City (UMKC). He received a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science with a double minor in Geology and Sustainability in 2014.
In 2022, he received a Master of Science in Occupational Safety Management from the University of Central Missouri (UCM), and in 2025, he completed Capitol Technology University’s Occupational Health and Safety Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) program. Tommy became a Certified Safety Professional (CSP) in 2023. His other awards and commendations include the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal in 2009 and the Boy Scouts of America Eagle Scout Award in 2000.
Tommy is dedicated to finding new and practical solutions to preventing the most common causes of accidents and injuries, both in the workplace and in private residences. He firmly believes that one of the best ways to solve these issues is to focus on improving hazard awareness at the individual level. To accomplish this, we must first determine what that person knows about safety, how they behave, what they are exposed to, and what they observe daily. This data can then be used to provide each person with tailored information that they can use to lower the risk of accidents and injuries in their personal and professional lives.
For this purpose, Tommy developed the Rebecchi Individual Safety Consciousness (R.I.S.C.) Assessment, a qualitative and quantitative psychometric evaluation culminating in over a decade of knowledge, 2 years of dedication, and over 2,000 hours of research, consultation, and development. With the Assessment, Tommy hopes to teach each participant how to identify, avoid, and properly manage hazardous situations to prevent unnecessary accidents and injuries that can negatively impact a person’s life. As each person improves their hazard awareness, safety will improve for everyone.
In addition to the R.I.S.C. Assessment, Tommy is also dedicated to accomplishing 3 specific goals. First, he wants to make safety more relatable so that anyone can understand how it impacts them personally. Next, he wants to provide practical solutions for issues facing current and future safety professionals to help them more effectively accomplish their goal of keeping people safe. Finally, he wants to simplify safety as best he can so that people can understand, remember, and recall the information they will need to avoid experiencing an accident or injury. These 3 goals were incorporated into the foundation of the R.I.S.C. Assessment, and Tommy hopes that with it, he can help transform safety into what it should have been all this time: personal, realistic, and memorable.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There have been plenty of challenges I have had to face to get to this point in my career, and there are more that have recently revealed themselves that I will have to face moving into the future, People are the number one obstacle to being successful in health and safety, but they are your number 1 asset. The true challenge is turning these would be adversaries into allies. I have worked in toxic and hostile work environments. I have been disrespected and deemed incompetant. I have experienced heavy personal and professional loss.
However, when you hit rock bottom, that is a very good foundation on which to rebuild yourself. It is a rare opportunity (possibly once in a lifetime) to rebuild yourself into the person you deserve to become. These challenges are necessary for you to learn and grow, and this growth is essential if you are trying to majorly evolve the profession you are in. The projects I have developed and the goals I have set forth for myself are ambitious, but since they focus on preventing accidents and saving lives, I see this as a noble pursuit and I don’t allow those who disbelieve to distract me. They will get on board when I finally reveal the final products from all of my years of work.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am an environmental, health, and safety professional. What that means is that I try to prevent accidents and injuries before they occur so that people can go home to their families and maximize their quality of life. I specialize in behavior-based safety, a focus that examines why people behave the way they do and how we can help them improve in every aspect of their personal lives and professional careers. I am known for designing the systems and programs necessary to effectively achieve these goals and profoundly change my profession for the better. I am most proud of developing the Rebecchi Individual Safety Consciousness (R.I.S.C.) Assessment, the project that helped me obtain my PhD in Occupational Health and Safety. This Assessment measures what a person knows about safety, how they behave, and what they are exposed to to determine how likely they are to experience an accident or injury and how to avoid them. What sets me apart is my leadership style, my passion for helping other people, and my ability to develop the systems necessary to improve the safety profession.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Join groups. Talk to people. Get out of your comfort zone. There are people who willingly want to help others but you will not find them sitting alone and being too afraid to talk to them. If you need to, reach out to me, and I will gladly help you find someone to mentor you or do it myself. We all have things to offer others, and many people seek opportunities to share their expertise. That starts with conversation.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.riscassessment.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommy-rebecchi-phd-csp-2a319592
