Discipline and organization: 'It's how we live our lives'

When you’ve been a Marine Corps drill instructor, you know the power of hard work, precision, and discipline.

Student Profile: Scott Martin, Professional Certificates in Occupational Safety and Health

For Scott Martin, those work habits directly apply to his current role as a safety specialist and outreach trainer for the General Services Administration (GSA), which oversees all federal properties around the country.

Based in San Francisco, Martin travels frequently as a safety instructor for GSA employees and a federal building safety inspector.

Plus, he’s Bay Area chairman for the Field Federal Safety Council, a network of nation-wide agencies that facilitate Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) for the federal government.

Throughout his 21-year military career, Martin took numerous safety courses at UC San Diego Extension over a 10-year period, including those devoted to general industry, construction safety, excavation, confined space, ergonomics, and more. He earned Professional Certificates in Occupational Safety and Health with a dual emphasis in Construction and General Industry.

“I’ve always said that safety is not just first,” he said, “safety is always.”

Martin’s military career was spent in varied locales, but largely based at Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego, where he also served as a combat engineer, water survival instructor, and drill instructor. Plus, he had stints as a U.S. embassy guard assigned to Cameroon and Belgium.

“What I learned from being in the Marines is what every Marine learns: discipline and organization,” said Martin. “It’s how we live our lives.”

After retiring from the Marines in 2002, he served the First Marine Expeditionary Force in a civilian role as the deputy safety director, and later the director. He later joined GSA as a safety specialist and outreach trainer.

Though serious by nature, he says teaching brings out a slightly different persona.

“I tend to approach teaching safety like a standup comic,” he said. “The fact that the material can be dry is no excuse. It’s up to us as safety trainers to make safety training as interesting and fun as possible.”