Matt Hazelton

We booked Matt at very late notice without researching his story, a risky proposition but it’s safe to say it turned out to be a success. Matt’s story is one of tragedy, devastation & personal despair. Matt bares his soul to the audience, no props or prompts, no power-point, just a raw unfiltered account, where he gives everything to the audience. Matt’s story touched many of us on the day, he sets the scene & makes you feel as though you’re having a one on one conversation with him, a number of times I found myself having to put my head down to hide the tears as he took us on his journey, when I lifted my head many others in the audience were doing the same thing.

From such tragedy he has risen from the depths of despair to share his story in the hope of stopping others doing the same. This cannot be an easy thing for Matt to do, but the difference this man will make is immeasurable. I’ve seen many guest speakers over the years, when it comes to rawness & the ability to connect with the audience, Matt is peerless.

Neil Fisher - Network Rail

I had the pleasure of attending the East Anglian Safety Group Meeting yesterday at Morgan Sindall’s in Swanton, Cambridge.

Matt was one of the most inspirational speakers that I have  ever heard at these events. The reason this worked so well is that it was natural, believable & honest in its delivery – there were no gimmicks or props just Matt bearing his sole to us. At the start I have to confess I thought this may have been an actor because the presentation was so good.

I can only imagine the events that have led to Matt’s presentation and the courage he showed in going through this information was unbelievable.

I thank him for sharing this story with us and I am sure his brothers & friends will be so proud of how he is turning a tragedy into something that will have a real impact on safety and perception in the industry and I am sure that this process has saved countless lives in the process. Many of the trainers who deliver for us have stories of events which have changed their lives which enables them to deliver from the heart instead of a PowerPoint presentation.

Please pass on my gratitude to Matt and your team.

David - C&C Training

There is nothing you can add or really say about the tragic and devastating affect the accident had on his and the 4 workers family, friends and their wider close knit community.

However it was the way Matt presented that really captured the group and we felt obliged to feed this back, as group and as individuals.

The way Matt presented was brave, raw and extremely well told, and took us on his journey from setting the scene with life being good to the present day. 

The group felt that not only is Matt the best speaker we have had over the years as a group, but one of the best most attendees had seen.

Ultimately Matts story, like many others, are the reason H&S professionals do their job - to try and prevent injury and ill-health by promoting and managing ‘good health and safety’ for want of a better phrase, but what we can never do justice to is relaying to those doing the job the real impact and consequences when things go wrong.

Please pass on our sincere gratitude to Matt.

 Lee - Morgan Sindall

I could never have imagined the unbelievable power of Matt’s presentation. Over the past 25 years of working, I have seen thousands of presentations including from very famous people, but I have never before witnessed such intense and sustained listening to a speaker from an audience for the entire time Matt was speaking. Everyone valued his ordinary bloke, down to earth approach and his searing honesty. I can honestly say, and everyone I spoke to agreed with me, that they will never ever forget this presentation.

The nature of my job (sitting at a desk all day in an office) means that I don’t often give safety in the workplace much thought, so I probably would have to give my attitude towards safety quite a low score to be honest. 3/10

I have to communicate about safety to employees, so I found it extremely useful to understand the reasons why people take risks or don’t follow safety procedures, even though they know it’s the wrong thing to do, and why people do things even though they are not professionally competent/qualified to do them.

Kathryn - QinetiQ