Personal ties
Everyone reacts to tragedy differently. The spectrum of feelings and responses is vast. Where one person might withdraw from the outside world, another might find a purpose.
For Alyssa Grocutt, MSc’21, PhD’25, it was the latter. When a workplace safety incident claimed the life of her father, a heavy-duty mechanic working in Alberta’s oilsands, she felt the need to do something.
“My mom played a big role in that. I know she sat down early on and thought, how I deal with this will show Alyssa how to deal with things in her life,” Grocutt recalls. “She was very supportive and tried to help me see the positive and grow from the experience.”
Grocutt was just 11 years old when her dad died. She began delivering workplace safety talks in classrooms at her school the next year — on April 28, the National Day of Mourning to remember workers who have died, suffered injury or illness on the job. She delivered these talks every year from Grade 7 to Grade 12.
She carried her passion for workplace safety into her post-secondary studies, pursuing industrial/organizational psychology during her undergrad at the University of Calgary followed by her MSc and now PhD, both at Smith.
“Within research, especially within management, there’s not much research on workplace safety, and the research that does exist is on prevention . . . which is important, of course, but it neglects the fact that things do happen. So how can we best support people that are affected by these tragedies?” she says.
To date, a major focus of her research has been looking at the consequences of workplace injuries and fatalities on secondary victims such as family members, co-workers and workplace leaders. She was recognized for that work in the 2023 Canada’s Safest Employers Awards, where she won the Minerva Award for Rising Star of the Year.
“I love the recognition, and it’s great to win awards, but I just really hope to get a conversation going about the consequences of safety incidents,” she says.
She volunteers with Threads of Life, an association for workplace tragedy and family support, and shares her personal story through guest talks. But now, Grocutt has shifted her research to something less emotionally taxing but no less personal. Alyssa loves tattoos. She has many, including some she cannot cover on her hands. Her dissertation will explore how having tattoos as a leader impacts employee perception and behaviour. “It’s early stages, but I’m excited,” she says.
Post-doctorate, Grocutt wants to get more business research into the hands of the people working in organizations who can benefit from it. “What I really want to do is knowledge translation and dissemination,” she says. “The research that’s being done is so important, but we don’t always do a good job as academics of getting it out there. I really want to help share research insights more broadly.”